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Originally from OH and now living in FL. I don't have much experience with mass transit, but every time I've been to NYC (5-6x now), I've been very happy with the subway. It's not hard to figure out. It's fast and efficient. I did have a homeless woman scream at me once, but that happens.

Scores of people die horribly on the roads every day, but you better believe Fox News will pound on any negative thing that happens in or around public transportation for at least a week.

The only thing a person needs to know about riding the subway is, if you see a totally empty car, or a half empty car, it’s that way for a reason you probably don’t want to experience.

So much crime! (No idea why the only gif I can find of this has this text. Really wish bsky would let us upload our own gifs already)

Weekdays after the evening rush could get a little tense back in the early part of the 80s. Most folks I knew had the number of a black car service handy for the ride home if they were going out after work.

It's way more straightforward than it used to be! The JFK Airtrain only opened in 2003 and is so much better than old ways of getting there, but, yeah, if you don't know where you're going, it can be a bit confusing.

"I'm afraid of minorities and the unhoused but I'll vote against them at every chance bc how dare they"

This. Spent several hours one day exploring the subway with my then 15 year old daughter the last time we were in New York. Was fine and we both enjoyed it.

I’ve ridden the subway alone at 3am and have never had something bad happen *to me* (one time my train hit someone*, but that obviously was a much bigger problem for them than for me) *they drunkenly decided to sit on the platform with their legs hanging over the edge.

People who say this get heart palpitations and have to sit down at the very idea that poor people might be going about their lives in their general vicinity.

Or maybe those who think that way have experienced better subways in other countries? Just because it was worse in 1980 doesn’t excuse it from being horrible now - especially in a city like NYC. It’s just a shame.

Just like The Warriors right? (Last ride on NYC subway was last month)

lived UWS for 2 years, rode subway almost every day, and loved it. Only small issue is the idiots that try to charge into a car before people get off – but whatevs. "Well New York City really has is all oh yeah, oh yeah" – Ramones

I’ve found no one has greater knowledge about the danger of NYC than suburban people I am sitting through an unwanted dinner with

To be fair, one of the ways I learned to drive was being taken into Manhattan to learn, and I did find it useful in forcing myself to pay extra attention to everything. But yeah, beyond that...

New York is home of rescuers saying "What th' fuck we're yah thinking, yah goddamn moron?!? Lemme help yah out, here."

What? Nah, the LIRR is fine.

Terrifying!

We bought a weeklong pass for public transport while we where there, and i don't remember having to walk more than two blocks for *any* activity we planned.

been riding subways since 1962. back in 1960’s in crowded subways, sometimes a man (usually in suit and tie) would grope…So I employed hatpin to wherever and spike heel to top of offender’s foot. worked well. I have seen people have medical emergencies and be saved by fellow passengers..

The description of the subway as for "an elite few' also made me laugh. I felt so very elite on the packed 4 train yesterday

I've been a semi-dedicated rebel against this suburban fear mongering since I was 19 and could move to the city. And this was only a decade after truly worrying that the riots of the 60's would make it out to my suburban conclave (what did I know?).

It's an awful place and everyone should stay away, and if you own real estate here please sell it for bargain bin prices so that we awful people might fill the space and protect the rest of you from the nightmare. Nobody wants to be here which is, obviously, why the rent is so high.

Ha my husband and I do the same, though we say, “what a shithole”

There’s so much disinformation/lies about NYC. I’ve heard grown men talk about not wanting to go to Manhattan because it was scary. I grew up there and never had an issue.

100%

I rode the subway for years in the 60's and bad old 70's - through Brooklyn, through Upper Manhattan, even the Bronx late at night. I'm still here, unscathed.

I'm a dude from Kansas who has spent about a month in NYC for various reasons and I always took the subway and have never felt even slightly unsafe.

And what if your suburban experience of humanity, competing, not communicating except through hand gestures, encased in metal and glass, cursing each other in isolation, is not a good or holistic representation of your fellow citizenry, nor does it reflect people's ability to engage collectively.

The loudest NYC critics have likely never even been in the state.

The worst thing about any subway is the occasional stale pee smell from a kid or coffee-junkie commuter that can't hold it.

The drivers don’t.

They do automated announcements now. Have done for years. But in NYC, at least when I was there, it was the driver and some were very funny. Had one once who did a short rhyme for each station. 😊

My 5-year-old granddaughter, who lives in western Mass., loves to visit NYC and ride the subways. And we think that’s grand.

It's probably scarier than the limo she's used to.

It was pretty bad then. Today is nothing like that.

Just spent a few days in NYC riding subways. Never once felt unsafe, even riding relatively late at night. It's a bad-faith effort to scare people.

My best friend and I were in sixth grade in Manhattan in the late ’70s; we took the subway everywhere. Sure, in the ‘80s we’d take a cab after midnight, but c’mon.

The rats the size of small dogs are scary… until you get to know them.

it's both true that Real New Yorkers have perceptual filters which cause them to ignore a bunch of stuff that is shocking to people who aren't desensitized to it (e.g. people pissing on a busy sidewalk in broad daylight), and that by and large you can simply mind your own business with no ill effect

Maybe New Yorkers should try and elect politicians who actually want to the help the homeless and the mentally ill. It seems like the two options on offer are ignore or persecute and neither are acceptable

Of course you'll have a bad impression of New York if all you focus on is the pimps and CHUDs.

Wait until they learn that homeless people can talk... and about normal stuff too.

Many of them have only seen photos of homeless people. They've never been in a city large enough to actually have a visible homeless population.

Yeah - the entire system appears to be held together with some duct tape and a paper clip, but I love it here and would never leave.

Oh this was in the afternoon. TBH, night rides were less scary than day rides

I have been to NYC twice and rode the subways exclusively to get around. To me they are one of the modern wonders of the world.

I'm on the C train in lower Manhattan right now. We always ride the subway when we're in NYC.