this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
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Context to the subway?
In America the metro is seen as where there are lots of poor people and drug addicts and the rich people tend to prefer to buy fancy cars and drive them.
It’s kind of the same logic as to why america is one of the few countries where the poor people tend to live in the city center, but the rich people out in the suburbs.
Thanks!
Counterpoint, the highways are also full of mentally ill people and statistically it's more risky to drive than take the bus / train.
I think control has a lot to do with it as well. We feel better when we're in control and on a subway you are most definitely not in control of the vehicle, or the people inside it. Regardless that it's statistically safer than driving. I think people feel safer driving because they feel in control. Drivers can choose the route, who is in their vehicle, and when to stop. Those are things that we feel when we assess risk, even if it's counter intuitive.
You know what really "cleans up" public transportation? More people riding it than just those who have no other choice. I grew up in Boston, lots of people rode the subway, I never felt unsafe. Now I live in Phoenix, the bus system sucks so bad I couldn't even tell you what it feels like to ride one because I never have, anywhere I want to go would take at least 2 routes if not 3, with nearly an hour wait at each connection, I could seriously ride a bicycle there quicker, and have, even in 110°+ heat, at least in my younger days- damn near gave myself heat stroke last time I tried which was ~5 years ago... I have at least ridden the light rail, which isn't terrible, but doesn't run very frequently, and isn't that close to my house, and doesn't go that many interesting places... I could take the kids to the science center, but it's a bit long for them to walk to our nearest stop, about a mile and a half... There's a park & ride, but at that point, we might as well take the car...
Broken glass, fire, impalement, road rash, and being thrown around like a rag doll... thinking highway death isn't violent is just a very fortunate lacking in imagination.
That's a very stretched definition of "full of".
Pre-pandemic I rode the subway to work every day. I'd see a handful of clearly unwell people on the train a week. I'd also see thousands of seemingly put-together people in that time. Is a milk jug full of milk and one jellybean full of jellybeans?
I cannot speak authoritatively for women, but my understanding is most of the danger comes from men. Not mentally unwell people, not the homeless, just regular men. Being unwell or desperate doesn't help, but it's not the only source of danger.
Furthermore, not everyone prefers personal vehicle transport. Maybe people prefer mass transit for a variety of reasons.
It's so much more than this, and it just seems like you don't have any experience that you're drawing from. My main experience is the subway in Manhattan (and trains from NJ to get there). You go from the chronically late trains in NJ, to the poor infrastructure in NY, and whether or not the train smells like piss, or there's someone who I am desperately trying to to avoid making eye contact with, just ends up being the cherry on top of what was an unenjoyable and often unnecessarily long trip.
I've rarely had a subway that smells like piss. The last time I had a stench on the train was years ago. It's not always "so clean I would eat off the seats" but the NYC subway is much better than people who don't ride it imagine it.
Most of the people on the train are just people trying to get someplace.
Rode on the subway the first time last year. My wife has a super sensitive nose so her experience was a little different. But for the average person, I seriously doubt the subway is even that big of a deal like you said. It smelled my the mechanic shop my dad worked at. Grease and metal. And maybe we didn't hit a rush hour, but it wasn't all that crowded either. I was a bit bummed no one was break dancing. Stupid youtube always lying to me.
I think there were crackdowns on the "Showtime kids" (aka the kids that dance on the train). A lot of people have no soul and get cranky about them. I mean, they're mildly disruptive and probably occasionally fuck up, but it's also only a couple minutes, and sometimes it's pretty impressive.
When I was a Fed in DC, I took the Metro to work. It was really nice. And a very pleasant time to myself on the train.
People who don't live here think it's like The Warriors. They picture roving gangs of murderous criminals, live wires sparking everywhere, and insane people screaming Eldritch horrors. This is not accurate.
Okay, it's not that bad, but it's also not the kind and peaceful utopia people in this thread are trying to make it out to be.