Second Ave. Sagas

What’s Your Biggest Subway Pet Peeve?

Written by

Lilit Marcus

in

Since I take the subway instead of driving, I don’t get road rage – but, occasionally, I get ‘subway rage.’ I’m going to list a couple of the things that make me the most crazy on the subway, and I want to hear from you guys in the comments about your own mass transit pet peeves:

  • People having loud, TMI phone conversations when the train is above ground.
  • When a crowded rush hour train is pulling into a busy station and someone in the middle of the car starts shoving his or her way toward the door, seemingly unaware that many other people will be getting out at the stop as well.
  • People who have their iPod turned on so loud other people can hear it, despite the whole “headphones” thing. There’s an extra demerit for anyone who sings or raps along with what they’re listening to.
  • Perfectly healthy adults who don’t give up their seats for a pregnant woman or disabled person.

What about you guys?

Comments

40 responses to “What’s Your Biggest Subway Pet Peeve?”

  1. CT West

    People who push their way into cars before others exit the train.

    People who put their dirty shoes on the seat.

    People that leave half-eaten lunches in the cars.

    People, mostly men, that sit with their legs spread apart, taking up three seats.

    Standoffs between the conductor and people with a bag or umbrella stuck in a closed door trying to get on the train.

    Reply
  2. sif

    people who block the doors

    people who block the aisles, thus preventing people on a crowded platform to fill in the car

    Reply
  3. Ian

    Panhandlers, that transit cops don’t stop.

    Farejumpers (especially young children at the discretion of their parents), that transit cops don’t stop.

    Homeless people sleeping in cars, with their filthy belongings, that transit cops don’t stop.

    See a trend?

    Reply
    1. Scott E

      Some of the more original, entertaining panhandlers actually lighten up the trip. I recently saw “Homeless Ed” on the A train, who asks that if we have nothing to give, to please vote for him for President — then he can live in a nice white house and he won’t be homeless anymore.

      Reply
  4. Angela

    People who don’t even bother with earphones and listen to music on their phone

    This is just one guy who irritates the hell out of me; I only see/hear him when I’m running late for work (more incentive to get there on time!), but he has this annoying cough and moves his hand away from his mouth as he coughs. I get ridiculous subway rage for him.

    Reply
  5. mdh

    I agree… people pushing their way towards the doors before the train stops are pretty bad. I’ve just never seen someone get “stuck” on the train (i.e. unable to get out)… in a packed car, it’s not like there’s room to move around, right? I just don’t get it.

    Also bad are all the selfish assholes who don’t make room when there are people cramped at the platform trying to get into a fairly full subway car. Usually there is plenty of room for a few extra people to get in at each door… but every week I see people seemingly oblivious to the fact that if they just slid over a foot or two, it would mean an extra person could enter the train. If a couple of people do this, then a couple of more people get on. Pretty simple, you’d think. This is the most prevalent issue that I see during morning rush hour.

    But the worst are people — and there is a particular group of people who do this more than others, but I won’t go into that — who, upon the doors opening rush right in before anyone has a chance to get out. I want to throw them out of the car and make them re-enter.

    Usually, I just shake my head.

    Reply
  6. Scott E

    The guy who takes one step on the train, and firmly plants his feet right there, blocking everyone trying to get on behind him. (Bonus demerits for the guy who takes that spot after I moved out of his way to let him on!)

    The guy with the huge backpack, who cluelessly knocks into everyone as he turns left and right.

    The conductor who is in no real hurry to close the doors, making the train more crowded and more delayed.

    Reply
  7. Nora

    Lately, people with bicycles. One shoved other people out of her way to get onto a really full train. Another got on at Brooklyn Bridge and off at Wall Street. Maybe that second one is more confusing than pet-peevish.

    Reply
  8. Adam G

    Lilit, not every disability is visible. A dear friend of mine has serious musculoskeletal problems, but they don’t show visually. The ‘perfectly healthy’ person you see sitting down might be putting herself in real pain by standing for her subway trip.

    Reply
    1. Scott E

      I don’t think Lilit was referring to people without visible disabilities; in fact she said “perfectly healthy adults”. But unless every seated adult passenger has some medical cause for not giving up their seat, then the person who really needs the seat is justified in being annoyed.

      On that note, I’ve been in very crowed trains where I’ve been fortunate enough to have a seat, and then see a pregnant woman halfway across the car standing. I’d be more than happy to sacrifice mine, but I know that there’s no way she would be able to push her way through the crowd to get to my seat — and that assumes I could (1) get her attention, and (2) no one else takes the seat first. What should I do then?

      Reply
  9. petey

    “# People who have their iPod turned on so loud other people can hear it, despite the whole “headphones” thing. There’s an extra demerit for anyone who sings or raps along with what they’re listening to.”

    this is mine. just two weeks ago a woman did this on the N from coney island. i stared hard, and she saw, but she either doesn’t acknowledge the existence of other people, or kept it up just to be superior.
    equal to this is couples who mistake the subway for their bedrooms.

    “# Perfectly healthy adults who don’t give up their seats for a pregnant woman or disabled person.”
    i read this story a few years ago: pregnant woman boards train. no-one rises. she stands in front of the strappingest looking guy she sees, in an attempt to guilt him (the woman herself is the narrator of this). far from taking the hint, he sits there, and after a while says, “hey, i think i saw it kick!”

    Reply
  10. digamma

    I’ve just never seen someone get “stuck” on the train (i.e. unable to get out)

    Happened to me in Philly, but never in NYC.

    And I don’t get annoyed by the phone conversations. Dunno why.

    Reply
  11. Phil

    Tourists who hold closing doors open for their slow relatives/friends who take forever to swipe a MetroCard, damaging the car and delaying everyone else.

    Reply
  12. SEAN

    Being visually challenged, I can’t tell you how often people refuse to give me there seat on the subway. Same for Bee-Line busses in Westchester. Although it has been better lately on the bus.

    Reply
  13. Eric

    People who stand in the doorway leaning against and over the person sitting next to the door.

    People with long and untamed hair in a crowded subway.

    Dudes who overcompensate for what they lack in the package and sit with their legs spread eagle because, “it needs room”

    Conductors who love to hear the sound of their own voice on the PA system and take way too many and too long of a beat in between every few words.

    Reply
  14. Skip Skipson

    Ahhh MTA pet peeves, there are millions of threads like this all over New York but they don’t get old!

    People who don’t move to the middle of the car during rush hour. It frustrating when you see space in the middle of the car but can’t get into the train…

    People who take a seat on a crowded train….and then get off 2 stops later!

    When the conductor says, “there is a train DIRECTLY behind this one!” or “Please be patient” it’s a little patronizing…oh well its their job right?

    People who ignore plastic bottles rolling on to their feet when the train moves back and forth, pick it up!

    Reply
  15. Kid Twist

    > People who don’t keep right on the stairs.

    > People who stand in front of the turnstile and THEN start fishing in their purses or pockets for their Metrocards.

    > People who slow down or stop on the stairs and when they realize that it’s not their train pulling into the station. (It’s MY train and I’m right behind you — MOVE).

    > People who stand in the narrowest part of the platform to wait for the train. Let us pass!

    > People who say things like “Red Line” or “Green Line.”

    > Conductors who decide to play all the automated PSAs one after another. Ugh, enough.

    > People who force their musical “talent” on me and then think I’m going to pay for the privilege.

    Reply
  16. D train

    people who are standing on the escalator, but don’t stay to the right, so that they all just clump together and people who want to walk down the escalator can’t walk to the left.

    i compulsively yelled at a group of people last night who did that. UGH.

    Reply
  17. Jerrold

    My biggest pet peeve regarding the subways is one that nobody here has mentioned yet:
    The ridiculously slow pace of the current construction projects.

    OK, they finally finished the new South Ferry station, but just look at the others!

    The Second Avenue Subway, the #7 line Extension, the Fulton St. Transit Center.
    I wonder if I am going to live to see them all completed, and I’m still middle-aged.

    There is also the “East Side Access” project to bring some LIRR service into Grand Central. All right, that IS a rairoad project rather than a subway project. But, the estimated completion date for THAT project also keeps getting pushed farther and farther into the future.

    Reply
    1. Kris Datta

      Even South Ferry was delayed by a year and went overbudget.

      Reply
      1. Jerrold

        How right you are!
        But, at least they FINISHED it.

        Reply
  18. JP

    Once about ten years ago, getting on the Bronx-Bound 6 at Grand Central, a very tall and large man was squeezing into the car, pushing through the crowd. His head was above everyone else’s and he had to duck to get in the door. “We’re all in this together, New York!” he boomed. And it we are. Everyone magically accommodated.

    I always remember that. How many people are coming through the city every day, twelve, thirteen million including tourists? It reminds me to compromise. So the system’s far from perfect. No system is. There’s never enough room, it’s too crowded, too loud, too slow, filthy, and the wrong temperature. My train doesn’t pull into the station with a cool, dry and empty car, and go expressly to my destination.

    Some people don’t know they’re being selfish and wrong and some know but just don’t care. You can ask politely for some courtesy. Remind them twelve or thirteen million other people are also trying to to work, get there and back, to their friends, family and loved ones, or just take in the sights, all together at the same time. No, you can’t make them, but you can keep at it. Education versus ignorance. I think that’s the best we can do.

    Reply
  19. Matt

    Men who like to have The War of Legspace and spread their knees so far apart that they take up two seats.

    Reply
  20. PBK

    People who eat fast-food on the subway. The smell of grease/salt is unbearable. I immediately switch cars.

    Reply
  21. Scott E

    The people who stand in the middle of the staircase to the street, finishing up a cell-phone conversation (and blocking traffic in and out of the station) before heading underground.

    Reply
  22. Shannon

    People who lean on the pole when there are other people who might like to hang on to it… ugh.

    Reply
  23. rufustfyrfly

    Nail clippers and pole huggers.

    And, as Bob Dylan would say, “don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall.”

    Reply
  24. Alon Levy

    People who complain that the subway’s crowded. If you want to see crowded, go to Shanghai or Tokyo. Even the 4 and 5 run at about 75% capacity at rush hour.

    Reply
    1. Anthony

      I totally agree with you. Here’s a video showing an average subway car being loaded during rush our for anyone who’s interested;

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KE3DU42wcI

      The workers in uniform cramming people into trains are called “oshiyas”, which literally translates as “pushers”!

      Reply
      1. Alon Levy

        In Shanghai, there are no pushers – people push themselves. But crowding levels are similar. Let’s just say you don’t want to take Line 1 there during rush hour.

        Reply
      2. JP

        This one seems more like the legends I have heard of Tokyo rush hour:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..&NR=1

        Reply
  25. Damned Architect

    It would have to be the select members out the New York City homeless community who smell so bad that they can clear out entire cars of all other passengers! This “pet peeve” is far worse in the winter when not only do their numbers increase, but when combined with the heated cars give one the impression of BURNING GARBAGE whenever an unlucky soul gets a whiff of this foul odor! Makes even regular homeless people turn the other way, thats how bad it can be…

    Reply
    1. Alon Levy

      Would you rather those homeless people stole money so that they had access to a shower? Or would you not care how they smelled as long as they sat outside where they’d freeze to death?

      Reply
  26. D Train

    I agree with several of the above. Here’s a new one:

    Waiting for a train and hearing the “if you see something, say something” announcement but never an announcement about the arriving trains. I’ll tell you what an important message is, “When is the next D train arriving?!”

    Reply
  27. Chicken Underwear

    People who make list of what is wrong with other people. That bothers me

    Reply
  28. Brett S.

    I hate the people who lean on the pole so no one else can use it. Even worse are people who lean on the pole when people are holding it.

    Hate the conductors who won’t shut up and think they are funny. They just make me turn my iPod up.

    Long pauses on PA when there are service problems. “If you are taking the………F into ……… Brooklyn use the …………” Just say it.

    Standing in the doorway when it opens is annoying. I always give people who do that a bump.

    Reply
  29. Kris Datta

    Whenever you get on a crowded train and tell people to move in, they tell you in a very impatient voice, “Move in where? There’s no room!” Then, either two things can happen:

    1) You push your way into the car at the dismay of the thick-headed ignorant people all around you who are too blind to notice there is space just 5 feet away from the door.

    2) You ultimately give up getting on, and when the train starts moving again you notice that in each window there are about 5 people standing in the middle of the car when that number could be 10. The most annoying part about this one is it always happens when you’re running late.

    Reply
  30. Ellie

    Personal hygiene is personal for a reason. Trust me, no one wants to hear you clipping your fingernails or smell your nail polish. I’ll never forget the day last summer when the lady sitting next to me was clipping her fingernails and the nail landed in my lap. Seriously, what do you do in that situation? Let’s help avoid awkward moments for everyone, and take care of these things at home.

    Reply
  31. Liz

    I am convinced people are making up this “nail clippers” pet peeve. It must be a meme going around subway-peeve sites that I have never seen. I have absolutely never seen this in my 23 years of riding the subway 2-3 times daily. Ridiculous.

    I hate when I’m sitting in a nearly empty car, particularly in the 2 seats at the end of the car, and someone gets on and plops down right next to me. Even worse late nights. I always have the balls to look at them and say “REALLY?” then get up emphatically and move to another seat.

    On the bus when people are exiting through the rear door and they don’t press the yellow tape which more often than not keeps the doors automatically opened with a pressurized air system. Instead they just push on the doors so they come slamming back at whoever is behind them also trying to exit. Epic bus pet peeve.

    Reply
  32. TR

    1) People who wait until the very last second to get up and exit the train, usually blocking those that want to get on.

    2) People who sit right in the middle of a three seat set, which discourages 2 other riders from sitting next to them.

    3) People who put their feet up on seats, or worse, the metal poles.

    4) People who pop their gum very loudly.

    5) People who exit the bus via the front door. This happens all the time and causes delays. This is what the back door is for people!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts