View from Underground

Where: The south end of the Manhattan-bound platform at the Q/B stop at 7th Ave. in Brooklyn.
When: Now and then, but specifically, January 30 at around 12:30 p.m.

The garbage cans at the 7th Ave. station are near the staircases at the extreme other end of the platform. Yet, people congregate near the back of the train in droves during the morning. With the nearest garbage cans the equivalent of a city block and a half away, straphangers improvise. Here, the garbage can is a nook created by a pipe connecting the newer part of the station with the original area. Perhaps a real garbage can or two at other ends of the city’s subway stations would make for a cleaner system overall.

Yesterday, a few hours after writing about the experimental floors NYC Transit has installed an in effort to keep their stations cleaner, I found myself in the Chambers St. area with my camera in tow. I ventured to the mezzanine — missing my 2 train in the process — and snapped a few pictures. I couldn’t get a wider panoramic view of the platform, but I took some close ups of the new material and got a shot of a gummy old square of concrete. Click the images to enlarge.

During my Criminal Law class on Monday afternoon, my professor talked about the concept of criminal liability when a person fails to act. If I view a crime or have knowledge of one occurring, am I under a legal obligation to do anything about it? While the law generally says no, our societal concepts of morality say to act.

That is, unless you are Mireya Navarro or one of the many passengers riding the 2 train with her on Sunday night. In a City Room post published yesterday as I was sitting in that very same criminal law class, Navarro told her sordid subway tale of a group of passengers who witnessed something so gross and banded together not to tell anyone. Call it Real World: IRT.

On the way to Brooklyn from Manhattan around 7:30 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, a disheveled man walked into a No. 2 subway train making a stop at Canal Street. No one paid much attention as the man lay down on a row of seats to take a nap. The complete strangers around him did not realize he would soon force them to come together to make a practical decision.

The man, his eyes still closed, sat up a couple of stops later, opened his fly and urinated. From a seated position, he thoroughly soaked his vicinity, and the half-full car emptied out in the middle as his fellow passengers — including this reporter — fled in both directions.

In a next-door car where some of the escaping riders had reassembled, some shook their heads, visibly jarred, and one commented that this was a first. Then a debate ensued about the right course of action to take. I said I would be getting off the train soon and would report the man’s actions to the proper authorities. They should remove him, I argued, before other unsuspecting riders walked into the car and had to deal with him and the mess.

The consensus seemed to be that this was a bad idea. “All they’ll do is take the train out of service, and we’ll all be stuck,” a woman said.

In the end, Navarro opted against telling anyone. The urine-infected 2 train continued south through Brooklyn until it reached its Flatbush Ave./Brooklyn College terminus. What happened at that point is anyone’s guess.

At first blush, Navarro’s actions seem pretty inexcusable. Egged on by a crowd too self-centered to be inconvenienced for a few minutes while the police attended to an unsanitary and illegal situation, Navarro opted not to report the conditions in this subway car. Instead, she let the man and wrote about it for The Times the next day under the guise of a “Only in New York” story.

On the other hand, though, the cost/benefit analysis of telling someone may prove Navarro correct. At least, that’s what City Room commenter J said in his response to this sordid affair. By telling someone, the train would be delayed; the line would get backed up; and everyone would have to wait a few more minutes before they get home.

So what is it then? Do you tell or not? I’ve been in a similar situation but not to this extreme. I’ve witnessed cars empty out when people realize the stench, but I’ve never seen someone urinate in a train car in the middle of the evening. I have never said anything though because by the time I leave the subway, it’s not my problem anymore. I’m where I need to be, and the incident remains a stinky memory.

To this, I do not know the answer. Navarro and the herd in her 2 train opted not to tell for mostly selfish reasons, and that’s the New York subway attitude.

Photo Credit: An ever-present MTA sign urges riders to say something if they see — or smell — something. (By flickr user ZeroOne.)

While this station booth at the new South Ferry terminal will open soon, the MTA may shutter others throughout the system. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

As the riding public gears up to protest the impending service cuts and fare hikes, the station agent elimination plan is starting to become a major community issue. The fight, however, may be relying a bit more on psychology and less on reality.

Last week in The Brooklyn Paper, Sarah Portlock and Zeke Faux examine the reaction to the plan in Brooklyn. They write:

Buried deep in the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s proposed budget cuts are suggestions to close part-time and several full-time service booths — a move that could save the $10.8-billion agency thousands of dollars, but could also compromise safety of its passengers by depriving riders of another set of eyes and ears late at night.

“I don’t like [the idea] at all — I get very uncomfortable if no one’s at the post late at night,” said Park Slope resident Jerry Robinson, who was waiting at the Union Street M- and R-train station, whose full-time southbound booth would be closed entirely. “There’s not enough cops on the subway already, so for the MTA to take away the people in the booths in unacceptable.”

The cash-strapped transit agency has said it has a $1.4-billion budget gap and has proposed eliminating 205 booths — 33 of which are in Brooklyn — from 144 stations citywide. “[These proposed cuts are] part of the service reductions in the [MTA] budget,” said agency spokesman Kevin Ortiz, noting that the measures will be enacted in the spring barring a fiscal or political miracle.“These are measures that we hope not to implement,” he added.

In The Brooklyn Paper story, the angle is clear. Cutting these positions will seriously impact passenger safety. “It would make me feel unsafe,” Alex Pappas said to Portlock and Faux. “I can’t afford to not ride the trains — but I might invest in a can of Mace.”

While the reporters grant that every station will have at least one station agent, they may, for example, be in the northbound side of Union St. on the 4th Ave. line with no connection across the tracks. The real question, though, is whether or not this elimination would actually impact passenger safety.

In a way, the answer is yes. By placing employees in the stations, the MTA can create the illusion of authority. Perhaps a would-be mugger would be deterred by the presence of a station agent. Perhaps a sexual assault could be averted before it starts.

But in another way, the answer is no. MTA employees generally do not step out of the booth to assist passengers in need because they can’t. They’re unarmed and unprepared to face would-be criminals. It’s not, in other words, part of the job. The riders in Portluck and Faux’s article may not know that or they may choose to feel safer by the presence of someone in a uniform.

This plan will mostly impact MTA employees, and those folks are already protesting. Psychology aside though, beyond the deterrence argument, riders won’t actually be safer with or without station agents.

As 2008 draws to a close, I’d like to look back on the year that was on Second Ave. Sagas. We talked a lot of transit policy as the MTA dealt with a financial crisis, the death of congestion pricing and fare hikes. While advertising often took center stage, we had our fun too as the MTA neared completion on a new station and an old Vignelli original returned.

To wrap up the year, let’s run down the Top Ten most popular posts of 2008 on the site. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to read my musings, to everyone who contributes and to everyone rides the subway. Have a safe and happy New Year, and remember that subway service on Jan. 1 operates on a Sunday schedule. I’ll see on you on Friday.

1. A subway system easier to navigate
While poking around Massimo Vignelli’s Website, I came across the ultimate New York City subway triptych. An old subway sign told riders which trains they needed to take and what transfers to make to get from one station to the next.

2. Inside the new South Ferry Terminal
A few weeks ago, the MTA held a press tour of 1 train’s new South Ferry Terminal. My camera I went inside the art-filled and state-of-the-art depot, the system’s first new station in nearly twenty years.

3. Finding love on the subway
After the Patrick Moberg story stole headlines in 2007, I mused on the nature of privacy in the subways and urged straphangers to talk to one another. My family felt I was secretly channeling my own subway crush.

4. Planning for a Second Ave. subway, 75 years ago
Modern Mechanix unearthed an article from 1931 in which the New York City of the future came equipped with a four-track Second Ave. subway. Over 75 years later, we’re still waiting for even a two-track version of that reality.

5. New Grand Theft Auto cuts down our subways
Everyone’s favorite anarchist video game took on New York City in its Liberty City release this year. While the subways played an integral role in the game, the map looked nothing like the complex city-wide snake we’re used to seeing.

6. Inside — and outside — the Second Ave. Subway
At a Community Board 8 meeting at the end of October, the MTA unveiled its architectural renderings for the three Second Ave. subway stops. We took a look at the so-called subway stations of the future. Some of the entrances — the canopied escalators in particular — look suspiciously like the WMATA’s stations in Washington, D.C.

7. For Men’s Vogue, Vignelli issues an update
The Massimo Vignelli subway map will be remembered in New York City for decades to come. It was either the most masterful work of art and the most useless subway map ever depending upon whom you ask. Earlier this year, Men’s Vogue commissioned an update from Vignelli, and the limited edition print series sold out in less than a day.

8. Thinking Out Loud: The MTA should double the fares
In a post that generated a SAS-record 53 comments, I suggested that, in order to apply pressure to Albany for proper MTA funding, the transit agency should double the fares across the board. While the MTA is set to raise fares by around 23 percent, my think piece proposal still stands.

9. Inside the Crown Jewel of the old subway system
In March, I took the Transit Museum’s tour of the now-shuttered City Hall stop. The station, a decadent display of another era, served as the launching point of the city’s subways in 1904. Today, it’s a ghost station, visible only from the windows of the 6 train as it curves through the stop on its way uptown.

10. Inside the circumferential subway route plans
During his State of the MTA speech in March, MTA CEO and Executive Director Elliot Sander unveiled the agency’s 40-year vision. This proposal included the long-debated circumferential subway route, a line traveling from Brooklyn through Queens and into the Bronx. The city needs it, but it will be a long, long time before this train becomes a reality.

As identifiable elements go, the signs in the subways are among the city’s most recognizable. Look up at the header on Second Ave. Sagas, and you will see a sight familiar to any who ride the subway: a modular sign featuring Helvetica — or one of its close relatives — on a black background.

But it wasn’t always like that. Now and then, relics of an old age pop up. These old signs pop up in various stations around the city or at the Transit Museum. For the most part, though, the signs are standardized.

This homogenization process started in the late 1960s. With the advent of the MTA and the arrival of free transfers among the old IRT, BMT and IND lines throughout the system, the transit agency had to figure out a way to get passengers moving swiftly and efficiently through the tunnels. Enter Massimo Vignelli.

The creator of the one the subway system’s most controversial maps also designed its omnipresent graphics, as he discusses on his website. Vignelli used a sans serif font — then Akzidenz-Grotesk, now Helvetica — to guard passengers throughout the system.

History isn’t this neat though, and it actually took a lot of wrangling and trial and error to develop a fairly efficient system that still has some quirks. (Anyone ever notice the signs that urge you to find an exit at another end of the “plat” instead of the platform?) To that end, Paul Shaw, a respected graphics designer, has penned an epic piece on the history of the New York City subway signs. While long, it makes for great reading over the Thanksgiving weekend, and it’s chock full of minutiae and urban history that subway buffs love.

Out of a great big mess of fonts, signs and designs came simplicity and uniformity. It is a Hollywood ending for graphics enthusiasts and subway buffs everywhere.

While the MTA, like many other institutions, is struggling to make ends meet these days, savvy train buffs and subway enthusiasts alike can turn to that tried and true method of boosting consumer confidence: Christmas shopping. The Transit Museum, purveyors of all things MTA, have quite the selection available at their store this holiday season. Let’s see what we can find.

To the right are some snazzy ornaments. While the Museum shop is low on Hanukkah gifts, they’ve got something for the Christmas celebrants around the city. The ornaments are available for all lines except the L, S, V and soon-to-be-extinct W. You can also decorate your tree in MetroCards, tokens or my personal favorite, Santa Claus riding the subway.

For those of us who don’t have a tree to decorate, there are many more practical gifts on sale. Are you always getting lost on the subway? Never sure what line to take? Now, you can have easy access to a subway map. The next time someone asks you for directions, just drop your pants and point them on their way with these handy subway map boxers. Nothing points to lovin’ quite like these silk undergarments.

If you find yourself metaphorically lost in the kitchen, a subway map pot holder may be the right accessory for you. This Manhattan-centric item also comes in oven mitt and apron form. The store also carries some subway hot sauce, but that’s not a connections I’d like to think too much about.

Perhaps you’re more of a snazzy dresser than a Top Chef hopeful. To that end, the $70 cufflinks made form recycled subway maps complete the best of outfits. The token charm bracelet hearkens back to a different era when swipes were unheard of. The station mosaic reproductions lend an air of authenticity and Heins & LaFarge or Squire Vickers grandeur to even the smallest of New York studios.

The Transit Museum has something for the heavy rollers too. Designed by renowned artist Boris Bally, the subway map chair is available for the low, low price of $2200 or just 1100 swipes of your pay-per-ride MetroCard. The special one-of-a-kind Times Square-themed chair checks in at the same price. Looking for something equally as, um, unique but not as pricey? Try an air gauge for just $62.50.

Finally, we end with the practical gifts. Want to know how long you’ve been standing there at Lorimer St. waiting for the G train? Well, then, get your own G train watch, guaranteed to be on time for often than the train itself. Take a few shots out of the MetroCard Shooters. With fares going up, we need all the relief we can get. And here’s to that rainy day with a subway map umbrella. For passengers watching yet another packed 7 train go by, at least you can stay dry while being reminded of the sad fact that you have no other choice of train line.

But in all seriousness, the Transit Museum Store has you covered this holiday season for all your subway-related gifts. While our fares might be going up, the Transit Museum and its stores while away the hours, reminding us of days when the subways cost 5¢ and MetroCards were but a futuristic device far off in the future. It’s a fun place to visit, and you never know what you might find lurking in the gift shop.

We’ve all shared in that familiar experience of knowing that we’re going to miss the train.

We get to the top of the staircase, and we can hear the train pulling in. We swipe through the turnstile, pushing back against a wave of passengers pouring of the gate. We hear the announcement. “Stand clear of the closing doors.” We dash downstairs, hoping that maybe someone will block the doors. Maybe the conductor will have to hold the train.

With marked futility, we jump down the stairs only to see the train pulling away to the station, mere seconds separating us from the comfort of a train. While the next one isn’t that far behind — except late at night, it never is — there’s nothing more frustrating than just missing that train. For the next few minutes, we’ll stand at the platform’s edge peering into the dark tunnel. We’ll check our watches, tap our feet and think that maybe we shouldn’t have lingered in the shower. Everyone knows this feeling; no one likes it.

Over the weekend, Verlyn Klinkenborg, a member of The Times Editorial Board, penned a thoughtful piece on what he termed the “If Only” train. He writes:

Somehow, I always imagine that missing the train is the result of a single delay, not the loss of a second here and a second there since the alarm first went off. Perhaps I’d have caught that train if I’d gone to bed a few minutes earlier the night before. And while I stand on the platform, waiting for the next train, I have time to ponder the significance of the train that just pulled out. I can’t help feeling that if I’d caught that train, I’d already be in the future — and not the future I’ll eventually enter by hanging out in the present until the next train comes. How much better or worse that future would be I can’t really say.

This, of course, leads to another thought. Over the past 30 years, I’ve missed lots of “if only” trains in the New York subway system. What if I’d caught one of them, say, 25 years ago? Where would I be now? And what about the trains I made by a hair all these years? Surely those were almost “if only” trains. Because I caught them I must already be in a different future than I would have been had I missed them and gotten stuck in the present back in the past. Time travel is so confusing, even on the Broadway local.

While he is more resigned than I’ll ever be to missing that train, Klinkerborg so captures the essence of missing for that train by a second that it will be hard for me not to smile ruefully the next time I see the orange B gliding through the tunnel away from me.

Photo of a train doing just that by flickr user UKASEME.