On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 00:54:31 -0500, "JB" wrote:

Broadly I found the same things. One thing that seemed weird for me was to
get used to not having to put your ticket in the barrier to get out of the
station.

I'd say there are fewer stations and far fewer interchanges than in London,
but I love the idea of having express trains on the network.

There are 468 stations on the New York subway system. There are 275 on London
Underground.

I have traveled through 466 NYC subway stations--only omitting Pennsylvania
Ave. and New Lots Ave. in Brooklyn (they were a bit daunting when I lived in
New York).

Express trains of the type that New York has are very rare on subways and
metros worldwide. In fact, I believe that they are unique to New York.

I thought passenger information was very, very lacking. One thing that I
didn't think was particularly helpful was their using the term "uptown" and
"downtown" at the same time as having "up" stairs and "down" stairs.
Talking of stairs, haven't they heard of escalators? Money wise, overall, I
think it's got to be less expensive than London. $7 a day buys you an
unlimited travel card for subway/buses beats the £8+ for a Peak LT card.

In New York, they do economies of scale: there are more commuters there than
in London, I believe.

As for escalators, there are very few needed because most subway lines were
"cut and cover" lines rather than deep-bored tubes. There are some escalators
from #7 stations in Manhattan, and some in other places--going from the
elevated #4 station at 161st St. to the underground D station, for example
(ISTR, but my memory may be faulty).

Uptown and Downtown as directional designators helps signage as, for example,
at 42nd Street Times Square "Uptown" trains can end at 137th St., 148th St.
Lenox Terminal, 207th Street Washington Heights, 242nd Street Van Cortlandt
Park, 241st Street in the Bronx, 168th Street and Broadway, 57th Street
Manhattan, Ditmars Boulevard Astoria, or 179th Street Jamaica (some of these
may have changed in the interval of the last 13 years since I lived there...).
To put all these possible destinations on a sign outside the subway entrances
(not to mention the Downtown destinations, which could be quite extensive as
well) would mean a very large sign or very small writing. However, most New
Yorkers have a vague idea whether the place they're going is Uptown or
Downtown, and visitors either learn quickly or end up in Flatbush.

In Brooklyn, perversely, Downtown is the part nearest Manhattan, so a train
going "Downtown" from Coney Island will end up going "Uptown" once it reaches
Manhattan.

It's a quirk that residents just know, and visitors and newbies must quickly
learn.
--
Chris Hansen | chrishansenhome at btinternet dot com
"The problem with the French is that they have no word
for 'entrepreneur'." President Bush to Prime Minister
Blair, at Bush's first G8 summit.