Today a co-worker...let's call him *Grover for now...posed a question to me, which went something along the lines of asking the differences between the tube and the subway in say, New York. I didn't have so great of an answer then, but after pondering a bit more, I've come to the conclusion that the major difference doesn't so much have to do with the differences in public transport as the people who use the public transport; i.e. if the New York City Dept of Transportation had to close down a whole train line, like London has had to shut down the Northern Line, New Yorkers would flippin' riot. They just wouldn't have it. They'd be like, "You gotta be freakin' kiddin' me! Yo, you shut down my train line and I'm gonna bust a cap in your..." You get the idea. Not Londoners. They just adapt.
So there ya go, Grover. Your answer lies somewhere between (heavy sigh) "All right I guess I'll have to take another route" and big riot cops with mace.
Oh and the seats are much comfier here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
a friendly rejoinder -
do any of the given lines service as many areas, mile-wise, as any given line in NY, tho? speaking as a New Yorker, huge chunks of the subway system are shut down, often for weeks at a time, for repairs & general maintenance (though, admittedly, rarely during rush hour), and people adapt OK. shutting down a huge line would be disastrous because, in many cases, it would leave several hundred thousand people with no way to get to work. having zero experience with the london tube system, tho, it's entirely possible i have no idea what i'm talking about.
Post a Comment