Public Transportation Stories
So I'm currently riding the train home as I do everyday and need to vent. It's ~95 degrees, the AC doesn't seem to be working, and to top it off, I'm sandwiched between a rancid smelling homeless dude and a woman holding a child. Said child keeps wiping his fucking shoes on my suit.
This got me thinking... monkeys, what are your best/worst public transportation stories?
On a flight and the kid behind me vomits on to the back of my seat. The next 2 hours were pretty horrible with the lingering smell floating in the air
The train from Queens into Manhattan was being hijacked by a homeless guy on drugs and 6ft tall. Everyone in the car was moving away from the guy and then he sits next to me. I thought he was going to stab me or snatch my phone. Then you hear the conductor call the police.
And You Think the NYC Subway Is Bad? (Originally Posted: 07/24/2013)
Oh. My. God. Big hat tip to Adam Taylor over at Business Insider for finding this...well...train wreck. A good buddy of mine lives in Beijing and has confirmed to me on numerous occasions that it is, in fact, the worst place on Earth to live. New York subways got nothing on this nonsense. As bad as the Paris Metro gets sometimes (so too the Moscow Metro and London Tube), I don't think anything compares to this mayhem? How the hell do you plan to get to work on time in a situation like this? Do you just wear football pads during your commute? Awful. Just awful:
//www.youtube.com/embed/xG-meaGqg-M
My suspicions of China actually being purgatory for those about to enter hell have been confirmed. I think China/India are like a cautionary tale for population control.
yeah, I'd go in the office at 5am to avoid that....
Love how the one guy trying to get out gets pulled back in by the rest. At least they have fantastic air quality there....
Insane, you can actually see several of the guys getting pushed back onto the train.
"Work experience: - Responsible for pushing people onto trains during Beijing rush hour traffic. Learned to cope with stress and angry Chinese people".
Awful.
Looks like a Nazi train to a death camp.
This is worst than DC on inauguration day. wow
Oh Lord, I would go be a farmer out in a rural area, to hell with that.
You've got guys who got absolutely manhandled, but as soon as they get away from the scrum, they walk away like NBD. Just a typical commute.
The real question is - NYC Subways in the summer w/o A/C, or Air-conditioned subways everywhere in China w/ the added risk of death by trampling?
I have taken the subway (or whatever applicable metro system jargon) in London, New York, Mexico City, Miami, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Stockholm and Chicago. But nothing beats the crowdedness of the metro in Caracas, Venezuela, where the lines started outside the station. But in contrast to the cattle-like chaos witnessed in the video from China, there was actually an efficient queuing system with spiral markings and people were respectful and courteous.
My god, that is awful. On a positive note, it seems that it would be difficult for smelly homeless people to sleep on the train.
Haha, guy was taking up two benches on Monday sleeping on them during rush hour. Huge fat belly hanging over the edge, no one dared say a thing but everyone was pissed.
In addition, people discussing the A/C don't realize that the heat on the platforms never existed until they got A/C on the cars. This caused the exhaust from running them to filter onto the platforms making them much hotter. Would you rather have A/C in the car and a hot platform OR a super hot car and a warm platform?
Haha, guy was taking up two benches on Monday sleeping on them during rush hour B/D train so pretty damn busy. Huge fat belly hanging over the edge, but no one dared say a thing in case he decided to bite someone or other crazy shit they do. Most of the older women were clearly pissed.
In addition, people discussing the A/C don't realize that the heat on the platforms never existed until they got A/C on the cars. This caused the exhaust from running them to filter onto the platforms making them much hotter. Would you rather have A/C in the car and a hot platform OR a super hot car and a warm platform?
I saw a pic of this on facebook and thought it was some kind of joke, not real. Wow. All hail the superior Chinese railway and culture
FUCK THAT
Beijing is a dump. The city is smoggy and smelly for 50-51 weeks out of the year. The weather sucks, there is little greenery.
It does however have some hidden gems with food and bars.
FWIW the subway in Sao Paolo was quite pleasant (think NYC but a bit more modernized).
Did you mean Sao Paulo? And on rush hours, even though it isn't even close to being as crowded as China's it is still pretty crowded
i remember the subways/trains in shanghai, you push, you shove, everyone's in a fight to get in. it's a kill or be killed mentality basically
I always thought Tokyo was supposed to be the most crowded metro system (as far as developed nations go), what with those attendants pushing people in during rush hour.
Yeah, some of those choke point stations from the suburbs, i.e. Shibuya, Shinjuku, etc are madhouses, but when you're young, what the hell, go with the flow...
Having lived in Beijing and visited Tokyo, I'd say at times the NUMBER of people in Tokyo was actually higher. However, they have the most organized system of filing people onto trains I've ever seen - people actually form LINES according to the markings on the ground, as oppose to Beijing where it's a free for all.
The only other place I've seen something similar is the Rome subway system (it was a few years ago though)... took me 3 tries to get on, all while trying to protect my items from the rampant thieves.
Agreed. Tokyo may be more crowded, but they whole system is like clockwork. Everyone lines up, people are silent, and there are tons of men in uniforms that keep everything orderly. It is amazing that the system works as well as it does, despite the over-crowding.
//www.youtube.com/embed/EXAUheHyqYk
The good thing is that most stations are air conditioned and also there is a glass door that separate the platform from the tracks which only opens when the train is in station. Therefore you are not likely to get pushed on to the tracks and get run over by a train despite the crazy crowds pushing and shoving everywhere. I actually feel safer with this setup than in NYC where at many stations during rush hours people are literally pushed to the brink of the platform (inside the painted yellow area).
I've commuted in Tokyo on the subways for many years, but this scene in Beijing is just loony-tunes. NY subways and its dirty stations suck, but will still take that over the risk of being asphyxiated.
NYC subways do have A/C
EDIT: In the carriages
Agreed, and even when somebody falls into the gap, it's only a 8 minute delay. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/usatoday/article/2574243
Sao Paulo's subway is modern, clean, and timely. But it's only 44 miles long. In comparision, NYC, which is roughly the same size, has 656 miles of track. I've lived in SP for four months and have taken the Metro twice, because it never goes anywhere you want to go.
I love the person who slips in after they just threw a couple dudes off the train.
Just the fact that your username is my favorite Rush song makes me 100 percent agree with you, and I haven't even been to those places.
Amen brother. One of Canada's finest exports ever...
I never needed to take the subway in Beijing or shanghai. I took a taxi everywhere , wasn't too expensive.
Seems like an opportunity for large people, like football player size, to sell their service as a subway escort. Someone hires you to plow through the crowd so you can get on/off the train.
Good point, I only took it twice as well, but didn't realize it was so confined. That city is massive too.
Shanghai subway is pretty darn good for times besides 7-8:30am. Even then, it's less of scrum than Beijing. I found it very convenient for everyday commute.
Taxi drivers god awful there. One of them literally fell asleep on the highway in stop and go traffic. But I agree, that is the way to get around.
Someone needs to add a champagne cork sound effect to this video when those people are getting pried out of the train towards the end of the video. Insane.
Taxis are Beijing can be very hard to find during morning rush hours. Also the cab drivers have the nasty habit of refusing fares if you are not going where they want to go. That and also traffic is absolutely horrendous.
Yeahright, you trade for UBS? lulz
Haha, I don't know what happened, I reported the posts so I'm sure they will get erased at some point.
wow. I could only imagine the fights that would break out among the undesirables of NYC if that was going on.
Tip the driver extra or tell him that you are the relative of president xi. Done deal.
//www.youtube.com/embed/NVeI-IeFg48
Dang beat me to it. Saw that video a while ago and was gonna post it. At least the Chinese people aren't hanging from the doors like they are in Mumbai.
Wow, and +1 on the comment about this happening in NYC, someone would get their ass kicked
I picture Eddie just shutting down his laptop and turning off the lights after watching Ambani's video. That video was an unreal one-up to the OP.
where are the women?
My family is currently travelling China and they said Beijing fucking blows (Relative to other Chinese metropolis)
Depends what you are looking for. It's not nearly as modern as Shanghai and definitely dirtier. Plus the weather is worse.
But, Beijing does offer plenty of cultural and tourist sights that the other cities do not. There are also some great food places, a large ex-pat area and one of the best Russian clubs I've been to. It's legit.
Besides, other than Shanghai, Beijing is really the only other Chinese city to give a shit about at this point. Anyone that has been to the large metropolis in the interior or known for manufacturing/ports knows that those are the worst. They are dirty, boring, and smell like shit.
Yeah, Ambani dropped the mike after posting that horrific vid. Holy shit.
And my buddy's biggest complaint about Beijing is the air quality. He tells me most weekends you don't even leave the house because the shit index is so high.
Those guys praising Sao Paulo's subway don't know Sao Paulo's railways.
The small subway line is nice - probably the best way to move around the city when it is close to whatever you wanna go.
But some railway stations, at peak time, give Beijing a run for its money, at a minimum. I took them a couple times there.
There is this hole people have to jump to get in the train, and they fall on that often while being carried away in midair Beijing-style. When somebody falls, the other passagers fish them back up. And apparently this always works out in time so nobody gets crushed by the trains. Very bizarre.
Of course no WSOer will ever experience that because no rich or mid class brazilian will ever try to get you anywhere using the railway at the rush hour.
The plus side is that you can be entertained by all those vendors inside the trains - you have those guys selling like 10 chocolates for 2$ (while each one costs 2$ in the stores) and nobody really knows where the ultra-cheap chocolate comes from.
Let me rephrase....My father loves ancient history, so of the places they've been in China, Beijing offers a ton of it. He said that Beijing is second to Rome when it comes to ancient history sights (of the places he's been). He said everything else was pretty terrible, where as Shanghai was a lot more organized overall.
They went to Guangzhou and disagree with you...the city was organized, and yes very industrious, but the quality of life there is definitely better than Beijing.
A buddy told me you have to wash your clothes every time you go out because they smell like smog afterwards.
Why has nobody mentioned the Washington, DC metro as one of the biggest jokes of all time? There is nothing like walking down the stairs to the platform (because all of the escalators are out of order) and then looking up at the display to see the next train does not come for 35 minutes (during the middle of a weekday). If you are going anywhere in the capitol area/WH/McPherson Square/G-Town/CT Ave/etc. you are better off just walking. The DC government should just fill that thing with cement and stop throwing money down the drain.
In terms of quality of life, Shenzhen >>> Beijing. Ditto for Guangzhou
Meh, the DC metro is pretty good during rush hour and for big sporting events. It definitely relieves a lot of traffic during peak times. It's relatively clean, rarely absurdly crowded. It's just not really well run since it's run by a non-profit entity that has basically administrators and not leaders running the show.
The best part is, anyone that isn't from or doesn't live in DC thinks it's great. It is a joke and they literally rape you on the fare (can cost $7 or more each way during rush hour).
No it's fucking not. Go live somewhere else. It is a fucking joke.
I've lived in NYC, Chicago and DC and the Metro is 10x worse than the EL or Subway.
Yeah, no it's not. Chicago has an absolute joke of a rail system and it goes nowhere nice. I used to manage a dozen apartment buildings in North Chicago.
I can't speak to NYC except I've never in my life heard of anyone complaining about the cleanliness of the DC metro rail. Never. But from hundreds of miles away I've heard all kinds of complaints about how filthy the subway is in NYC. It's renowned.
LOLOLOL
Have you been on the Red Line? First of all, North Chicago is practically Wisconsin. Nobody complains about the DC rail b/c you can't get a train. And if by chance you do get a train after walking down and up the broken escalators (nowhere else do you see multiple escalators out of service and you'll find them all out of service at the same station in DC), the odds of your train breaking down in the fucking tunnels is 2:1.
I was on a red line train to work, broke down for over an hour, missed a meeting. On a red line train back home from work... broke down. Had to be towed to Bethesda then was taken out of service.
Yea, that was in one fucking day.
In all, I lived in DC for two years and regularly rode the Red line, with some dabbling on the Orange and Yellow. There were at least 15 times where it stopped for 20 min or longer while I was on board. And overall, it was constantly delayed. Never had that in 5 years of living in Chicago.
Also never had this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/metro/red-line-crash/crash…
I grew up and lived in the DC metro area for nearly my whole life until I moved to NYC a few years back. Most people just commute by car, so traffic is awful during rush hour (god help you if you're commuting to and from northern VA, the beltway is BAD). I barely took the metro since I had a car, but the few times I did, I never had any issues---it's relatively clean and never too crowded. But it's not 24/7 so you're SOL if you miss the last train.
NYC metro on the other hand is the most filthiest, nastiest subway system I have ever been on. Smells like shit, litter everywhere on the tracks, and rats running on the tracks too. There's also no A/C in a lot of the stations, so for all you fellow NYers, we had it bad last week with the 95+ weather. The only upside is that it's 24/7.
By far the best subway systems I've been on are in Asia, specifically Taipei and Singapore. The MRT systems are modern and very clean, and people are respectful enough to queue in a line and just wait for the next train instead of holding the door like some assholes do here.
Most people commute by car b/c the 2 hour commute is about how long the Metro takes since it breaks down constantly. That and the fact that it costs 3x Chicago or NYC each way.
Absolutely agree on Singapore's system and HK is not bad either.
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