The general sentiment of the NYC Subway is bad. It is not difficult to find articles such as “The Worst Thing about New York Subway”, “Dirtiest Subway in the World” and “Your Tales of Subway Hell” among others on the internet. I don’t have the nicest thing to say about the city’s subway system myself, but I do love the diversity you can find inside the carriages.

You can find people from across income groups, from the zero income homeless persons to those traveling to and from the most expensive streets. There are those who cancel noises of the subway with AirPods (there are so many of them!). Some of the fellow riders will give unsolicited performances inside the carriages to gain a dollar or two, or some hard earned applause. The ones who make speeches about their hardships while 99% of the riders keep their heads down to avoid eye contacts (and guilt). And the number of ethnic groups sharing a bench is truly unrivaled. There is also a small proportion of germaphobes who will unintentionally put on a balancing show on the rocky train instead of holding onto the germ filled poles (I don’t blame them and am frequently among this group) - seriously do you know how dirty the poles and handrails are?

Finally, after a year of riding the NYC Subway, I am confident to report that there is a significantly higher number of male riders reading hardcopies books inside the carriages than female riders. I cannot help but wonder if Hot Dudes Reading has something to do with it…

I guess other than the self-imposed balancing exercise, the one thing I enjoy doing most is people watching. There is no better subway system in the world to people watch than NYC.