Trains vs Subways

Recently I was trying to explain to a non-New Yorker the difference between the subway & the LIRR. Her thoughts were a train is a train & they’re all the same. Ah, the poor misinformed woman! Let me point out the differences:

The subway has entertainment (story to follow). The LIRR usually doesn’t. The LIRR is way more expensive (one way during rush hour can range from $6 – $21 depending on the distance while the subway is $2 regardless of time or distance). The LIRR has soft, cushy seats. The subway has hard, molded plastic seats. The subway runs trains more often. The LIRR runs fewer trains. (If it’s not rush hour, they only run once an hour from one of the local stations nearby. Miss that train by a minute or 2 & you have an hour wait for the next one.)

So – yep, big differences between the 2. I’ve also found a lot of people who live near me, where the nearest subway stop is 7 miles away, are afraid of riding the subway. They’re a bunch of wimps. I, on the other hand, having grown up in Brooklyn sorta like it. You never know what you’re going to see on the subway.

Last week, as I waited on a platform for the E train, an elderly man walked by. He had one of those signs – a wooden stick with cardboard, sort of like those, “The World Is Coming To An End” signs. I only caught part of what it said because the number 1 rule in the subway is you don’t stare at people. The part that I did catch said something like, “Everything isn’t peachy in Georgia.” (I assume he wasn’t referring to the state.) Now you just don’t see that sort of thing if you’re riding the LIRR.

Nor do you usually experience what Frank did recently. He leaves for work early and usually falls asleep during part of the train ride. He was woken up by the sound of banging and cursing. Smack in the middle of the car was a woman sitting on the floor who was demanding that someone get up and give her a seat. After listening to her for a while, the man next to Frank offered her his seat. She didn’t want his seat. She pointed to Frank. “I want his seat!”

Most of the people watching this chuckled, as did my husband, as he got up to give her his seat. The first man had already gotten up as well when he made her his offer. She then sat down, sprawled across both seats. She then continued to curse and bang so I guess she was a bit angry over something other than the lack of seats.

Now while that sort of thing can be entertaining, there really is actual entertainment at some of the stations and occasionally, in the actual train. Most of the entertainment involves musical instruments, some of which are quite unusual. Last week someone was playing something that looked like a pumpkin with a broom stuck in it. In spite of the odd appearance, it sounded really nice.

And there you have it – trains aren’t all the same after all.