As much as people love the New York Subway, there is always something to complain about - the overcrowding at rush hour, the delays, and just the dirt that is found within the system. Last week, the transit advocacy group, Straphangers Campaign made its list of Ten Plagues of the Subway. Although it does not include amphibians hopping around the stations or every passenger exiting the system with boils, the list at least does include flooding (minus the blood).
Delays and overcrowding made it tops on the list. But surprisingly, bugs and rats did not. Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said that he has "already been chastised for leaving out rats, cockroaches, and subway preachers." Well, bedbugs, though, were spottedon subway benches at Union Square, Fordham Road, and Hoyt-Schermerhorn stations, similar to how lice and gnats attacked Egypt in Exodus' Ten Plagues.
Responding to the list, the MTA stated that the transit agency "has been and continues to work hard to provide the type of mass transit experience that he greatest city in the world deserves."
So what comes next? I guess it's the parting of Second Avenue to build thenew subway line in the Upper East Side.
Here is the full list of plagues:
- Overcrowding
- Delays
- Long waits
- Flooding
- Summer heat
- Dirty seats
- Garbled announcements
- MetroCard mis-swipes
- Just missing a train
- Traveling with your newborn
Photo by Flicker user Joe Holmes.
