On Tue, 16 Jan 2007, Ian Jelf wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes

I've had almost the same reaction on telling people I went on the
Subway in New York to Brooklyn. "You did what? Do you know how
dangerous that is?" "Err, I am standing here and am still alive to tell
the tale. It wasn't that bad."

We had exactly the same reaction when we were in New York. I've been
twice and on neither occasion did I feel any more unsafe than I would
have done on the Tube.

When i was in New York, i went on the following little trip:

7 train from Manhattan to Shea Stadium; said goodbye to my friends who
were going to see the tennis and walked into Flushing in search of Chinese
food; having found it, and a local burger place i can't honestly
recommend, walked back, and then along the length of Flushing Meadows,
getting lost in Kew Gardens Hills on the way (and passing an enormous rail
depot of some sort) and eventually found Briarwood Van Wyck Boulevard
station; sat there for a while waiting for an E train towards Jamaica
before getting round to reading the small print on the map and realising
that it wasn't going to come; walked out and down to Sutphin Boulevard
station, and caught a J train; changed at Broadway Junction (an amazing
station!) onto the A, and rode it to Hoyt Schermerhorn; walked around the
Fulton Street mall and environs, ate cheesecake, bought a couple of
T-shirts in Modell's (one of which has now fallen to bits); somehow got
back to east 66th street - i think it wasn't via the 4 from Borough Hall,
but rather the 2 or 3 to Times Square, so i could have a go on the shuttle
to Grand Central and then get the 6 home!

Anyway, should i have been afraid? I was a bit worried when i was lost in
Kew Gardens, since i was off the edge of all my maps, but it seemed like a
nice area, and i knew roughly where i was heading, so wasn't afraid as
such. I managed to walk through a couple of motorway junctions on the way
(these seem to be a popular feature of New York parks!), which didn't make
things any easier. Brooklyn itself was fine - felt rather like Brixton,
actually, far more London-like than any other part of New York (although
the scabby northern end of Broadway had something of the Seven Sisters
Road to it).

Still I don't believe in "doing a city" by going round in an air
conditioned tourist coach. I think it adds to the experience to travel
about how the residents do -

But using a real transport system is a great way to see somewhere. My
interest in trams has taken me to some very surprising bits of actually
rather famous cities over the years!

I strongly agree - in any metropolis, the transport network (which means
trains and trams in all but pathological or utopian cases) is the veins
and arteries of the city, and tells you more about how it lives and
breathes than anything you'll see in a coach.

tom

--
MADSKILLZ!