I cannot emphasize enough that the New York City subway is not scary. It’s one of my favorite parts of living here. I grew up in the suburbs having to drive on highways everywhere and that’s way scarier
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Pro-car propaganda is so stupid. I can count on my hands the number of times I’ve encountered something “scary” or truly unpleasant on the subway. Driving is quite literally a daily gamble with death
My “scariest” subway experience involving an aggressive man (who was clearly more vulnerable than me and I have a lot of sympathy for him) was resolved with the help of one of my fellow passengers. Meanwhile, on the road, aggressive men will kill you and no one can even help you
i took the subway to school from middle school through college and my scariest experience was early on getting hit in the leg by a gun some bumbling national guard dude was carrying a few days after 9/11. lmao
Because flying has become scarier than driving, I am driving up to Maine in March, and will visit the City. I won't take 95, and I've done the drive many times. I let the assholes be assholes, I drive a turbo Jetta--I can let them eat my dust if needs be.
The NYC subway is a beloved marvel of efficiency and modest cost. From the South Bronx to Wall Street everybody rides the train.
It is one of our very few remaining authentically democratic platforms in the country. AC in Summer, Warmth in winter, fast, clean, historically remarkably safe. I❤️NYC.
I know you were pointing out the demographics with this two geographic locations. I'll just add that geographically, it's more like Rockaway to the North Bronx!
There is no possibility of destroying the subway. NYC area produces about 10% of the nation's economy and most people here rely on public transport to get to work.
It’s country mice vs city mice. Remember when SCOTUS tried to make concealed carry the law of the land? Even the Republicans in NYC were like NOBODY WANTS THIS.
I have no idea why, but they identify so heavily with the living conditions in the country that they want to force it on the rest of us.
Yeah. The lack of good transit (along with park space) is why LA feels as broken as it does, despite its incredible scenery, institutions, wealth, culture, diversity, food scene, etc.
TBH if you want to kill someone with a car it'll be called an accident & there are virtually no consequences. So, very safe environment for anyone planning assault-with-vehicle.
The number of cyclists & pedestrians I know who were badly injured by a driver who faced virtually no penalty bc police didn’t report accurately is nonzero. In my experience cops are hesitant to assign driver fault w/o alcohol (driver) or a child (victim) involved.
I always felt safe on the NY subway trains. I was there for 2weeks. My friend and I went all over on it while we were there. I even took a few rides by myself. It was a fun experience.
Man idk I was raised in Bklyn and NYC My two young adults live there now and it’s pretty crazy down there. Don’t know what trains you’re on, but when I visit it’s like an asylum down there.
My brother lives there, I visit with my wife and toddler regularly from Boston and was just there for a week last month. We use the subway to get everywhere, and just like every other visit, it was totally fine. More accessible stations would be great though.
More street and train homelessness than 10 or 20 years ago.
Far far less crime than 30 or even 20 years ago.
But there are more young kids selling candy to make money.
So many of the scary public transportation stories I read is about a mentally unwell person yelling but ultimately not even touching anyone. Meanwhile I can name at least 5 people I know who have been injured, permanently disabled or even killed by cars.
Ultimately, I think people are just more acutely attuned to perceived threats from other people than from machines that have been human-factor engineered to feel extremely safe (cars). It's not really logical, but it makes a degree of sense.
i think it’s also the perception of control. if i get in the big metal tube where i am not The Driver then Bad Things could happen! even though statistically it’s way more dangerous to drive and most people’s skills behind the wheel are questionable at best. i hate driving.
my scariest experience on the nyc subway was someone yelling at me once. my top 10?50? 100? all? scariest experiences on the road involve other drivers nearly killing me.
Driving on public roads is a continuous state of being seconds from death. At ANY MOMENT, another driver could just slam into you without warning and there's a good chance you won't walk away from it. I used to think I don't have dissociative episodes until someone described it to me and 1/2
2/2 I realized, "oh shit, I do that every time I get behind the wheel." There's just no other way to stay calm enough to keep control of the vehicle for that long.
I am a car guy, and always will be. I have been a mechanic my entire adult life and have been around cars since I was born. My uncle was a mechanic and my dad was in auto body by trade. But there are places, big city's like NY, Boston, DC etc... where they just are not needed.
When I visit these places, I try and take a train in (that usually happens in Boston because I am only an hour or so away). Or I will drive in and park my car wherever it is that I am staying and use public transportation for the duration of my stay. It's way easier and definitely less stressful.
So much of many folk's idea of NYC being dangerous is rooted in them watching films & TV from the 70s & 80s or from procedural crime dramas like Law & Order rather than actual crime stats or personal experience. I live in the Bronx and couldn't feel safer.
My husband and I were in NYC for an award ceremony for him. While he was in meetings I rode the subway, went the wrong direction and got assistance from so many kind New Yorkers. They were so helpful. You also have the best garment district
I’m a Californian who loves driving, and also the child of New Yorkers, and I love the subway. I HATE being in a car in NYC. The subway is far superior.
new york tourist here (since like... mid 90s?) -- i LOVE the subway! it warms the cockles of my california heart. i use it as much as possible every time i visit (which i'm long overdue now...!)
Especially since the pandemic started people have been driving way worse and way more aggressively. You’re right, public transportation is way safer than driving.
30 years ago on the #BART I heard some NY's talking and they envied the comfortable fabric seating in SF. They were saying if it was NY people would take them home to use as sofas.
As someone who is forced to consume lots of confusing NYC subway discourse: is it safe but often unnerving, as in randos talking to you more often than you’d like?
Same here. Grew up in the CT suburbs. Started working in Manhattan and then moved to Brooklyn 20 years ago. Sold our car 10 years ago because the subway, buses, and walking got us everywhere. Haven't driven since and don't miss it at all!
As a first time tourist to NYC last September (from Canada) can confirm. Enjoyed riding the subway everywhere. Also took a bus through Harlem to the Cloisters. Perfectly safe.
I mean I find subways mildly scary but that’s because I have anxiety about crowded, cramped spaces and loud noises. But I’m not a baby about it either because how else are you gonna get around if you don’t have a car?
There are 8.5 mil people living in NYC & another 3 mil in commuters & tourists that visit daily. Literally, millions of people are on the subway everyday. In the more than 100 yrs of this level of use, how many people have tried to set someone on fire? Facts don't care about your feelings.
The thing that always gets me about traffic accidents is no one even has to be a bad driver or make the wrong descisions for them to happen. All it takes is one person on the road having bad luck. A friend of my brother nearly died because another driver had a stroke.
I had a sleepy driver in an 18 wheeler nearly run us off the road on I-70 in 5° temperature. I have to drive that road home tomorrow for 3 hours and I am legit frightened.
Absolutely. And can I add that I can't remember a time in our many visits to NYC when we WEREN'T helped using the subway - which platform, etc, etc. - by New Yorkers. Roads are scarier, for drivers, rollers, and other pedestrians.
I’m so sick of this lie. I’ve been riding the subway since I was kid. Daily, for years and years. The only time it is actually scary is St. Patricks’s day.
I'd much rather be freaking out in a crowded place with people around where I can strike a conversation with someone than freaking out by myself in a car at cruising speed down a highway.
I've done this and my fellow passengers were very friendly
Absolutely! I live in the Houston area, and having a panic attack while on the freeway (I-45) is a nightmare scenario. I never lived in NYC, but I lived in Japan for a bit, and I *really* miss the trains.
100% agree. I don't live in NYC but every time I've visited the only scary thing about the subway is knowing which ones to take, and that lasts about 30 seconds until you acclimate to it - versus white-knuckling the highways of western NY as people in trucks try to actively kill you.
If I could go the rest of my life never needing to get into a car and be on a highway again, I would be ecstatic! I hate cars. They scare me, and other drivers scare me (I don't drive and my spouse is an excellent driver). I wish subways were more common in other parts of the country.
I lived in NY for 4 years, went back countless times. I’m not sure I’ve seen an actual crime on the subway besides a homeless person screaming and we all got up and went to the next car and resumed our commute. I think a crime is more likely to happen in an apartment than on a subway car.
Having grown up riding the subway and as an adult working for the MTA as a tower operator and later supervisor, I totally agree. It’s really the life of the city
So true! I felt safer in NYC when walking in midtown, taking a bus, and riding the subway than I’ve ever felt driving around Oklahoma City. More people ≠ less safe.
I grew up in NYC and the subway was never scary. When I visit NYC, which I do often as my family is still there, riding the subway is one of the things I enjoy. It's cheap and gets you where you want to go, no traffic!
Rode the Subways to school from 6th grade on. Not scary. Interesting but not scary. If you are lucky you have a musician on the platform to pass the time.
We were on a car once when a group of acrobats performed an awesome act.
They were doing it for tips, and I gave them a large one. They were all Black wearing hoodies at first, so I'm sure they freaked out a lotta folks until they started performing. Black men in hoodies have never frightened me.
On the Tube from Heathrow to Central London, we had an extended stop at one of the Hounslow stations. “Mr Busker, please exit the train please, and mind the gap.” They are very polite to their buskers.
I just saw what the actual stats were for subway crime and laughed, because that seems extremely safe for a city with a population bigger than my entire country 🤣
I'm not tallking about smaller cities, I'm talking abouut new york city where the national guard was deployed to deal with the subway crime that is barely an inconvenience.
The only crime I experienced was pickpocketing, once.
I was at the booth buying tokens (yes I’m old) and was never sure if someone snatched my wallet or I dropped it
My attitude in cities is "I BELONG here". I'm not intimidated by anything--I BELONG on a subway if I choose to use one. I have always been offered a seat (my balance is off so standing and hanging on to something is precarious. I've never been molested or bothered, and I've always had great chats.
Yeah, I'm not walking to Astoria. The subways are absolutely safe. Cant say the same for 1986 but in 2025 its wonderful (unless you are differently abled, its kinda a bitch in a wheelchair)
I hate driving and I hate driving on freeways most. It's scary and stressful all the time. When I've been to New York or Chicago the trains have been just the fuckin best.
I always got motion sick in the back of my Mom's stuffy minivan, it smelled like primordial peanut butter in there.
For some reason I also always ate a heaping bowl of cereal with lots of milk right before going on road trips to the state parks here in norcal, and I'm lactose intolerant,
My scariest NYC subway experience was accidentally getting off at Times Square instead of a couple stops after and subsequently deciding just to walk the rest of the way since it was a nice day.
So many people. So many offered mix CDs. The horrors.
Statistically Americans are at the highest risk of death and injury while inside of a motor vehicle. It's why it's weird to me when people say things like "I want to move somewhere safe! Cities aren't safe!"
Cities are plenty safe. They just also happen to be diverse, and that's alarming to some.
A few years ago I took the subway as an out-of-towner who had not been to NY since forever. Not only was it safe, but people volunteered to help because they could just look at me and know I was not a usual.
visited NYC couple of times and rode the subway. It was fine. Once I accidentally scared a guy. I was figuring out how to buy a ticket and studying the screen when a guy came sidling up to me. I’m a short woman but I move fast. I whipped my head around and stared at him and he panicked and ran.
Last Sunday night, when I was on, a guy scolded a woman for walking too slowly, but another man asked, "Why, are you in a hurry?" And it was diffused. And a mentally ill man wanted to talk with me, but I had trouble understanding him, and that was it.
Nothing serious has happened but I’ve been personally approached and witnessed situations that have caused me to hesitate riding. Having been on both the NY subway and Max my personal experience is that I feel safer on NY than MAX 😉
It's having to share a public space with so many strangers that freaks car driving suburbanites out. Get someone in the mix with a noticeable mental health issue and they're telling their friends back home that it was Judgment Night (the schlocky 1993 film).
Surely these people have flown somewhere. Or gone to a mall. Or, if they're that concerned about Manhattan, walked around in midtown. It's a crowded world.
The suburbanites feel sad that they are on a subway with random people because their ancestors thought they moved up when they isolated themselves.
For the urban and cosmopolitan, the strangers and community are the draw.
I'm a car-driving rural/suburbanite that HATES to drive in the city. Why would I want to when it's easy enough to take mass transit not only within the city, but even to get there?
Probably getting information from people like me who grew up with it in the 80’s before they cleaned it up. A huge difference to how it is now. I love using now when I visit, but back then I preferred the bus.
It’s more the people that move in to the area that assume it’s scary. This girl I know from Ohio thought getting on the subway midday was scary. She thought she needed a gun like dafuq
The odds are very low on the nyc subway that you will be victim of a crime. Pretty high odds though of having to bear witness to people suffering extreme poverty and/or mental illness. Which are problems we could more easily mitigate if we stopped viewing them through the lens of criminal justice
And let's be real - the media hyping up the few bad incidents is a problem. Like 3.5 million people (1 in 10 Americans) rides the subway every day. But you get 3 or 4 horrible incidents and everyone thinks the subway is like fucking Thunderdome. Subway is safe and more economical than driving.
I worked in NYC for decades and took the subway for a majority of that, during rush hours and off hours, and I experienced no crime, violence, or fear during that time at all.
The most uncomfortable (not scary) it ever got was when someone walked around the subway car asking for money.
I live in DC and have taken public transport in all sorts of cities. It's always better than driving and you get to see the real city instead of just tourist stuff. These people are so afraid of anything different I'm amazed they have the courage to get out of bed in the AM.
I visited NYC for a consult in October, and the subway is fucking amazing. I loved it. Texas doesn't DO public transport, and the idea of a life without needing a car is a fucking miracle.
Fucking Texas drivers are a million times more scary, dangerous and expensive than the subway.
I recently visited New York for the first time and the subway was so easy to navigate! And so convenient! And not at all scary, even when I rode it at 3 am to get to the airport.
Here's an amusing scene from a great 1980s move, "Brother from Another Planet". It ends by making a point about race, de facto segregation, and white fear of black people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jJkq3_rww
The biggest danger I faced when I lived in New York--in the 90s, when crime was still much higher than today--was falling asleep on the train and waking up in, like, Far Rockaway.
Been there. Missed my connection from the D to the N at 36th street in Brooklyn and woke up above ground near Coney Island. Man, that train was so warm at 3am.
I had a friend who fell asleep and ended up in Coney Island.
Got back on to head back home, fell asleep again, and ended up all the way in Harlem.
Rough night.
I would still like to see the numbers on how many commuters have actually been kicked in the face by subpar Showtime crews. I would bet it's not many but more than zero.
Woke up in Coney a few times many years ago, one time I shared some of a flask I was carrying at the time with another unfortunate soul in commiseration.
My kid literally makes friends on the train when sharing the railfan window. Some guy offered to give up his seat when he saw I was with my kid and I was like, it's ok, he prefers to stand and watch through the window.
There are many, many middle class people (my wife, for instance) who lived all their lives in the outer boroughs who have never learned how to drive because the public transportation system in NYC is so safe & efficient. I'm sure that's mind boggling for many ppl.
Agreed on not scary, but it needs a facelift so badly. London, Paris, and Munich public transit all look like spaceships compared to some of the relics still on the rails in NYC.
I've rode nearly daily fir 34 since 81. Not much since. I've used many around the world. NYC subway is awesome. There's nothing like it. People from everywhere mostly being super civil. And so amazing in the beauty of humanity. Noses of all shapes.
One of my favorite NYC memories was wearing a kilt on the subway and a little old lady carrying her groceries asking me all the questions until her next stop
Especially at night on unlit roads with a car trying to push you to go way above the speed limit because they think you're going too slow, over twisty turny roads.
My bro and SIL live on the UWS. I have visited them many times. They are both attys, so I had to entertain myself--I've used the subway (absolutely zero scary shit), the bus, and once, those tricycle cabs through Central Park. I took myself to lunch at a place on 5th Ave (it was in a basement), and
very expensive cocktails at Baccarat Hotel. I shyly asked the doormen if I could take a peak inside, and he laughed jollily and took me for a tour. It was exquisite. By 5 o'clock it was PACKED with yuppies. The bartenders are all past convicts. The lead treated them with love and respect. Me too.
It’s completely true! I hate driving. The subway is one of the main reasons I choose to keep living here. I absolutely love it. I can use commute time to read, I can get around inebriated, I can traverse the whole city affordably. It’s awesome.
I agree. The NYC subway (also, the London Underground and a couple other systems I can think of) are like a kind of inheritance of the cities where they are, and they’re practically miraculous. We should be grateful people had such vision.
The subway - mass transit 24/7 should exist in every city. The majority (Nashville) does not have decent bus service or Amtrak /rail service. (Closed the train depot 80yrs ago)
It is hurts regular people - but it does keep the poor out of wealthy areas. *And great for car industry.
Well, they have the food rule precisely to make fun of NYC for the number of rats 😃 But to be fair, the Metro did get better after the year where the main goal was “no fires”. (Now if only the TTC would embrace that slogan “Back to good” for a year or two!)
I used the subway while I lived in NYC, sure it can be improved but for so many like me it is vital. It is such a good system, no wonder why special interest want to see it wither and die.
The subway is one of the best ways to travel around the city and is far from scary. Many people who are afraid of it are thinking it’s like it was in the 80s and it’s just not. Every time I have been to NYC I have road the subway and never felt unsafe even once.
I often think small city/small town people struggle to grasp public transportation as a universal tool for all types of people. You can have five tweakers on a bus in a city but they disappear into the crowd, in a small city they are the only people on the bus so it feels "scary" to suburbanites.
I ride every day without issue. The materials used during construction aged poorly, so stations look dingy, but they are not filthy (if you ignore the occasional track rat). A fun thing is to look for the art, like the beautiful mosaics. 1 station has a metal mouse family playing on the platform.
100% agree and I am a small Asian American woman. But I also recognize that I am privileged in that I live in Manhattan and travel a lot more in Manhattan.
The only people I've ever seen afraid of the NYC subway are the same who are afraid of the whole city. They drive in from the exurbs in a state of fear, get overpriced parking a block from their destination, and then flee back to the perceived safety of their little white towns as soon as they can.
I can only speak as a tourist in NYC, but I've never had an issue w/ the subways. Like all big cities you have to be aware of your surrounds & things can always happen, but I found it very easy & convenient to get around. My city has no public transport & I hate it.
I've gone to NYC hundreds of times and I've never had a bad time on the subway. With millions of people in one place, it is remarkably fine to get around safely.
Same, and same! I commute daily to midtown and I love it. During the height of covid I found a youtube video with subway noise to have in the background while I did the crossword puzzle every day!
Occasional bad smells & loud screeching brakes, but in spite of not growing up near NYC I feel very at home in subway stations. Back in the bad old days of high crime bc "drug war," (late 80's, early 90's) I once felt threatened: by cops with guns out, not by others.
I'll taek DC metro or any other train/bus over driving when I get a chance...hell I've take the El in Chicago at 0100 and nothing happened...everyone just wanted to get home.
The only people who are scared of the subway are people who don’t ride the subway, haven’t met a regular subway rider who feels “scared”. Driving sucks
The scariest thing that ever happened to me there was this guy performed a dance and it wasn’t very good and then he got annoyed with people not being impressed, so he left. haha
in my 24 years of life the only time i have EVER felt uncomfortable on the subways and the path are when the pigs are prowling. the subway is supremely safe.
Never had a issue in all my time there..still don't when I go back for MFF...except having to walk around Rosemont..fuck Rosemont. (No car use for a whole week is so nice)
I’ve driven through queens, once was enough. Hard to figure out if a lane is going to be full of parked cars, everyone driving way to close together. Absolutely terrible. Even the sketchiest subways I’ve been on have mostly been quiet if a bit stinky and a little more difficult to navigate.
The worst part ever is just when it gets really hot outside and the stations are really hot. But it’s really efficient and gets you so many places so quickly. No car situation ever is like that.
I adore the subway and willingly take the longest routes around the city when work calls for it lol. My only gripe is when the train cars catch a foul smell. My most weird interaction was a homeless guy sleeping alongside a jar of pickles in vinegar
I wish that every article about "scary" subway incidents was required to include daily rider statistics alongside, say, how many people fly in a day. It's not a new revelation, but people need to understand that these events are statistically *so* rare!
I spent a few years living in New Jersey, and the NYC Subway is a modern marvel. Now that I'm back in Chicago, I miss having such an extensive Metro system available
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It's really sad that people in the US don't understand how much they are being manipulated by ads and social media. Life could be so much better.
Please just fund our public transit
Please just modernize their equipment
Looking at you, UPS
It is one of our very few remaining authentically democratic platforms in the country. AC in Summer, Warmth in winter, fast, clean, historically remarkably safe. I❤️NYC.
Like trying to do the opposite of every developed nations on earth for the benefit of a bunch of psychos who look longingly at 1922
NYers display more routine tolerance before 7am on an early morning crowded 6 train than most of our nation does in an entire 65 hour work week.
I have no idea why, but they identify so heavily with the living conditions in the country that they want to force it on the rest of us.
Was worse 3-4 years ago.
Still room for improvement of course.
-someone who actually lives here
Far far less crime than 30 or even 20 years ago.
But there are more young kids selling candy to make money.
Hardly the stuff of nightmares.
Nobody on a subway has ever done anything close.
Dealing with an out of control road rager is a terrifying experience.
The other people don't bother me so much.
Here's a great scene from a great 1980s movie, with a racial twist at the end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jJkq3_rww
I'd much rather be freaking out in a crowded place with people around where I can strike a conversation with someone than freaking out by myself in a car at cruising speed down a highway.
I've done this and my fellow passengers were very friendly
I grew up in NY, and took the subway to HS every day
Oh the things I’ve seen.
Glad to see the city has cleaned up a lot since the 70’s.
Being mugged and panhandled was not that rare. Getting sold pencils by a supposed blind person an everyday occurrence.
They were doing it for tips, and I gave them a large one. They were all Black wearing hoodies at first, so I'm sure they freaked out a lotta folks until they started performing. Black men in hoodies have never frightened me.
Red states have way worse crime rates than NYC does.
I was at the booth buying tokens (yes I’m old) and was never sure if someone snatched my wallet or I dropped it
Subway, I know where I’m going.
I always got motion sick in the back of my Mom's stuffy minivan, it smelled like primordial peanut butter in there.
For some reason I also always ate a heaping bowl of cereal with lots of milk right before going on road trips to the state parks here in norcal, and I'm lactose intolerant,
So many people. So many offered mix CDs. The horrors.
Cities are plenty safe. They just also happen to be diverse, and that's alarming to some.
Last Sunday night, when I was on, a guy scolded a woman for walking too slowly, but another man asked, "Why, are you in a hurry?" And it was diffused. And a mentally ill man wanted to talk with me, but I had trouble understanding him, and that was it.
Plus finding parking can be a nightmare or $45.9
I heart New York.
For the urban and cosmopolitan, the strangers and community are the draw.
Bad enough being on a bus or in a taxi! I like to walk, but I’m happy to hop on the subway if it’s a long distance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX2vNq3cplE
Those who think it’s scary have likely never used it
Full disclosure: I have seen some weird things-but no weirder than walking on the sidewalk
The only scary thing is it’s harder to walk away from the creepy guy with no concept of personal space
The most uncomfortable (not scary) it ever got was when someone walked around the subway car asking for money.
Fucking Texas drivers are a million times more scary, dangerous and expensive than the subway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jJkq3_rww
Got back on to head back home, fell asleep again, and ended up all the way in Harlem.
Rough night.
It's really no different than using the Metro in DC.
If we invested in transit appropriately we could have those.
in 2 weeks
per Rocky Hill (Conn.)
Fire Department
Feb 1
91 Southbound prior to Route 9
Feb 1
91 NB Exit 23
Jan 30
91 NB Exit 23
Jan 29
91 SB Exit 23
Jan 27
91 SB Exit 23
Jan 17
91 SB Exit 24
Jan 15
91 SB at Cromwell town line
i ride all the way from the staten island ferry to the cloisters. 💕💕💕💕
Even 12 year old white girls can ride it without freaking out.
Yet fox viewing maga dudes are terrified of it.
It is hurts regular people - but it does keep the poor out of wealthy areas. *And great for car industry.
Former pro-car guy here. Because I'd never used a subway. And was an idiot.
NYC 2024 stats: 8 subway murders to 237 traffic fatalities
https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/1hy703j/nyc_2024_stats_8_subway_murders_to_237_traffic/
Anyone brave enough to take the Subway and BART to best and worse stations will be inured to fear. Suffice to say, neither is the Disney Monorail
No complaints