Big Apple's Subway

The Subway was our frequent mode of transportation while staying in Manhattan.. As we were there for about a week, we bought the 1-week Metro Pass that allows us to hop on & off subways & busses within NYC freely, for just $27 per person (sila jgn convert, kalo convert mmg rasa mahal... tapi murah tu!)

The Metro Card system works in such a way that it could only be used at the same station once every 18 minutes, so, tak bley la nak kawtim2 share Metro Card ke apa, unless nak tunggu 18 minit everytime. Naik bus confirm la tak bleh, kantoi ngan driver nanti haha...Pastu, swipe2 kad masa nak masuk aje, klua tak kira sebab rasanya tambang flat rate kot & i believe semua orang pun mostly beli Metro Kad, tak byk yg pakai one way tix... nway, clever innit? Eh, ke Malaysia nye system pun camgitu - harap maaf, maybe someone can enlighten me?

The timetable amat2 efficient, can always rely on it eventhough dah tgh lewat malam... and the train was so long that there were never an issue to board the next one, even during peak hours - still muat untuk sqeeze in...

Like a true New Yorker haha... well, timing amat tepat kan, sampai body clock can work out nak tido lama mana... I can see lots of these happening around :)

And there is a system of express & local service... Each way, there will be 2 rail tracks, so there's at least 4 rail tracks at every station - 2 heading downtown & 2 for uptown services. Express will only stop at main stations while local stops at every small station along the route - so kene ada skill lompat2 train kalo nak cepat, which is clever indeed! Juri dah jadi expert dah since asik study je the map haha... Most of the time, bila keluar aje 1st train, 2nd train terus sampai - the timing was so perfect, I wonder how they plan it so well... Ada la sekali dua kitorang kene tunggu for transit, but 3 mins maximum I guess, hebat kan? And semua pakai driver, takde la macam ghost train yg electronically controlled tu hehe... mmg old skool, but hey, it works marvel...

see- 4 railtracks - our stop (City College, 137th Street) was a small one, so yg express (track tengah tu) doesn't stop here;)

Someone asked me whether it was smelly or not - i totally understand what she meant as London Underground dulu too much unpleasant smell - booze & pees - urghhh... but surprisingly, nothing smell unpleasant in the NY subway... i don't know whether it's my smelling sense or the weather was soo cold that it didn't smell as it looked? Tapi London dulu pun sejuk kan...

Anyway, as I was saying - the 'look' or rather total appearance of the subway system is not that modern... mmg nampak ancient but very well maintained, cuma railtracks je nampak cam busuk & kotor... can see rats and sampah2 juga... but still, no smell... ah well, maybe it's just their luck to have such climate that prevents the smell?? hmmm... i think the air wasn't that clean too, as our nose was doing maximum filtering - hitam habis tahi2 hidung!! oohoo, ntah2 sebab tu kot tak bau - hidung kene block, patut pun!!!! hahahahaha

See what I mean...?
But look - the interior's not bad kan ~ clean as a whistle, even though tade pun signage no drinking / eating what not...

Nway, there's still a lot for Malaysia to learn from them kan - especially on the timetable efficiency & ticketing system... not to say that ours is not good - but, room for improvement is still at large.. I hope we can have US efficiency & Singapore's cleanliness - that wud be perfect! I won't even consider buying a car if this cud be realized =) that is, if I leave in KL la hehe