Are you a New Yorker?
by Amasing
At minimum, you have at least, have taken the subway. Unless you truly are a tourist and even then, are only here for a day you would have taken a cab (for convenience). The underground transit system could be unpleasant. The smell of stale urine, rats running around the tracks, and litter on the tracks (which obviously contribute to the rats) are a common site in New York. As a New Yorker (or a person who has been to New York), how do you ride the subway?
Now, the daily seating calculations of subway riders have been recorded for academic use, as part of an observational study conducted by researchers of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. So, how do you ride? For the most part, people who stand or sit prefer a spot near the door (for obvious reasons, they can get out quicker). So, are you a “stander” or a “sitter?”
Generally, men prefer to stand while women prefer to sit (this could be due in part because men are expected to be the “gentlemen” and give up a seat). Women, almost never sit in empty cars (for safety reasons).
Do you tend to change seats when the one you want is available? Seat changing doesn’t happen to often simply if the train is crowded; your preferred seat is taken during mid transition. Here is an unspoken rule of riding a subway car. Don’t stare! Eye contact has been observed (or not observed) on trains. We have been told as kids that it’s “rude” to stare but on trains, you have eye contact with someone and it’s almost automatic, you both look away. Trains are not known to be singles bar you know. That is why you see more and more people with headphones on so they can at least, but submersed in their own world.
As for the author, I predominately stand no matter how empty or full the train is. I don’t stare at a woman’s eyes, I stare at their breast (sorry for being a perv but it’s true).
