The NYC Subway, a Horrible Place for Bad Ideas

tracks
Photo by Steve Rhodes

Had it with the transit poop talk? Well, we’re not quite there yet. Definitely not, if there’s a strange utterly mind-boggling story involved.

According to Gawker, a New York man was killed last month after he fell onto the tracks while trying to create a makeshift toilet between two cars of a moving subway.

The story gets ever weirder. Shortly before that, another man was found in the same station, bloodied, with “severe buttocks injuries” and a broken pelvis. Police believe he had climbed up from the tracks and although it was unclear what exactly happened to him. He was, most certainly, very drunk.

Via Gawker.

Chicago Transit: One disgusting slap in the face

socks
Photo by terremonto

So, you think you have a nasty commute? Last month, a transit rider in Chicago called police after a fellow passenger smacked her across the face with a sock full of poop. Screaming and covered in feces, the woman chased after her attacker, but he ended up escaping.

The woman told the Post-Tribune that the attack occurred without warning and described it as the “biggest degradation” she’d ever experienced, so bad that she would have preferred he’d hit her instead.

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Next Stop … A Tribute to NYC’s Miss Subways


Photo: The first Miss Subways winner, Mona Freeman, via the Miss Subways Facebook Page.

New York City Subway stations have a specific type of beauty: underground urban sensibility mixed with iconic ceramic plaques and tile mosaics. We wouldn’t have thought they’d serve as the backdrop for a beauty contest, but we’re glad to be proven wrong.

For decades beginning in the 1940s, the Subway stations paid tribute to more than 200 winners of the Miss Subways contest. To enter, you just needed to be a lady, a New York City resident, and a Subway rider. The lovely winners’ photos, accomplishments, and aspirations were featured on posters throughout the transit system. New York artist Fiona Gardner and journalist Amy Zimmer tracked down 40 of the former beauty queens, photographed them, and plan to tell their life stories in an upcoming book, Meet Miss Subways. The duo still needs funding to complete their book — here’s more info on the Miss Subways Kickstarter project.

We have to admit, this unbelievably cool project has left us with a little city envy. Can we have a Miss Muni, please?

In Soviet Russia, Dogs Ride Metro!


Photo: AlphaTangoBravo/Adam Baker

As incredible as it may seem, the Moscow Metro is home to some 500 stray dogs, a number of which have taken to commuting by subway. Perhaps based on smell, the dogs appear to know which stations to exit from, and they’ve been known to wait patiently as trains pull up and the doors open. If only some Muni riders were that well trained, right?

The (non-human) animals on Muni are a very well-behaved lot, we’ve found. Never seen a dog on Muni? There are dogs on Muni.