Subway social
A big draw of living in New York is that you can get just about everywhere by subway, and you don't need to own a car.
Actually, it's more than that. New York is certainly not the only U.S. city where you can live without a car. But it is the only city where the majority of people actually do live without a car. When it comes to transit usage, New York really is in a league of its own.
And when you reach that critical mass of transit usage, positive social benefits emerge that you may not expect.
Imagine that you're meeting up with friends in New York to hang out:
- You and a friend meet at the subway stop between your apartments, and ride together to meet your other friends at a restaurant.
- After the meal, someone suggests getting drinks at a new spot across town, so you all ride the train together to the bar.
- At the end of the night, another friend joins you and your subway partner for a few stops until their transfer.
- Then you and the last friend finish the train ride and part ways at your shared stop.
Now let's walk through that same scenario in a car-dominated world:
- You and your friend each drive separately to the restaurant.
- You considered carpooling, but it's a little inconvenient for one person to have to pick up / drop off the other, and anyway you aren't sure yet if you'll be leaving at the same time so you decide it's best to drive your own car.
- You all drive separately to the bar, since you don't want to make your way back to this random restaurant to grab your car later.
- At the end of the night, everyone drives home separately.
Some benefits to the subway situation are obvious: you save money and hassle on parking; you reduce your collective carbon emissions; you can safely drink at the bar without worrying about driving afterward.
But what gets me is the difference in how much time you get to spend together in each scenario. In the subway scenario, you're hanging out not just at each destination, but the entire time, including transit. In comparison, in the car scenario, you spend all that transit time alone.
It's not just about your individual convenience. The subway brings you closer to the people you love!
More ways the subway makes us social:
- Traveling in a large group? You can all ride the subway together, no need to split into cars.
- Parting ways from an event with a budding acquaintance? If you happen to be taking the train in the same direction, it's a low-stakes way to continue the conversation and get to know each other better.
- You're more likely to bump into someone you know on the train than you are while driving. And if you do, you can have a conversation, rather than waving silently through your car window.
When you ride the subway, whether you're with people you know or surrounded by total strangers, you are together—overhearing each other's conversations, exchanging glances, living the same experience. There's simply more social surface area for something, anything to happen.
And I just love that!
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