infobong.com

One of the things I learned while I was in New York is that I really, really love riding trains. I like to observe the other riders and watch the scenery go past. I like to make connections at other stops, and I love feeling the speed as the train rushes through a tunnel. I got a little nervous when the 7 train goes high above Queens on a rickety El line between the Courthouse Square and Queensboro Plaza stops. I told Erich, "This is probably all the roller-coaster I need." I also learned that I'm unusually afraid of heights.

I think back to when I lived in Philadelphia. I'd frequently take New Jersey Transit from Trenton to New York, which combined with the SEPTA ride to Trenton, took about 3.5 hours. Checking out museums and seeing friends were a definite plus, but I don't think I would have spent so much time if I didn't enjoy riding the train and exploring the MTA subway system. I have fond memories of chatting with a Philly El operator who showed me around his cabin and boasted of how he can take the train nearly 60 mph in a three-block stretch and going out for drinks with a bus driver during March Madness.

bOINGbOING has a post today about a personal subway strap commuters can carry onto trains and busses to avoid transit schmutz. If you're that fussy, I think other factors are going to keep you from riding the subway (or living in the central city) before you worry about coming into contact with the subway bars.

Some people get really freaked out about germs, I suppose. I've been wandering through the back-to-school aisles here in Austin, and I keep seeing anti-bacterial hand lotion among the glue and crayons. Are Texas schools now requiring students to supply disinfectant? Or is this just for oppressively protective parents who want their kids to have clean hands? We certainly didn't have anti-bacterial lotion when I was in elementary school twenty years ago, so it seems like some kind of weird ghetto-futuristic artifact. If I rode the subway a lot, though, I might keep a bottle in my bookbag to use after grasping a particularly greasy handrail.