The Sunday Read: 'The Case for the Subway'

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2021

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Long before it became an archaic and filthy symbol of everything wrong with America’s broken cities, the New York subway was a marvel. In recent years, it has been falling apart. Today on The Sunday Read, a look at why failing to fix it would be a collective and historic act of self-destruction.

Transcript

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0:25.6	My name is Jonathan Moller.
0:32.3	I'm a staff writer for the New York Times magazine, and though I haven't used it in a few
0:36.1	years, I have a license to walk the tracks of the New York City subway system.
0:40.8	I've even got a laminated card that I carry in my wallet that says I'm allowed to go in
0:44.8	the hole as the subway's tunnels are known.
0:48.8	To get that license, I had to take a day-long course that ended with the class actually
0:53.9	walking the tracks.
0:55.9	And as part of walking the tracks, you have to prepare for the arrival of a train.
1:01.2	You do that by tucking your body into a tiny little hole in the wall called a clear-up
1:05.5	spot.
1:06.9	You wait for the train to come, you see the light, you feel it, you hear it, and it flies
1:14.0	by your face.
1:15.9	And as it comes by, you're just thinking, don't move.
1:19.0	Don't move.
1:20.0	Don't even scratch your nose.
	...

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