Riding the train ... again

When you work in Manhattan there are only so many options of how to get to work. You could drive, but with gas rising to $4.35 a gallon and then tolls and parking you don't get much of a cost benefit to drive alone. Public transportation is the way to go. So you find yourself getting that ticket and standing on the platform waiting for the silver bullet to come around the bend.

Every morning you end up waiting with those same people you see everyday. There's the quirky guy with a goatee who is always in shorts with sneakers and black socks and likes to hold his coffee and do lunges. Then there's the 60-year-old businessman whose hair blows straight up in the air when a train comes by. Some sit and read the paper, others smoke, and sometimes they talk to each other.

You strategically place yourself in that prime position to get your favorite seat in your favorite car. I prefer the last car on the way into the city because it puts me close to stairs in Grand Central. So I walk to the end of the platform and stand right on the stenciled words "Watch the gap" where the doors usually stop. When the train pulls up you shuffle up to the door that stopped further away then you thought but someone else got to it first and you stand there waiting to see if the doors will open before people start shoving.

The doors open and you go in and see if your prime seat is empty. It is and you sit down and get out your laptop, bottle of water and headphones because if you don't someone will inevitably talk to you. At first you're alone, nobody likes to sit together if they can avoid it. Slowly people add to your row and by the time the train is halfway to Manhattan your knees are being bumped and you are being elbowed. Luckily the train is now express and won't be picking up anyone else. Somewhere along the line the conductor comes around and looks at your ticket.

Once the train gets to Grand Central people are already lining up to get out. The doors open and it's hot in Grand Central... at least 95 degrees in the summer time, and you breathe in diesel exhaust from the older trains.

You shove your way out of the car and cue up at the stairs to get out. Once you're down the stairs it's a free for all, people practically race each other on the way up to the street. Why? Not really sure. But one thing is sure, it happens every day.

You make your way to work, stay your 8 hours (or 6 if you're like me and work both ways on the train) and then once you're finished you get to start the trek home.

On the way home it's more exciting. The people are stressed out from their hard day making money, suing people, collecting excessive fees, you name it. They have drink carts outside the platforms so the businessmen are now bringing tallboys onto the train. This sometimes leads to problems on the train.

Example: A guy is standing and the conductor comes by asking for tickets. He says he doesn't have one and the conductor says "ok, $14." The guys says "wait" and fumbles for an id and shows that he is disabled so the conductor says, "Ok, $6." The guy says "I don't have any money" and the conductor asks for his ID to write him a ticket. So the guy who is disabled and a little drunk starts making a scene. "Why are you hassling me? I'm disabled because of Metro-North and a judge made them pay me $25,000!!" He goes on and on and people on the train start yelling at him to shut up and he won't. All he says is, "how dare you say I have no money, I have a $300,000 condo!! How dare you!!" Eventually the MTA Police pick him up at a station and arrest him.

So the evening commute is more fun and more crowded. I sit in one of two places on the train and see a lot of the same people. For some reason, at my stop there happen to be a lot of impatient people. They start lining up at the door two stops before and stand in the way to make sure that they will be the first one off. Then once the doors open they race each other up the stairs. Why? They are wealthy and self-important and feel like if they don't get up the stairs and to their car first they will have to wait for the others before they can leave.

So the trek into the city and home is over. Now you can relax but one thing is for certain tomorrow it starts all over again. Such is the life of a commuter on the Metro-North Railroad.