Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

I was recently relaxing at home, watching NY1 (I’ve decided to start paying attention to local news- after my fiascos on the 7, I realized it was kind of important to me), and what I saw was more frightening than my memory of when I spilled hot coffee on my new laptop (it still works, calm down!)

Starting in early 2009 subway fares are to be raised from $2.00 to $3.00!! Express bus fares are to be raised from $5.00 to $7.00!! But…..but…..

No-one has any money!! How will we get to work, and to school? It was blasphemous enough when the $2 bonuses they gave on MetroCards went down to $1.50. What the shit am I supposed to do with a buck-50 bonus when each way is two freaking dollars!?

Of all things, raising the price of transportation is the most PAINFUL of all solutions to help this economy! Increase the price of soy milk for god’s sake! Instead of getting RID of a few lines (yes, not only are they making it more expensive to take public transit, but also wayyy more difficult), make, say, Whole Foods prices- which I already laugh at- higher. At least the picky eaters who shop there can feel, I don’t know, more elite? That they’re spending more money on….lettuce and cheese? Shopping at Whole Foods is like saying you only drive BMWs. Ahh…I digress!!

Please, MTA…don’t do this to me! Don’t do this to New Yorkers!! The 7 has taken too many of my tears. Too much of my BLOOD! (Hey, I stubbed my toe on the door, once, okay! and it reallly hurt!)

Where will all the New Yorkers go?

I didn’t think so.  But after my ride home to Brooklyn last night, I’m wondering if the social norms on the subway have changed in the past five years.

Most mornings I pass my 50-minute ride on the F train sipping my can’t-live-without-it morning cup of coffee and eating a piece of fruit.  And I’m not alone.  All around me I see travel mugs- in hands, strapped on bags, resting on a knee.   Fellow travelers munch on bagels or donuts while reading the morning news.

And no one seems bothered.

Last night, desperate for sustenance after a long day without lunch, I stopped at a vendor on 40th Street and grabbed a lamb gyro for the ride home.  But as soon as I stepped on train, I realized this trip would be an uncomfortable one.  People stared, not even trying to be discreet, and sat far away from me and my dinner.  My stomach began to ache, not from a lack a food, but from the distinct feeling that I wasn’t wanted on the train.

When did this happen???  Five years ago when I moved to the city, it was a rare evening ride that didn’t present someone eating chicken wings, pizza or a McDonalds meal.  I came to love the subway for all the things you could do while riding it.  Hadn’t finished grading those exams?  Do it on the train.  Dying to read the last chapter of a great book?  Read it on the train.  Missed breakfast?  Eat it on the train, right??

A few years back the MTA considered banning food and drinks on the trains, but the measure didn’t pass.  Still, it seems that attitudes about food on the train are changing.

I’m curious, do you eat on the subway?  If so, how do people around you react?