the joys of public transportation

The subway is great and also not so great. There are a number of things that I like about riding on public transportation:

1. It usually gets me where I need to go.
2. I don't miss driving--especially driving in traffic--at all.
3. Often there are people playing instruments down in the subway stations. Sarah really likes this. In fact, today there was someone playing the guitar in the 116th station on the 1 train. Sarah liked it so much that she wanted to give him some money and did.
4. I don't have to worry about those blasted car seats. Could they be any heavier or more irritating to get kids in and out of every time you get to a new place?
   
5. I find that it is the great equalizer--nearly everyone, rich and poor, rides it.
6. People are often very helpful to assist with carrying the stroller or giving up their seat so either Sarah or I can sit down.
   

There are also some things about public transportation that are seriously a pain in the neck:

1. You are at the mercy of the train. It comes when it wants to, and you simply have to wait. I once had to wait for 20 minutes for the A train at 59th Street. In my experience, however, most places are somewhat lenient with tardiness as you often have no control over your arrival time even when you left home with plenty of time.
   
2. There's nothing worse than watching a train roll into the station and listening to it honk (which means that it will not be stopping but will be moving right on through)!
3. The subway is not particularly clean--at least not at most of the stations.
4. It can be a bit of a pain hauling the stroller around, up and down the stairs, and onto the trains.
5. Subway maintenance is especially irritating. When they do maintenance, they shut down certain sections of the line or even the whole line itself. This can put a serious setback into one's day. Generally, this takes place on the weekends, fortunately, but sometimes it occurs during the week as well. It happened to me today on the 1 train (prompting this post). The train went express from 137th Street to 96th Street. This was a problem as I needed to get off at 116th Street. Alas, there was nothing I could do except ride it down to 96th Street, heft the stroller up the stairs and back down to catch the uptown train back to 116th Street.

Oh, the joys of public transportation!