When I have occasion to travel to major cities, I like using the public transportation system when it's feasible. (It also has to do with my inherent frugality, as public transportation is generally much cheaper than a taxi, if also taking generally longer to get one from place to place.) It's generally pretty nice to ride subways, although the degree of cleanliness can vary markedly, usually proportional to the degree of use, not only with the trains, but the subway stations. The flip side of highly used stations is, logically enough, abandoned subway stations, or "ghost stations", such as covered in this article by Drew Reed for The Guardian. Where I live doesn't have a light rail system old enough to have ghost stations. That's clearly not the case for cities with older systems. More (well, maybe not really) below the flip.....
Reed quotes Tom Moran, editor of the Urban Ghosts website, on the nature of ghost stations, which can of course apply generally to many large human-engineered constructions that no longer have people using them:
"For me, what makes abandoned subways more compelling than other subterranean infrastructure is the fact that they were built to cater for large crowds of people - unlike sewers and utility tunnels - and thus contain all the necessary features of a public space, from fire escapes to ornate signage and advertising on the walls. It’s that missing human element that makes them more eerie."
Since this article is from a British paper, you see this passage, of course:
"If there is a global capital of ghost stations, it would have to be London, which boasts more than 40. These include North End Station on the Northern Line, which was never used following its completion in 1906, and also many other stations that were closed due to poor user numbers, notably Aldwych on the disused Piccadilly branch line."
I actually remember catching glimpses of Aldwych station in the dark while on the London Underground, seeing the name of the station as the train went past. At least I think I remember that.
Reed also notes the existence of the abandoned entire Cincinnati subway line, which I never knew about (but then, the closest I've ever been to Cincinnati is hearing their orchestra once at Carnegie Hall). You can find a few websites about the Cincinnati (non)-subway system here and here. But it shouldn't be a surprise that NYC, having the largest US subway system (well, duh), should reign as "king" of systems with ghost stations:
"New York, not surprisingly, has quite a few ghost stations; the most famous one, City Hall on the Lexington Avenue line, was closed in 1945 because retrofitting it to serve newer trains was considered too expensive. Another station, South 4th Street in Brooklyn, never saw service after funding for the rest of its line was cut."
BTW, one of the comments on the article, by "serenderpity", mentions about the City Hall station:
"The City Hall station in New York is beautiful, and although you can't walk around in it (legally), there is a way to see it: the number 6 train uses it as a turn-around loop. If you stay on the train after they announce that it's reached its terminus (and a lot of people do this), you will slowly make a 180-degree turn through the old station, which has lights on so you can see it. You don't get a great view, but it is pretty cool."
I think that I've even done this myself, as a result of missing my earlier stop (typical loser, that 3CM) and riding the train back up to my correct stop. (I wonder how this completely squares with Reed's statement about retrofitting the station, however.)
Reed also comments, in the spirits of lemons and lemonade:
"In these capitalist countries, where one generation’s crisis is the next generation’s tourist trap, many of the stations have been repurposed. London’s Aldwych station has become a favourite for movie shoots, while Toronto’s Lower Bay has become a location for parties during the city’s huge film festival. Cincinnati’s abandoned subway line is occasionally opened for visits, and South 4th Street became a kind of gallery for Brooklyn street artists."
It's also interesting to read the passages about subway lines and ghost stations in the old Communist bloc nations.
Reed also gets meta towards the tail end of the article:
"With the rise of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the prohibitive expense of new subway construction (with the exception, it seems, of China), you could interpret ghost stations as a sign of the inherent inflexibility of subway systems. Or you could say they’re a product of the boom and bust cycles to which all cities are prone, especially in the American rust belt: cities like Cleveland and Rochester simply aren’t as robust today as they were a century ago."
While I haven't been to Rochester, I have been to Cleveland, and my second time there, I did ride their light rail system to downtown. Pretty dinky, but again, it financially beat renting a car. (I also took the bus from downtown to get to Severance Hall.) But even with a comparatively dinky system, Reed makes this point about subways, cities and people, in the context of ghost stations:
"But ghost stations have something to say that isn’t just about transportation and the economy. Subways are important ways for citizens to get around, but they’re also important as public spaces. Indeed, by providing an identifiable shared experience, subway systems are often important parts of the distinctive identities of cities like Paris, London and New York. Rob the stations of their healthy bloodflow of regular commuters and they will eventually haunt the city."
Well, there you have it. With that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories for the week......