Safest Subway Cars

Most subway cars in New York City are safe all the time...even though I wouldn't want to ride in a lonely train late at night. There are two cars that are safer than the others.

Every train has two MTA employees on them. Those cars are the safest because they can call for help if it's needed. A driver/engineer and a conductor are on every subway. The engineer, of course, is in the first car. The first car is easy to find.

The conductor is in the middle car. That's the car I always try to ride in. There's a little-known way to always be standing on the platform exactly where the conductor's car stops.

Every subway station has a black and white striped board about 10" x 6' mounted facing the tracks about 7' overhead, approximately in the middle of the platform. Find that black and white striped board and stand there. The conductor will stop at that exact location. This is so that both ends of the train are within the station before the conductor opens the doors, and on the correct side of the train facing the platform.

If you start this habit, and you think the conductor is pointing at you every time...because he/she will point, it's not at you. There's a long-standing safety rule for conductors. To assure that the conductor actually sees the black and white striped board, and he/she is facing the platform, the conductors are required to point at the black and white striped board. They always do this, and most New Yorkers who see them point haven't a clue as to why.