Walk the line
Rule of thumb in NYC is it takes about a minute to walk a block on a north-south street. East-west blocks are longer, so those might be more like three minutes.
I'm staying about 20-some blocks north of work, and a few blocks over, so my crude math was that it should take me about 30 minutes to walk. That's part of how I ended up cutting it so close the first morning -- I assumed (wrongly) that if I could walk there in half an hour, surely it would take less than that to take the subway straight down two stops. I was wrong.
I decided to conduct a semi-scientific experiment and time myself walking home, and compare that to the subway ride. My first attempt flopped, since I foolishly chose 8th Avenue as my north-south route, taking me straight through the center of Times Square tourist log jam hell. Tonight I chose 9th Ave. instead, and confirmed that it's about a half hour walk, making the subway a choice purely about laziness, not time.
My experiment also helped me understand one reason midwesterners think New Yorkers are rude. It is damned near impossible to get a good stride going on a sidewalk in NYC without constantly bobbing and weaving around people in the middle of the sidewalk at a dead stop with a map out or someone smoking a cigarette outside a bar or a couple holding hands and blocking most of the sidewalk walking slooowly.
Let me put it in Michigan terms for my pals back home: imagine you're on your commute on 696, and every lane in front of you is clogged by people out for a Sunday drive 10 miles under the speed limit. One unexpectedly stops in front of you. How patient do you feel?
New Yorkers don't walk to enjoy the great outdoors. It's transportation. They walk like Detroiters drive, looking for openings, cutting around slowpokes, getting frustrated when people in front of them clog the flow of traffic.
Advice to visitors: if you want to check a map, fumble for your cell phone, look for an address or generally not move along, take a second to pull over. Step in toward the buildings, or out toward the curb, so you aren't a big speed bump right in the middle of traffic. Or prepare to have people brush by you on both sides, maybe even grumbling a little as they go by.
If you stopped in the middle of the highway during rush hour, you don't think you'd get honked at?
posted by Colleen at
9:42 PM
1 Comments:
You are learning the ways of the big city fast!
I remember learning in New York (and again when working in downtown Detroit and in downtown Chicago) that you are safest if you walk as quickly as you can and try to always have this pissed off look on your face.. Like Michael Douglas in "Falling Down.''
You, this sort of "I'm so pissed I could KILL you so stay away'' look which scares away muggers/gangstas, etc. Works like a charm though it can scare away innocent bystanders too.. .
Also learned to put your cash in the bottom of your shoe or boot.
And yes, I have no idea why but I too noticed in Chicago and in New York and with the People Mover in Detroit, that if you are traveling a mile or less, you can probably walk and get there quicker than you would by getting on the train. Why this is, I have no idea but it's true!
By
Anonymous, at 5/18/2006 3:22 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home