A Belated Personal Anniversary

I really intended to post this when it was the correct week (I don’t remember the day)…four weeks ago…but in any case last month marks the 50th anniversary of me starting to commute by subway, in 7th grade. At first it was simply the 7 train to Grand Central for school in east Midtown; the following year, it was the 7 to Grand Central, change to the 6, and head to the Upper East Side. To put 50 years of commuting (and now, when I walk to work, travel for work) by subway into perspective, the IRT subway opened for business in 1904. So I’ve been commuting on the subways for 41% of their existence. If we go back to the first elevated train – the Ninth Avenue el in 1870 – I’ve been using NYC heavy-rail mass transit for 32% of its existence, which is still, if you ask me, pretty good. The subways have been generally improving for most of the 50 years. In fact, 1976, when I started, was arguably just about the worst moment for the system. Deferred maintenance had caught up with the tracks,…