Cell Phones on Subways?
Nooooooooo!
That's my first reaction, anyway, to this report that New York's MTA is considering wiring subways for cell phone use. I love the fact that New York subways are one (perhaps the last) urban space where you can escape constant talkers who a) have absolutely nothing of interest to say, and b) no hesitation about letting you hear that they have absolutely nothing of interest to say.
My reaction is mitigated somewhat by the fact that the impetus for this reconsideration is the London bombing, and the fact that cell phones would be useful in case of a terrorist attack on the subway.
But still...in the subterranean subway world, manners are really important, and the emphasis upon them seems to be waning. Fewer people than in the past stand aside when the doors open to allow passengers to exit; the other day, I couldn't get out of a train because an MTA employee—an MTA employee!—was standing squarely in the middle of the doors, pushing to get in as passengers tried to get out. A couple of nights ago, I saw a man emit two long, discolored strings of saliva on the train floor next to where he sat—and he would have spat a third time if I hadn't told him that he was disgusting.
For the most part, the New York city subway is a marvel of civility in dehumanizing conditions. But permitting cell phones to function in them...that just might be the tipping point.
