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The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005

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I'm sure you've either lived through that time period or have heard stories about NYC and the subway in particualr during the 1970's. I've seen pics of some pretty bad looking cars, but how bad was the crime and vandalization on the trains really? I mean, did you have cas that we're covered in graffti from top to bottom? We're you really garenteed to get mugged late at night? And what about GO's and serivce cuts, as bad as today?


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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Mitch45 on Tue Feb 22 15:25:21 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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I was in high school in Brooklyn from 1978 through 1982 and rode the subways very often. I can tell you the following from personal experience.

1) The fear of crime was very real and very great. Trains that travel through bad neighborhoods were prime targets for violent criminals.
2) The subway cars were dirty and covered with paint inside and out. They would bounce along the tracks, which were often bumpy.
3) There were always delays on many lines.
4) Trains would often break down at or between stations.
5) Stations were often dark and squalid.

You simply cannot compare the subways of 25 years ago to the subways of today. I was accosted twice on the (F) train at Smith-9th Streets and 4th Avenue and also endured loud mischief in the cars. Its much better today.The MTA has really done a great job in not only repairing the subway but making it more usable too.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Tue Feb 22 15:37:25 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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Mark Feinman wrote the definitive piece on the 70's ...

http://www.nycsubway.org/recent/history-nycta1970s.html

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Rail Blue on Tue Feb 22 16:20:52 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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Here is an article that may interest you.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 16:25:56 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Rail Blue on Tue Feb 22 16:20:52 2005.

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Yeah, but he seems to kinda skirt the really dark ages. His articles are more technical than they are "real world" feel. I would like to get a rider's first hand knowledge of how the system really felt in that time frame.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Wayne-MrSlantR40 on Tue Feb 22 16:37:22 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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During my commuting days I remember seeing entire cars - some of them R44's - covered from roof to sill and from nose to tail with murals.
One particularly badly tagged R44 was #124. Another was the now-retired #176. An enitre bunch that suffered at the painters' hands was #126-129-203-188; the third car getting the worst of it.

wayne

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by UWS Greg on Tue Feb 22 17:06:12 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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How bad was it in the 70s & 80s?? Words almost fail me. I can recall waiting at 42nd/7th for an uptown express. When the train came in, 4 of the 10 cars were out of service because of broken windows & shattered glass. For a brief period (I don't know if it was to deter graffiti or encourage it), the cars were painted white on the outside. The odds of riding a non-tagged white-painted car ranged from nil to zero.

I have never been a taxi rider. But after 11pm in that era, you know I was curbside hailing the yellows. It just wasn't safe to be in the system. I really hated betraying my subways but self-preservation took priority.

It was awful.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by L Train on Tue Feb 22 17:28:40 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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It's starting to feel like the 70's again (budget crises, rampant crime in the subway).

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Tue Feb 22 17:33:11 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Mitch45 on Tue Feb 22 15:25:21 2005.

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Okay, and which neighborhoods were bad at the time? (For that matter, are these the same ones that are bad today?)

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 17:53:41 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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If you never liveds through it, it's hard to describe. If you were born after 1984 you could not imagine the horrors regular riders accepted as normal.

Imagine if we had Subchat in 1979. The hostility would be unbelievable.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:26:32 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 17:53:41 2005.

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Yeah can you imagine?
People were making a fuss over a half-graffiti removed wall at the 25th St station. There were a few tags on the Chauncey St station a few months ago posted here with a few random tags on it (that were removed withing 24 hours). I could go on.
Can you imagine if they saw what the stations and trains looked like in 1984 in person?

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:33:42 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Tue Feb 22 17:33:11 2005.

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All of them have improved.
Generally, the same neighborhoods that would be considered "marginal" now, were probably the ones that were extremely bad in the 70's or early 80's.

The Livonia El was a no mans land.
The South Bronx was still smoldering. Stations like Simpson, etc just had the old slam gates tied back, and people walked in the system. It was impossible to stop the fare evasion.
The Franklin Ave shuttle had more non-paying customers than paying customers.
The Broadway El from Myrtle to Broadway Junction looked like Berlin after WWII. There were more abandoned and/or burnt out buildings than there were in use buildings.
Harlem was someplace you didn't go to unless you had to.
Alphabet City was a total disaster with burnouts everywhere.

There are others, but those are the first that come to mind.

All of the above neighborhoods have either improved, or many even show signs of gentrification, or have already been gentrified.




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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 18:36:43 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:26:32 2005.

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In 1982, you:

- Expected every train you rode to be covered in grafitti.

- Expected to sweat in the summer, even if your train had A/C units.

- Expected at least one major breakdown, track fire or derailment to screw up your commute.

- NEVER rode the subway at night.

- Never saw a police officer on a train.

- Had no hope of it ever getting better.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:46:10 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by UWS Greg on Tue Feb 22 17:06:12 2005.

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There were times that I was on an R42 or R30 on some of els or subway, and you could even see out the windows. There were times when you had to wait until you got to the station to find out where you were. And then it was still a project to figure out where you were if you didin't know the area, because even the station signs were covered with graffiti, and that includes every other inch of surface of the stations covered with it. In the 70's, even the tiled walls of underground stations were covered with graffiti, and the columns too. On the elevated lines, they usually turned the lights out to save power, that gave you a really weird glow of light through the multicolored windows, that you couldn't see out of (and people complain about scratchitti!).
If you were on the elevated lines, and you were on a line where the roofs were below you (low buildings), all the roofs along the els were covered with door windows. They would just be kicked out by kids. I was even on a sidewalk under the M train once and a window from the passing train came crashing down on the sidewalk!!
The only good thing about windows that were missing were that at least you could see where you were if the rest of the windows were spray painted.
Every inch of every surface of the train was covered with grafitti, inside and out.

Then you had the trains where the interior lights didn't work at all, and that was always "fun" on the underground lines. In the 70's, those became the unofficial "pot" cars. I remember getting on a dark R30 on the L train at Union Square when I was about 7 years old with my father, in the 70's. As we were passing through the tunnel to 3rd Ave, I remember smelling a "smell" that I didn't know what it was. I asked my father what that smell was, and he just looked down at me and said, "I don't know, but let's go to the next car". I guess he didn't want to explain to me what "pot" was, and that someone was smoking it on the train. It wasn't until years later that I found out what that "smell" was (you know how when you smell something, it almost intantly reminds you of an event" - like when you smell apple pie it may remind you of grandmother's house, etc).

The 70's and 80's were really something. The su bway of today bears little resemblance to those days.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:47:31 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by L Train on Tue Feb 22 17:28:40 2005.

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No way. It's not even close. Rampant crime on the subway? It's like Disneyland on the subway today comparing it to 1982.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Tue Feb 22 18:50:57 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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I remember the 70s quite well. In a word, the subway was repulsive. The graffiti gave the impression that things were totally out of control, which was true. I never felt threatened, but there was a feeling of uneasiness.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:55:16 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 18:36:43 2005.

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All correct.

It was the total opposite of today.
The "no hope" one is so true. it's hard for people to understand what we mean by that, as they are so spoiled by "today's subway".
I remember the first time I saw a red R30 on the M. It must have been in 1985. Remember, at this point, every elevated station was strewn from end to end with multiple layers of grafitti, and hadn't been painted for 20 years officially. All you saw was grafittied R30's, R16's, and of course the R42's were also grafittied.
I was on the platform with my high school girlfriend waiting for the morning train to take us to school at my home station. All of a sudden my girlfriend says, "Ooooh, how pretty, a red train!", as the M pulled in the station. I wasn't even looking up when she said that, all of a sudden turned to the train, and yelled, "What the F is that!". We walked on, and I looked at how clean and unusual a non-grafittied train looked like. I then said, "Yeah, it's nice, but too bad you won't even be able to tell it was repainted in a week". Why was I so pessimistic, while, I was a product of my time. I saw too often them trying to repaint the trains, only to have them tagged up again within two days, and withing two weeks, you couldn't even tell they were repainted.
Boy, was I thankfully proven wrong for the "red" train.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 18:57:17 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Tue Feb 22 18:50:57 2005.

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And the 70's were a cake walk compared to the early-mid 1980's, when crack hit this city hard.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:58:36 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 18:57:17 2005.

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I think the worst time on the subway was from around 1981 to 1984. By 1985, there were very slight signs that they were "trying". By 1989, the subway was unrecognizable from 5 years earlier.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 19:03:38 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:55:16 2005.

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I should have also added that you often had to ride in cars with no lights and broken windows. And if you didn't know where your train was going, don't expect a P/A announcement from the conductor, unless you were on an R44/46. Then you had a chance. Published schedules? LOL.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 19:10:50 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:58:36 2005.

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The weird thing about the mid 1980's recovery was that they took wonderful care of the cars they cleaned up, but they let the ones not yet cleaned up rot like wood. That's why the R16's were so bad at the very end, why the R42's on the orange D in 1989-7 were so awful and the R27's eventually moved to the C couldn't be scrapped fast enough.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by TonyIND on Tue Feb 22 23:12:36 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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What I recall of the system during the 70's was lots of graffitti ALL OVER THE PLACE. As for G.O's, they were not as extensive as they are now (but then the system is that much older now). Car maintenence was not as advanced--many is the time during the PM rush for instance, a "KK" would be sent down via Rutgers/Culver as an "F", or the same for a rush hour "B" from 168. Trains with one car all dark or a car totally isolated would run. Some underground stations STILL had that dim lighting (ie. 155, Carroll St, Ft Hamilton Pkwy) to name a few. The route description signs in stations were also badly modified. I recall at the 6 Av local stations, the KK bullet crudely removed, and a taped over crudely printed sign saying something like "....for Broadway Brooklyn take the F to Delancey........." All in all, the subway RAN as only it could during the 70's, but there was no thought )or money for that matter) to make the experience a somewhat pleasent one!!!!!!!!!!!

TOny

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:11:11 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:55:16 2005.

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I remember the Spring/Summer of '86. My girlfriend near the Ocean Parkway station and from her window you could see the D train. There was a single R-68 set running on the line along with a variety of old graffiti covered cars. We referred to the R-68's as "The Phantom" because you'd see this shiny new clean train from the window every once in a while but it never actually showed up when you were riding.

The system was awful and crime ridden -- even then ('86 was a few years past the absolute pits). I would ride up the Brighton line at 1 or 2 AM and there would be groups of teens just going from car to car, pretty clearly looking for trouble.

I would stand up in the doorway, rather than sit in an otherwise empty car, figuring that anyone intent on criminal behavior would choose to keep moving to the next car and find an easier mark than someone who was my size -- and also to keep from falling asleep (you probably had a 100% chance of losing your wallet if you fell asleep).

Because I was young and foolish (as opposed to today, where I am old and foolish), I didn't have an appreciation for the risks that I was taking.

CG

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Mark S. Feinman on Wed Feb 23 13:12:33 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by SelkirkTMO on Tue Feb 22 15:37:25 2005.

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And you can see how the improvement occurred in the 1980s ....

http://www.nycsubway.org/recent/history-nycta1980s.html.

--Mark




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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Mark S. Feinman on Wed Feb 23 13:13:29 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 16:25:56 2005.

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How would you improve my coverage of the "dark ages" in the 1970s?

--Mark

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:14:07 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by L Train on Tue Feb 22 17:28:40 2005.

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This is not even close to the 70's and early 80's. Obviously any deterioration in the system or in service should be addressed -- but to compare 2005 to that period strains your credibility.







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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:16:14 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by TonyIND on Tue Feb 22 23:12:36 2005.

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I would guess that part of the reason that GO's were not as prevalent then as they are now is that there was little or no actual maintenance going on. Things were just allowed to deteriorate until they broke.

Perhaps it should be considered it a sign that things are really getting bad when we don't see a lot of weekend and overnight GO's.






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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Mark S. Feinman on Wed Feb 23 13:17:04 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:11:11 2005.

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That R-68A set was probably the one undergoing 30-day acceptance testing.

--Mark

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by RonInBayside on Wed Feb 23 13:18:13 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by L Train on Tue Feb 22 17:28:40 2005.

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Criume is not rampant in the subways. The subways had an uptick this year but are still safer than the street!

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:18:21 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:33:42 2005.

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"The Broadway El from Myrtle to Broadway Junction looked like Berlin after WWII. There were more abandoned and/or burnt out buildings than there were in use buildings."

That might be the understatement of the year. In some stretches the ratio was about 90/10 abandoned buildings to in use buildings.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by RonInBayside on Wed Feb 23 13:19:57 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:16:14 2005.

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Some parts of the subway were almost as bad mechanically as what was going on on Chicago's Douglas branch before CTA finally got around to overhauling it.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:21:06 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by RonInBayside on Wed Feb 23 13:18:13 2005.

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There's no statistic that is more telling about crime in NYC than the murder rate. In the 80's it fluctuated in the neighborhood of 2000-2500 per year. Today it is usually around 600 per year (2001 excluded, obviously).

Granted, that isn't a subway number -- but it does put statements like "crime is rampant" in perspective.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 23 13:47:19 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:11:11 2005.

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Ditto. I remember one night in September 1986 where I dared to railfan overnight. I snuck out at 1 AM, rode the J to Canal St, then the R to Times Sq. I then got out (in hopes of seeing a real hooker, LMAO) and walked over to the PABT and took the A to ENY for the J home.

Today, I keep asking myself: WTF was I thinking? I was only 14!

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Newkirk Plaza David on Wed Feb 23 14:02:28 2005, in response to The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by brooklynQB on Tue Feb 22 15:17:46 2005.

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I really can add to all these posts about a sorid time in NYC subway history.

-When the lights would go out (more frequently on IRT SMEE cars after passing a switch), you expected to be mugged during the 5 seconds of darkness.

-People used the exit slam gates to enter the system, more often than the fare paying customers

-The graffitti on the R27/30 cars were so bad, you could not see the NYCT paint scheme, not even one square inch.

-Half of the cars that were functional had no lighting

-My parents and I never rode the subway after 9 PM, every night

-The best lines to use were the 7, E and F, just about every year that a survey comes out. The worst were the IRT lines, also every year.

-Earplugs were needed on the IRT Lex and 7th Ave lines, you were in danger of going deaf every time an express train whizzed by a local stop, it was THAT loud.

-I was really THAT afraid to ride the dreaded A train, not at any time. But in 1985 on the Brighton Line, a buch of 25 youths, without provacation, simply gang robbed a crowded D train at 9:30 PM. I remember that day too well, it was Parkside Ave and my stop to get off. Sad, really sad that these punks have no values their parents taught them. Some may have come from foster homes but to have a life of crime started in their teen years is incomprehensible.

-

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by RonInBayside on Wed Feb 23 15:15:52 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:21:06 2005.

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LA had more murders than NY in 2003-4 than NY with half the population.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Feb 23 16:22:13 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 19:10:50 2005.

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The R-16s were on their way out, anyway, so you knew they wouldn't get much attention. My NY Times clipping on the requiem for 6321 summed it up pretty well. By the mid-80s, they actually started doing something about older cars that failed repeatedly, up to and including getting rid of them. 6321 fell into that category.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Feb 23 16:27:13 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Wed Feb 23 13:47:19 2005.

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Someone was watching over you.:)

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Feb 23 16:33:54 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Mark S. Feinman on Wed Feb 23 13:12:33 2005.

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So Mark, can we expect a report on the subway during the 90s?:) That decade can be split in half - before and after field shunt modification. It's not rapid transit anymore. Now it's leisurely transit.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:11:29 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Charles G on Wed Feb 23 13:18:21 2005.

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Don't be fooled by the train. This is a 1977 fan trip, and the station is Broadway Junction.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:15:15 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:11:29 2005.

edf40wrjww2msgDetail:detailStr


Same view, newer train, five years earlier.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Larry Fendrick (NotchIt)-Webmaster on Wed Feb 23 17:21:23 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:15:15 2005.

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Yes, back in the days of the 69 cent car wash.


(Culver Shuttle)

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:21:36 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:15:15 2005.

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fiogf49gjkf0d


Another part of the stretch, mid-1970s.

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:23:15 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Larry Fendrick (NotchIt)-Webmaster on Wed Feb 23 17:21:23 2005.

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What happened to it?

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 17:28:14 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Tue Feb 22 18:33:42 2005.

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Here's another pic, this time from Graham St., 1976:



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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 18:00:50 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 18:36:43 2005.

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fiogf49gjkf0d

1981


1979

Dyckman St., west side IRT


1976

207th St.


1975


1974

Fresh Pond Road, BMT





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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 18:01:18 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Tue Feb 22 18:36:43 2005.

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1981


1979

Dyckman St., west side IRT


1976

207th St.


1975


1974

Fresh Pond Road, BMT





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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by s59 on Wed Feb 23 18:19:34 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Feb 23 16:27:13 2005.

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I remember not being able to see out the windows, every inch of the cars interior and exterior having been covered. Trains constantly breaking down, being taken out of service, standing on stalled trains for long periods of time, with no explanation as to why.
You had to give yourself tons of time, just to insure you would be on time for work.

The system today, does not resemble anything of what it was like.

I often thought I wouldn't make it home many times coming home from Bklyn on the "GG" heading back to Queens, late at night.
The atmosphere, actions and attitudes of some people back then was
just crazy.
You really were taking your life into your own hands!

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 18:24:06 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Richard Rabinowitz on Wed Feb 23 18:00:50 2005.

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fiogf49gjkf0d

1980

207th St, IND


1980

Union Turnpike, IND


1978

Church Ave, IND


1977


1976

Acqueduct, IND


1976

Howard Beach

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by Rail Blue on Wed Feb 23 18:33:08 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Steve B-8AVEXP on Wed Feb 23 16:33:54 2005.

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Or maybe the 60s?

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Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?

Posted by brooklynQB on Wed Feb 23 19:18:55 2005, in response to Re: The subway during the 1970's, how bad did it really get?, posted by Mark S. Feinman on Wed Feb 23 13:13:29 2005.

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For starters, you only had a blurb about the Graffti epidemic aorund the middle of the article. You didn't even dig an inch into it, or how bad it got.

You didn't really give any good stories about just how badly the trains failed. I mean, you gave good statistics, but to the Post-1980 generation of riders, it doesn't give us a true glimpse into how horrible the daily ride was.

And the one thing that would really help your stories is tying the ongoing evloution of the subway into how the city in general has changed. Becasue after all, the best picture you get of how a city or neighborhood is is by riding it's transit. This becomes particualry evendent during the 1960's to today, as the city went down then came back up, the same happended with the subway.

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