This is the song that plays in my head when I think about this blog post – sung by my lovely and talented sister
Everyone knows that New York is an expensive city. But when people come to visit me, they are still shocked about the price of everyday things – especially going for drinks and eating out. Nowadays USD15 is a standard price for an average glass of wine, you’re looking at USD18 and more for a nice one. If you want to eat dinner in a nice (just nice, not special) restaurant you’re looking at USD30 upwards for a main course.
But fortunately, there is one thing that is affordable in New York: public transport. While in Cologne, my hometown and a city of one million people, a ticket for the underground costs USD3.40; a metro ticket to anywhere in New York, a city of over eight million people, costs USD2.75. The longest trip you can take for your USD2.75 is from 241st Street in the Bronx to Far Rockaway in Queens, which takes about 2 ½ hours and covers around 60kms.
But fortunately, there is one thing that is affordable in New York: public transport. While in Cologne, my hometown and a city of one million people, a ticket for the underground costs USD3.40; a metro ticket to anywhere in New York, a city of over eight million people, costs USD2.75. The longest trip you can take for your USD2.75 is from 241st Street in the Bronx to Far Rockaway in Queens, which takes about 2 ½ hours and covers around 60kms.
Riding the tube is not just an affordable but also interesting cultural (and if I’m honest, zoological) experience: New York is a true melting pot of cultures and all of them rely on the subway. But depending on when and where you go, you will experience very different flavours of the melting pot.
If you take the infamous L-train on a Saturday morning, you will be surrounded by hipsters on a mission to find the best avocado toast in Williamsburg. The A and C trains are fairly mixed until Brooklyn, and then it is mainly tourists heading to the airport or black or Latino people on their way home. And if you take the 2, 3 or 6 train to upper Manhattan, you see a lot of museum-goers and people carrying small dogs in backpacks.
But the most interesting metro rides are the ones late at night. After 1am, you will see dressed up people who enjoyed a fun night out over USD18 glasses of wine, and next to them exhausted people – often black or Latino - on their way home from work, struggling to stay awake.
But what really makes me sad is when you see mothers with children making their late-night way home. Kids asleep in their prams or on their mothers’ laps, and mothers barely able to keep their eyes open. These people, who are making maximum use of the $2.75 metro ticket, may be on the train for another hour after you got off to get to a neighbourhood where their salary affords them a flat. And chances are they are going to be back on a train to Manhattan hours before you had your first cup of tea.
If you take the infamous L-train on a Saturday morning, you will be surrounded by hipsters on a mission to find the best avocado toast in Williamsburg. The A and C trains are fairly mixed until Brooklyn, and then it is mainly tourists heading to the airport or black or Latino people on their way home. And if you take the 2, 3 or 6 train to upper Manhattan, you see a lot of museum-goers and people carrying small dogs in backpacks.
But the most interesting metro rides are the ones late at night. After 1am, you will see dressed up people who enjoyed a fun night out over USD18 glasses of wine, and next to them exhausted people – often black or Latino - on their way home from work, struggling to stay awake.
But what really makes me sad is when you see mothers with children making their late-night way home. Kids asleep in their prams or on their mothers’ laps, and mothers barely able to keep their eyes open. These people, who are making maximum use of the $2.75 metro ticket, may be on the train for another hour after you got off to get to a neighbourhood where their salary affords them a flat. And chances are they are going to be back on a train to Manhattan hours before you had your first cup of tea.
In New York, dishwashers probably earn around USD22,000 per year – USD1,800 per month. In a city like New York, that is not a lot of money to pay for rent, transport, child care, food, clothes and everything else, especially when the lowest median rent for a one-bedroom apartment within reach of a metro station is USD1,500.
For the dressed up fun seeker, a night out in the city with dinner and a couple of drinks easily costs USD100. The train ride home is a sobering reality check of how hard some people in this city have to work to earn USD100 and how far they need to stretch it to make sure they have enough to eat at the end of the month.
For the dressed up fun seeker, a night out in the city with dinner and a couple of drinks easily costs USD100. The train ride home is a sobering reality check of how hard some people in this city have to work to earn USD100 and how far they need to stretch it to make sure they have enough to eat at the end of the month.
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