England have given us The Beatles, laughing gas, Monty Python, seltzer, Cadbury chocolate, Greenwich Mean Time, and a healthy appreciation for the importance of dental hygiene—and they also gave the world the BBC, one of the last truly great news networks. This week, BBC reporter Laura Trevelyan took to our subways to study the most curious mode of transport in the colonies. The segment is soundtracked by a looped clip of "You Only Live Once" by The Strokes, because nothing is more NYC than The Strokes circa 2006.
While she is impressed by how quickly we can get to and fro—and obviously enchanted by the unimpressed faces of straphangers who are going about their daily routine—she ultimately calls our rat-addled subways "grimy." As one resigned New Yorker tells her, "New York City is known for the dirty subways. I feel like it's part of our environment already. I've never seen a clean subway car, I've never seen a brand new train station, and I don't expect to see it either."
Of course, following up the segment on NYC subways with one on Barcelona's transit seems unfair. Of course our stations can't compare to the porcelain tiles of the efficient, modern European stations in Barcelona—although, it seems they do have a serious pickpocket problem. But does Darth Vader ride the tube? Are there epic sax battles? What about giant magical dogs, magical celebrities and magical naked people? Listen to Cousin Matthew BBC, he knows what's up.
