An Ode to the Orange and Yellow Subway Seats

The announcement that the MTA would be retiring the yellow and orange seats of the 1, 3, 6, B, D, F, N, R and Q trains is challenging to receive as a lifelong fan of the subway.

For those of you who aren't big train nerds like me, this means the MTA is phasing out the R46, R62, 62A, R68, and R68A cars from service. These are the cars with the interior pictured above (that banana is mine, I dropped it on the train then decided to take a photo before picking it up).

For all New Yorkers, complaining about our subway is a part-time job. Californians are legally obligated to complain about the lack of rain, New Yorkers are legally obligated to kvetch about the subway. The point is it's OUR system and we may love to kick it when it's down but we love it all the same. Its the MTA that has all the issues, the literal subway is just track and rail cars and tunnels, and I love those things for the magic they can produce... On a good day, that is.

I grew up in Brooklyn Heights, where a 3 minute walk got me to the 2 or 3, I could get to the A and C train a few blocks after, and the 4, 5, R, F and G were all within a 10 min stroll away. So where most New Yorkers live near one, maybe two trains, I had a variety of tracks to choose from.

When I first started taking the train to school by myself, I was on the R-train, which currently has the scrapheap-bound orange and yellow seats.

Confession: I didn't have permission from my mother to ride the train unattended yet, I was told I couldn't ride the train to school until I was 13, and because I was 11, I wasn't a teenager yet.

Naturally, I refused to accept this semantic argument from my mother. I was 11 years old damnit, or "oneteen" as I reasoned. I couldn't wait a whole other year being 12 or "twoteen" before I would be allowed to simply go to middle school on a 20 minute ride. My student Metro Card worked on both the bus and the train, the only thing holding me back was my nerves... It was decided.

Perhaps its because my first un-supervised ride on the train was the R that explains why I have such an attachment to these iconic seats?

I'd go on to rely on trains with the orange and yellow for future schooling. For my five-times-a-week 45 minute train ride from Brooklyn Heights to Midwood to get to Edward R. Murrow High School. I preferred a spot in the window side of the two-seater, my CD player/FM radio blasting the Z Morning Zoo, watching the world whiz by as I made my way to morning class.

Another result of the seating arrangements for these cars was that the mid point between the doors was clearly defined.

You see, I'm a strong believer in subway etiquette. When that train stops and those doors open, you know I'm standing to the side and letting people off the train first. Even if I'm in a rush, even if I want a seat badly, even if the person behind me starts sighing and guffawing like I'M the one inconveniencing them for simply obeying the laws of physics (people can't exit and enter the train at the same time after all).

The spot right between the two-seaters is equidistant from either door on the train. As long as you are standing there, you‘re helping the train move faster by staying out of the way if it wasn't your stop to get off.

I'm sad that the city is a little less colorful now.

But beyond the utilitarian and nostalgic qualities of these relics of the 80s, I happen to like the R46, R62, 62A, R68, and R68As for just being a colorful part of the city.

Color isn't hard to find in New York City. From the nature and science mosaics of the 81st street Museum of Natural History C train stop, to the red bricks of DUMBO, to the bright blue Manhattan bridge, color is prevalent in the city on every corner. Graffiti artists fill in the gaps our architecture leaves and add texture to the city's many neighborhoods. But a splash of color underground is always appreciated too, isn't it?

The orange and yellow seats could make almost any lighting condition in the car a little livelier. The morning sun splashing through the A while riding out over the water to Far Rockaway made little light scoop reflections on the steel and glass. Sunset at Coney Island rolling over the Q almost mushed the orange and yellow chairs together for the eye.

The new fleet of subway cars for the C, B, D, N and W appear to be following a color scheme of mostly blue, with accents of black and yellow. It makes sense when you look at the subway as a utility and publicly funded amenity in the city.

Stepping inside these slick new cars immerses you in a world of light grey, blue, and silver. With green and red lights mounted in the door frames, the new cars are a little livelier. They light up when the train is platforming so you know which side to exit from. They turn green when the doors are open and red when they're closing. It's a welcome burst of color in an otherwise drab environment.

To many New Yorkers, the train is just another city service to deal with to get somewhere. But what if you don't always see the train like that?

What if the train was like a warp speed flight to almost any corner of the city? The way light streaks past the windows, you can't say it doesn't feel a little like what happens after Han shouts "Punch it, Chewie!" or Picard exclaims "Engage!" What if riding the train was a small thrill for you when it finally became a beast you could ride yourself and not have to hold your mom's hand throughout?

Sure, the train is an 100-plus years old giant network of formerly private rail lines pulled together by the city government and ran by a woefully inefficient and under-funded bureaucracy. I agree the ratio of people who perform on the train to people who perform on the train and are actually talented is woefully bad.

Yep, its dirty, runs late a lot, and they keep RASING THE FARE AND CUTTING SERVICES! (Seriously how do you keep canceling train lines and raising the fare? I miss the 9 train, and the W used to go to Coney Island like the other yellow lines, the N, Q, and R.)

But at the end of the day, the train is part of the magic of New York, it connects all of us here. The train makes relationships, business, and art possible in all five boroughs. It drives the economy of the city getting working class folks to their jobs, and by extension, drives the economy of the entire state, maybe the east coast of the U.S. as we know it!

Even if the removal of the R46, R62, 62A, R68, and R68A cars makes New York a little less colorful, it doesn't mean the train can't be a little adventure for me each and every time.

Maybe the next generation of New York City lawmakers will feel nostalgic and bring the color scheme back.

I'm just going to enjoy the seats while we have them. Maybe I'll go buy a two-seater for my living room. Till then, I'll just use trial-and-error to find the best spot to stand on the new train cars so everyone can get on and off faster, and mind my business.

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