Stuyvesant’s Commute Stories

If you’re on Chambers Streets at around 7:40 a.m., you’ll find sophomore Roshni Patel making her way to Stuyvesant, still recovering from the hour nap she took on the LIRR. A two-hour commute would be tough on anyone, but after getting only four hours of sleep the night before, that hour is a necessity. Her commute comes at a high price, but one Patel says she’s willing to pay to attend Stuyvesant.

Still, it doesn’t mean that she won’t complain—and with good reason too.

“I'm limited to certain things,” Patel said. “I'll want to join something, but I'll be like, ‘Oh, practice ends at seven.’ I wanted to do cheerleading, but practice is three times a week and ends at seven, and I cannot afford to get home at nine every day.”

Senior Katherine Sanchez deals with the same issue. While Patel dwells in Queens, Sanchez lives in the Bronx and endures an hour and 30 minute commute every day. She can’t take part in more than two extracurriculars at a time, due both to a long commute and familial obligations. But she considers her commute an advantage. “It’s kind of a blessing and a curse. I’m always really focused on the train, and I get a lot of work done since it’s such a long commute and I don’t have to transfer at all,” Sanchez said in an e-mail interview.

Unlike Sanchez, Cosmo Coen, a junior and Brooklynite, rarely finds a seat on the F and A trains. “I get on the middle of each train because I take a transfer, and I never get a seat. I hate it. If I get a seat, it's like Jesus has come,” Coen stated.

With a 15 minute commute, all he can really do is stand and wait. Coen doesn’t even get the chance to listen to music, contrary to Patel, who indulges herself in “5 Seconds of Summer” and “The Beatles,” and Sanchez, who will listen to whatever fits her mood.

The commute is still worth it, considering the amount of sleep he’s able to get. “I just feel luckier than the people who are like, ‘I wake up at the crack of dawn, 4 o’clock in the morning, and I have to travel the entire Atlantic Ocean to get to school,’” he joked. “I get more sleep than the average person, but I'm more tired than the average person.” He takes the train often as well, stating he knows the New York subway system like “the back of his hand,” as opposed to sophomore Miranda Lepri, who is only accustomed to her regular routes and depends on Google Maps.

Similar to Lepri—and most people from Staten Island—Michelle Chen, a sophomore, isn’t too familiar with the subway system, having only been on the 1, 2, 3, W, R, and the 4. However, she has managed to ride on the Taiwanese metro.

“It was so nice,” Chen described. “They had these cards that you put on the scanner and they would just be scanned. The trains are pretty and the train stations are cleaner.”

The dirt and stench are typical complaints against the New York City subway. And while Lepri has never noticed a stink on the 1, 2, or 3 train lines, she has described the seats as typically uncomfortable and the ground as “sticky and gross,” she said.

Sanchez described the trains that she takes: “The 2 and the 5 trains are both essentially the same: they have ugly fluorescent lighting and periwinkle bench-style seats,” she said, as well as a distinct urine stench.

Though she complains, Sanchez is eternally grateful for the 2 train, which she describes as “the air she breathes and the shoes on her feet.” She gushed, “I love her and hate her at the same time. Thank you for giving me a seat every day.”

And while he doesn’t usually have the privilege of sitting, Coen is appreciative of his train line—but for a different reason. “I like seeing the faces of people. That sounds creepy, but I just like seeing what New York is like,” he said.

Lepri gets that chance every morning since she stands on her 10-15 minute commute on the 1, 2, or 3 train. She lives in Manhattan and usually finds that she’s surrounded by Xavier students, Wall Street businessmen, and homeless people. “[There isn’t] really a racial or gender majority,” Lepri said in an e-mail interview, referring to the commuters she encounters on daily basis. “My neighborhood also just has a high homeless concentration. I usually ignore them if I think they're high. But if they're a busker and they're good, and if I have cash, then I give them money.”

Along with beggars, Lepri has encountered street shows. “[I see] a lot of buskers; some are good, [but] most are pretty bad and very loud. One guy had a one man band suit, and he was playing all of the parts, which was super cool,” she recounted.

Patel also has an affinity for street shows. She said, “You don't really see that in Queens. I had my first job last summer and it was also in the city. And I thought it was so cool. I videotaped them.” However, contrary to Lepri, who described her commute as “annoying, as in, ‘why do I have to do this,’” Lepri personified her commute as “a super chill person who doesn't bother with being too prepared. [She] cuts it close and doesn't mind. [She’s] someone with little to lose, who just kinda does their thing without worrying.”

In addition to being quick and stress-free, Lepri’s commute manages to be introspective. When asked with what perspective commute has granted her, Lepri responded with, “I guess I think more about the size of NYC, about all of the people with their own existence who will never even know me, and who I'll never meet.”

Chen has the same epiphany as she attends her daily commute. She takes multiple forms of transportation: the Staten Island Railroad (SIRR) for half an hour, the Staten Island Ferry for 25 minutes, and the 1 train for another five minutes—a total of an hour and 30 minutes. In that time, Chen encounters more people on her commute and acknowledges that “everyone has their own life. You are no more special than other people because you are just one out of hundreds or thousands who take the same transportation,” Chen said.

Yet, she described her commute as characteristic of her borough: “The train that I take is at the peak hour for everyone in Staten Island who takes the SIRR train. Staten Island for the most part is pretty calm and low-key. But I guess we face a lot of discrimination for being in Staten Island. I mean, Staten Island is trash, but it's not,” she said.

Similarly, the New York City subway system has its flaws; train delays are stressful, and subways cars are worn and dirty. But they are the main mode of travel for New Yorkers and are a New York City staple. Some countries’ subways may surpass our metro in cleanliness and speed, but as Coen stated, “The New York City subway system has a certain charm to it.”