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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7cuuf2 wrote

Reply to comment by dancetothiscomment in Late for the train. by brooklynlad

>union square uptown green line train

The 4, 5, and 6. We don't have a "green line."

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dancetothiscomment t1_j7cvfs8 wrote

I'm sure most ppl will know what im talking about

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sutisuc t1_j7d2by8 wrote

Yup the person who replied to you did that’s why they knew the numbers of the trains on the green line. Keep doing you

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iv2892 t1_j7djg8l wrote

Well when people say the green line they know it’s the 4,5,6 trains . Just like the N, R and W are the yellow lines

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7d2qpu wrote

NYC is not Boston. We don't use colors. We use numbers and letters for our subway lines.

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seafoodgodddd t1_j7ded3q wrote

So that's why every line is color coded on all the maps, right

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7donpw wrote

That's for maps. We don't call our lines by the colors.

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seafoodgodddd t1_j7dp3ci wrote

I agree with you there, but they are color coded, even on the entrances and the digital signs

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MrFrode t1_j7eb6w4 wrote

We provide colors to help people who have trouble with letters navigate the transit system. People from Boston for example.

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7dpbb5 wrote

Yes, but we don't refer to the lines by their colors. That's done in Boston and maybe another city.

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seafoodgodddd t1_j7dpivp wrote

Well, yeah, again I agree with you but the underlying point is that there are colors

I never say I'm getting on the orange line uptown but you know i'm talking about the B

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MrAnarchy138 t1_j7e5qmo wrote

No one says that. If you say you’re getting on the yellow line you might be in Queens or rich person land. You’re either on an NRW or Q.

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[deleted] t1_j7ei0vs wrote

[deleted]

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7htbpw wrote

Why would you insist on your right to use incorrect terminology in a place you don't know? I don't. That's the weird hill.

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dancetothiscomment t1_j7dargn wrote

We have colored subway lines

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MFoy t1_j7dctmt wrote

You have segregated subway systems? Wow.

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seafoodgodddd t1_j7deez6 wrote

Hey if the subways wanted rights we'd have seen subway cars on strike

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damnatio_memoriae t1_j7dkp7k wrote

subway cars strike people all the time. they just don't tell you about it.

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sutisuc t1_j7d2spm wrote

But you knew which numbers of the trains he was talking about so it’s a wash

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7dp5b6 wrote

That's not the issue. You use the terms used by the place you're living or visiting. Would you call the Underground in London the Métro?

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7d2n83 wrote

They'll know you're not from NYC and haven't bothered to learn what we call the lines on the subway system.

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Frostflame3 t1_j7duz2l wrote

I’ve lived in NYC my whole life and I call lines by their colors sometimes cause it’s just easier! Is it faster to say “Yellow” or “N, Q, R, W”?

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chengjih t1_j7dwzcc wrote

> I call lines by their colors sometimes cause it’s just easier! Is it faster to say “Yellow” or “N, Q, R, W”?

Well, sometimes we do the hard, difficult thing (like not use the colors) because it's the right thing.

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[deleted] t1_j7e6kpj wrote

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amoebaamoeba t1_j7efqtn wrote

It makes even less sense for an outerborough person to do this, because the color lines tend to *split* when they leave Manhattan!

I used to say "blue line" or whatever until I was in middle school and started riding the subway alone. That's when you learn real fast that there is a biiiiiig difference between the A and the E train at 50th Street. Your knowledge of colors can't help you anymore.

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chengjih t1_j7fgjsf wrote

Hmm. I'm actually an outer borough kid -- northeast Queens, 30 minutes by bus past the Main Street stop of the 7. I don't refer to the lines by color (unless it's a simplification to explain things to tourists). On the other hand, I'm older, and will sometimes say/think things like "Lexington Avenue IRT" or something.

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hunneybunny t1_j7hrcus wrote

MiMa is faster than middle of manhattan but you will NEVER catch me calling it that 😂

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cocktails5 t1_j7dy9bp wrote

Pretty sure NYC does it just to spite Boston.

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7hy6pp wrote

The only way to get lost on the Red Line or the Orange Line in Boston is to take it in the wrong direction. They are single lines. There are multiple ways to get lost in NYC if you have no more info about the subway line than the color.

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craigalanche t1_j7fdsg0 wrote

I was born and raised here and if I’m giving directions to someone and it’s a stop where every line in a color stops, I’ll say to take the green line or the blue line or whatever.

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aimglitchz t1_j7hs784 wrote

Ok I grew up in NYC and call the colors as shortcut sometimes. Interesting to know I'm not new Yorker...

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RoguePhoenix89 t1_j7dd445 wrote

How your comment gonna start a beef between Boston and NYC lol like what.

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Figbud t1_j7fynrb wrote

Yes we do have a green line, it's made up of the 4, 5, and 6 lines, which collectively go down a similar path (going from branched in the East Bronx, all the way down Manhattan together, and then the 4 and 5 continue into Brooklyn, in case you didn't realize) which is colored green on subway maps, hence the name "green line".

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xeothought t1_j7dwma3 wrote

Keep fighting the good fight. People are like "whatever it's the color of the line" but actually 1. calling it that is imprecise and only really works in Manhattan and 2. It's not weird to expect people to call things by the way they've been referred to for a while. Wanna call something the IRT line? go for it. But "Green Line" shows that you're not adapting to NY terminology.

Absolutely no one from NYC calls the trains by their color. They don't do that cause it doesn't work the moment trains split.

This is the same stupid shit for people dropping the "the" from neighborhood names. It sounds pedantic but it shows a lack of interest in the city and its history.

Edit: i'm not saying call it the IRT line. Just that some people do because that's what it was called in the past. But no one from the city calls it by its color. Come on people. Straight up you'd be made fun of if you did that as a kid lol. Cities have identity and this is part of it. Just like saying "standing on line" instead of "in line"

Edit 2: when you move to a city, you adapt to it. I swear this sub is full of the same people who went to CT during the height of the pandemic.

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sonofaresiii t1_j7e0arf wrote

> 1. calling it that is imprecise and only really works in Manhattan

Not really. I've been in Brooklyn before and been like "I know there's a yellow train around here somewhere, can you point me to it?" and that's been sufficient. I don't remember or care if it's the N/Q/R, I just want to be on it.

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7i4zg7 wrote

You do understand that the N, Q, and R have some stops in common but then diverge? You'd better know which one you need.

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[deleted] t1_j7e6mcw wrote

[deleted]

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7huoy3 wrote

I grew up in an Outerborough, although my parents were raised in Manhattan and I visited often. We always used the numbers or sometimes the old name of the train company, like the IRT. In the musical Hair, one song goes:

LBJ took the IRT/And found the youth of America/ on LSD.

LBJ didn't take the Red Line because that doesn't exist in New York City.

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TREYMANIII t1_j7ef0t9 wrote

I dont know how people can't understand what you're saying or the original guy who defended the idea of calling them by letters. It's not just "what you call it". They have colors and letters/numbers for a reason. Each color usually represent the street it runs down in Manhattan. (If anyone cared to notice, majority of the subway is designed to traffic everything into Manhattan first and foremost).

BDFM -6 Ave. NRQW Broadway ACE 8TH Ave. Just a few for example.

In Manhattan calling them the yellow line half way works because it's meant to show the route the trains share in that borough. But once you leave Manhattan and continue calling it the yellow line, you're asking for trouble. Tell a tourist take an uptown yellow train to forest hills and without further specific information, they'll end up in Astoria. Same with an uptown Orange train can mean the difference between a scared tourist in a rough part of the Bronx or somewhere in Hillside, Queens. Colors are a side guide mainly for appearance to tell the letters apart at huge stations like Times Square. But its best to give someone a letter.

We have too many tourists here to be vague like that. I've helped countless of them get to where they have to go. And when they used blue line, I told them the letter so someone headed to the air train to JFK on the E won't end up going past 125th Street on the A and C. God forbid the person is color blind.

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7hvo5k wrote

The colors are not without meaning: for example, silver gray represents a shuttle line. The NYC subway has more than one shuttle. I'm not sure they're being used right now, but the shape of a symbol also matters. The default shield shape is a circle but a diagonal indicates a different route. They all convey info but as you said, they're imprecise.

In Boston, colors are used. If you say the Red Line or the Orange Line, first, that's what they're officially called, but there's also no chance of confusion, they're one line with a couple of short spurs.

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SuperCow1127 t1_j7e1wkc wrote

I absolutely guarantee you more people will know what you mean by "green line" than "IRT" or "Lexington Ave line."

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RyzinEnagy t1_j7dxvje wrote

They're called by their colors by people who live in Manhattan and never leave Manhattan. The color system was designed to group the lines that are together in Manhattan.

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DaoFerret t1_j7ecc0j wrote

Lived in Brooklyn half my life, and the other half in Manhattan. I’m sure I’ve heard them described by color a couple of times, but 99% of the time it’s by trains running on it (especially since with express/local color alone doesn’t tell you if the train stops there or bypasses a given station).

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Throwawayhelp111521 t1_j7hwil8 wrote

People who are New Yorkers and live in Manhattan use the numbers and letters. I live well above Midtown. If someone had to go to South Ferry, I'd never say, "Hop on the red line.: I'd tell them to take the No. 1 Local to the first express stop, and then to take the 2 or 3 Express to Chambers Street and then to switch back to the No. 1. If you took the No. 1 all the way down the trip would take an hour. If you took only the 2 or the 3 you'd have an unnecessary walk to South Ferry, assuming you knew which stop to get off at before you landed in Brooklyn.

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