New modes of transit

It's now November, and I have spent three months living in West Philadelphia (everyone break into a chorus of the "Fresh Prince" theme song). Now that I am no longer living in the relative haven of suburbia, I must subject myself to the worst depths of Philadelphia public transit -- THE SUBWAY. Any comforts that existed on the regional rail no longer exist on the subway. If the smell of vomit and/or urine does not exist, it's not a good day on the subway. Similar to my earlier Rules of Public Transit, I have created some thoughts on life on the underground transit system in Philly, for the wary traveller who wants to be prepared before stepping below (or above) ground.

The El -- The Market-Frankford is known as the El. Being exposed to the D.C. system, I constantly refer to this as the blue line (because the line is blue on the map), and am looked at like I have sprouted another head. To further complicate matters, the El is not actually EL-evated. Well, it is, but not in a place where anyone wants to go. So every time I'm riding the El, I'm below ground. Fun.

The Trolleys -- This is what I envision as a post-apocolyptic form of transit. They are small buses, but they run on trolley wires, but, like the El, run below ground for the good parts of the trip. The best part about the trolleys is the general operation. The drivers have no steering wheels, just pedals. They take full advantage of this, accelarating and breaking frenetically in an attempt to send every standing passenger careening to the floor. They also make a horrid shrieking noise when going around corners that, if you have a hangover, makes you want to scream and throw yourself in front of said trolley.