The 96th St. Divide

NYC is an amazingly diverse city, yet ethnicities are pretty clearly delineated by neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods are known for its Dominican population, some for North Africans, others for Puerto Ricans, etc. etc. To me, nothing is more apparent for noticing the separation of ethnicities (especially Caucasians vs. non-Caucasians) than taking the subway in Manhattan. Doesn’t matter if you’re riding on east or west side lines, passing 96th street will guarantee a shift in passenger demographics. At 96th street, the majority of Caucasians will get off the train, leaving mostly minorities to ride the cars.

The reason for this phenomenon undoubtedly has something to do with socio-economic status/class and race/ethnicity. In this country, minorities tend to have lower income and have to live further uptown in places with more affordable rent. This is nothing new. However, it is very interesting and curious to take note of. I spend a lot of my free mental time observing the environment around me, and this has become sort of a strange little game to play when I’m bored on the train. For example, if I’m on the 2/3 line and pass 96th street, what are my chances of being in a train car with a 20% Caucasian-rider composition? 10% is highly probable, but the percentage rarely surpasses 20%. And after I guess the percentage of Caucasian riders in my car, I then try to guess which stop they’ll get off at.

Actually, noticing rider demographics has its advantages: it helps you figure out where you’re likely to find a seat on crowded train car. I must say, I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting soon-to-be-empty seats on subways in the 3.5 years I’ve lived here. Noticing a person’s attire, accessories and overall attitude/vibe they exude can pretty much help you figure out if they’ll be riding the train for short period or a long while. Today, for example: the 6 was having problems and running express from Brooklyn Bridge to Union Square. Whenever there’s even the slightest change in train routes, everything gets a little off and trains are more crowded than usual. I stood near the end of a train car so I could lean on the doors and have at least some sort of personal space. But as I leaned against the door handles, I also realized that I’ll probably be standing for my entire subway ride home. Of the 6 seats available around me, 5 were occupied by minorities. I’m not trying to be classist or racist or whatever ‘ist’ this may be construed to be: I simply observed the people around me and felt that they are likely to live more uptown, either more uptown than myself or near my stop. Therefore, their chances of getting off the train before me and freeing up a seat for me to occupy are very low. The only person that could potentially get off the train before me was a little White girl reading a book. Thus began the game. I looked at her ensemble, took into account that she’s deep into a book and applied my ‘96th street’ hypothesis to guess which stop she’ll disembark. And I was correct in my guess! The girl grabbed her canvas tote and got off at 96th street, along with the majority of the Caucasian riders. So I guess I won my own game today! ;)

My calculations of rider demographics may seem a bit odd. . . but it’s definitely something to occupy myself (and maybe yourself) with. Try it next time you take a train uptown. See if the ‘96th street’ hypothesis applies to your train car. And see if you can guess which person will get off at what stop. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be an uptown-vs-downtown thing. If you’re riding the train from east village to upper east side, see if you can guess which person will get off at a specific station.  Pay some attention to your fellow riders. You might be better at this game than you think!