Gawker
Ads like this one got me thinking: Do people really ride outside of subway cars? Do they do it to the extent that the city of New York must spend thousands of dollars on an ad campaign advising mouth breathers not to take their own lives in their hands and screw up commutes for the rest of us? And if you were going to ride outside a train, would you really do it by clinging onto the outside edge of the closed door, terrified face pressed against the window so all inside could see your horror before you inevitably fell onto the tracks and died? The answer to all of the above is, sadly, "yes."
The phenomenon of (always) stupid (usually) young men—often bored graffiti writers from the outer boroughs—surfing on the outside of subway cars has been admirably covered by the New York media. It's one of those evergreen, slice of life stories that publications can recycle every few years, as events warrant. Every so often, somebody dies riding on top of train, and the populace of the city remarks to itself, "My, how stupid. And possibly tragic."
And the, um, "sport "isn't confined to America. Not by a long shot! The Japanese enjoy surfing on trains and dodging oncoming bridges:
In South Africa, kids like to boogie on top of trains, duck for their lives, then continue to boogie:
In Barcelona, some kids ride on the back of the subway, which is relatively safer. Very relatively:
And to answer my original question, who would be stupid enough to ride on the side of the train? Some guy in Manchester, England, for one! His trip ended as you might have guessed:
In conclusion: Kids, if you want to go subway surfing, keep your activities confined to the inside of the car. There's really only one safe way to do it—as performance art:
[pic via Subway Blogger]
Comments
I think Darwin would approve of subway surfing.
well, the manchester one remains the funniest and best allegory for "why Manchester is a place you should never visit."
It's probably not cool to hope that people die. But, then again, I've never been cool.
@mitchel_stevens: I lost a rental car in Manchester.
According to 99% of action movies, this is as common as brushing your teeth.
Manchester? Stupid Manchester is more like it.
Re: the Manchester video - the slow upload time just built the tension, didn't it?
Damn, you can't take food on the subway anymore, there's no trash to throw on the tracks, the rats gotta eat something.
@drunkexpatwriter: Subway Surfing: For those special times when natural selection is just not good enough.
@Sarcastro:
In all likelihood, someone probably stole it. Then tried surfing on it. And now they're dead--or on youtube.
but i can't hate manchester too much. It gave us Morrissey/Denton Jr.
Anyone else feel the need to watch Teen Wolf now?
Mumbai looks like even more fun!
The kid from Manchester probably shouldn't have been giving the finger...
The fact of the matter is that this ad will never discourage the people who are already thinking of doing it. It's similar to copping tags next to the sign that says "Graffiti is illegal, blah, blah, blah".
For the record, as somebody who has spent more time in the tunnels and on the tracks than most of you, subway surfing has never had any appeal to me.
Pissing on the third rail is another story.
Hey, stupid people need to have their fun too.
This is a terrible, scary trend. That being said, there have been mornings where riding on the outside of rush hour L-Train has seemed preferable to riding inside.
@SW-2: Wow. That makes the 1 train look like a wide-open prairie.
"Surf the web"?
Are we really sure that we want to trust these people with a computer?
Belligerent ghouls are Manchester tools...
Keanu Reeves can subway surf WHILST fighting domestic terrorism.
Mancunian twatwaffle.
@SW-2:
@SW-2:
I wasn't thinking about train surfing before, but that picture makes it look fun. I will start train surfing now.
@drunkexpatwriter: Indeed. Except these idiots get stupid girls to plant their seeds in so if they don't die the idiocy goes on.
Manchester dude is fat.
@mitchel_stevens: Both of whom left Manchester, never to return.
upcoming Sequel: Manchester: There will be Blood
[farm4.static.flickr.com]
A big blood smear on the window of the Manchester train would have made for much better cinema.
Train surfing was huge in Rio for a while, where the dangers also include dodging electrical lines. In 1989, the sport killed 150 kids.
Ah, the "benefits" of Congestion Pricing.
@riskybusiness: And, to your point, these signs will never discourage train surfing because they are inside the train.
My favorite subway ad is the one that says attacking a subway employee is a felony, and they complement it with the picture of the MOST punchable jerky looking subway guy ever.
does anyone remember about 6 years ago the MTA put up a poster in subway stations regarding route disruptions due to construction which read "It's too much to explain on a poster" ?
I just consider it a lil chlorine in the gene pool.
Maybe people wouldn't be so inclined to assault MTA employees if the MTA didn't employ such incompetent employees.
Ron Perlman surfing on the roof was the best part of that stupid TV show 'Beauty and the Beast'!
I'm sure that Ellen Barkin wishes it was her ex instead & he fell off.
This is a good argument for the abolition of subways. Think of the children. The stupid children.
The MTA advertising always makes me smile with their over exaggerated expressions and puns written by by Grandma (E.g., "It's a Crime Anyway You Swipe It!")
My favorite one is the Lost and Found sign that includes things like a cobra, wad of money, crutches, teeth, etc.
MTA, if you're listening, I'd love to be in one of your posters! Call me!
Idiots!!!
I surf the train every day...but INSIDE. And that's just because I miss actual surfing and I don't like touching those ever warm plaguetastic bars.
My favorite poster has the same photo as the graphic Gawker uses, but it says, "This could be his last ride."
Only someone in my station crossed out "his" with a sharpie and wrote "Adam Sandler's."
If Sheila did time for sipping a beer in a subway station, what is the penalty if caught surfing?
Instant death? (which actually seems to be the reward, too.)
Speaking of MTA advertising, this morning I found out that I can now charge a subway ride!
@SlickaNicka: Sheila didn't "do time" she just "went through the system."
@Toomanytomatoes: That's right, blame the victim.
Subway surfing is not new. Perhaps if you were from around here you might remember seeing it on the news when you were a kid.
@riskybusiness: True...I got a case of the Bosnia embellishment-itis. Sorry.
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