Pretty random question, I know, but I’m just curious.

My personal is Philly’s MFL. I rode it once in 2022 and it looked like half of passengers there were on drugs. Maybe because it was on a holiday and there were not too many people?

The NYC subway has definitely gotten worse since 2020 but not nearly to the level of what I saw on MFL.

Chicago’s Green Line could be another contender as it goes through some of the worst areas but I haven’t been on it in ages.

What are other people’s experiences?

30 comments

  1. I was on the blue line in Chicago and two dudes were threatening to shoot up the car. That was lovely.

  2. LA Metro Blue Line probably, back in the early 2000s.

    (Now known as the A Line)

    In terms of public drug use, though, you’d be hard-pressed to top BART these days, unfortunately.

  3. What “feels” sketchy often is because it’s unfamiliar.

    Most dangerous public transport is Minneapolis- St Paul.

  6. Green line in Chicago at the very end points. Not only is the ridership a bit sketchy but then you get off into neighborhoods that don’t exactly instill calm and happiness.

  7. Took the Marta from the airport to downtown Atlanta one year. Although it wasn’t the train ride that was sketchy. It was all the homeless people chasing us around trying to “help”. Probably didn’t help that we had luggage with us. We went to an NFL game and stayed in downtown Atlanta. I’ve been lots of times before. And that was the sketchiest time. We were offered drugs multiple times within 5 minutes of getting there.

  8. Los Angeles’ Red Line and specifically the 7th Street Red/Expo station is pretty sketch.

  9. It is my sincere hope that it was an exception, but in 1989, I took the Coast Starlight (or predecessor, I don’t remember) to Seattle, and there was a smell of rotting food throughout the train. It kept me off long distance train travel for nearly 25 years. Now I love intercity train travel, and have never experienced that awful stench again.

  10. I mean the fucking orange line in Boston caught on fire over a river and a lady legit dove into the river and swam away and when asked for help explained that swan diving into the mystic river was better than being on the orange line.

  11. Marta from Five Points going west can be pretty uncomfortable at night.

  12. Nothing I’ve seen on the MBTA has really made me feel completely unsafe, but I have seen my fair share of weird people.

    However, being the engineer and infrastructure nerd I am, I’ve seen plenty of things all over the system that definitely make me squirm a bit. Among them:

    – Sparking lighting ballast (can’t remember which station)
    – An old orange line car making quite the bang every time it left the station
    – Green line pantograph arcing in the tunnel
    – Orange line train feeling like it was going to jump the track and derail despite you being able to walk faster than it was moving (this was 3 weeks ago)

    Yeahhhhhh the MBTA is in dire straights right now, but I still think it’s marginally better than it was last summer.

  13. Amtrack 1980. Penn Station in New York. I saw shit that can not ever be unseen.

  14. I’ve ridden the MFL (around here it’s “the El”) end-to-end a couple times and to points in or near Center City too many times to count, but I’m from Philly so I don’t really interact with other passengers.

    Besides, the subway can be worse.

  15. The NYC subway in the mid 70s to mid 80s was unbelievably sketchy – drunks, drugs, gangs and graffiti everywhere. Right now,I think it is pretty good.
    Late 80s early 90s the Boston MBTA was pretty good, but it has rapidly declined since then.

  16. Depends.

    In general, Boston’s Orange Line.

    But IME, *all* NYC lines are sketchy after about 11.

  17. First time I was ever on the Philly subway I saw someone just casually smoking crack, waiting for the train.

  18. MARTA. It seems only homeless people ride it. I still didn’t feel too unsafe though

  19. The vast majority of Americans have never been on a train, subways if they live or travel to a big city. I did once from new Orleans to Chicago and it was quite an experience. I’d do it again but it’s not cheap so probably would prefer to just fly.

  20. Probably the LA redline. Smelled horrible and had bad vibes, couldn’t wait to get off.

  21. OMG!! I rode MFL for over a year, to and from work. The people on it 🤮. I was so happy when I moved to the burbs!!! I felt safer on the blue line in Chicago and the Underground in the UK

  23. In terms of how I feel about my actual safety, highways in cities have always been worse for me than any train. It’s one thing when a person you encounter could hurt you if they wanted to, but it’s far worse when you’re surrounded by people who can kill you by making a simple mistake.

    Considering only trains, I felt uneasy taking MARTA after midnight, when the train I planned to take didn’t show on the arrival screen and I was the only person waiting on the platform.

  25. The PATH around Newark/Harrison at night. Not sure how it is now. NYC subways were bad in the 70s/80s but got way way better from the 90s on.

  27. All the metro systems here that I’ve been in have been really bizarre. I’ve used the NYC, DC, and Philly systems and every one was crawling with creeps or people who looked like they were drugged out of their minds or plotting how to murder you. Compared to Germany and Japan, both of which I didn’t feel really unsafe or like I was going to get pissed on by a drunk homeless guy nearly as much as I have in the states.

    Hell, in Philly we went to an Eagles game and my buddy told me as we were heading back to his place that it was safer if I took off my jersey (not even an NFCE rival or the team they played that day, just a random team) before we got on the train.

  28. NYC Subway is not sketchy at all. I ride it regularly through the Bronx and have never had an incident happen to me. Of course it’s the subway so you’re gonna see some crazy shit here and there but people and the media exaggerate.

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