Everything in transit
On changing up the commute
Quartz is moving to a new office in New York. We’re documenting it here because many of our questions apply to other startups. Our introduction explains more about what we’re up to. Follow our publication for updates.
A friend of mine, who lives in DC but once lived in Washington Heights, likes to joke that the way New Yorkers talk about the subway is like a different language. God forbid that the L train only run in one direction on the weekend, or that you take on the 6 local train uptown instead of the express — but in the event you were late, you could casually drop whatever was wrong with the train in conversation, and others will instantly sympathize, absolving you of your guilt.
When I moved to New York, I liked to say that my relationship with the G train, which I live just five steps away from, was the most stable relationship in my life. Sure, the G train gets a bad rap — it doesn’t come as often as the lines in Manhattan and being the only Brooklyn-only line, it isn’t always the easiest or most time-efficient way to get around the borough. But like clockwork, it does arrive every 10 or 11 minutes, and it can get you to Williamsburg, and it can get you to Red Hook. An analysis found that the G is New York’s most reliable subway line by a long shot.
All of which is to say that, against all odds, I have started to kind of love my commute: the G to the L to the most bustling stop on 14th Street. But in a few weeks, I have the choice of changing my commute when we move into our new office at 21st Street and Avenue of the Americas. If I do, I’ll have to configure a new wake-up time, find a new favorite coffee shop between my front door and the subway, and begin the process of getting to know another line’s idiosyncrasies all over again. (By all means, roll your eyes.)
But when I asked in Slack if anyone at Quartz had “strong feelings” about changing their commute, the responses I got told me that I’m not the only one who feels changing trains is in, some way, like adopting a new identity. One editor pointed out that there’s a certain hierarchy to the New York subway lines. There are the ones that have countdown clocks (the numbered lines and the L), the ones that have arrival times which are almost always wrong (the lettered lines), and the ones that simply don’t any estimated arrival times (well, the G).
For some, upgrading their commute will be welcome change. An ad ops manager who lives in Hell’s Kitchen told me he’ll start taking the C/E to 8th Avenue, instead of starting at Times Squares and grabbing the N/Q/R to Union Square. “I’ll probably end up walking just as far,” he said. “But eliminating that last block directly into Times Square is going to change my life.”
Quartz writers, editors, and business folks told me that as their commute times stretched or shrank in length, they would pick up or shed certain habits: walking more to or from the subway, finding a new yoga studio closer the new office, starting a podcast for the long stretches underground, maybe even straight-up biking to work. The question of what to do on your commute is a good one — on my current commute, I spend roughly 25 minutes underground, and finish approximately one New Yorker long-read every ride. If I switch to taking the C train to work, I’ll be able to knock one of those every morning without having to transfer lines.
Every (subway) door closed is another one opened. But of course, saying goodbye is not always easy, especially if you’re also parting ways with another human. One content operations specialist told me that she’d made a friend on her commute. “We sometimes do crosswords together,” she said over Slack. They have each other’s numbers, which he uses to alert her if the train is running late: “He’ll be like, ‘There’s a stalled train.’” But for whatever reason, they never talk otherwise. “I know all about his life, but we only ever hang out on the Q train. And now I’m going to take the C! I’ll miss him.”
