4 - Wednesday, April 10, 1985 - North Shore News

strictly personal

by Bob Hunter
Descent into hell

shot four black youths he thought were go-

: T= Goetz case in New York — the guy who

ing to try to mug him — reminds me of the
special terror and thrill of the New York subway

system.

First, there is the descent
into hell. It may not neces-
sarily be one of the really
filthy and dangerous sta-
tions, but your instincts are
quick to remind you that this
is the equivalent of entering
a cave or den.,

‘Below, what might you
expect to find? Smaug of the
Middle Earth? The
Minotaur?. A Sand-Worm?
Supposing the power. fails
while - you" te down ‘there.
Then you're food” for: the
rats, aren’t you? “=~

fve travelled in subways
in at least a dozen cities,
from Rome to Hong Kong,
but I’ve:never.seen anything
quite as: surrealistic as the
‘New York-system:: The :fact
that you can’t read any of
the directions because they
have. all been defaced by
graffiti” leaves you feeling
disoriented and. nervous.

The. lights in many of the
coaches flicker on and. off.

: Straps are torn. apart. The

seats are stashed and bent.
There is an’ aura of violence
hovering ' in the air, even if
you. happen to be alone in a
_ car. Between the graffiti and
“the vandalism, you ‘can’t

help. but be intensely. aware,

“every minute that. uncon-

trolled, primitive forces. ‘hold

‘sway.down here. .

Bernard Goetz—the arm-"

ed {Subway. | Vigilante” —

© Had-every reason to be up- -

tight. Some 15,000 muggings
-take place in the New York
subways each year. Madmen
’ wander‘about, urinating and
screaming. The acrid stench

of track fires filters through '
the tunnels. If you don’t feel.
Gread, you ain't, payin’ ate;

Yet, for al that, there are
moments. when | even . this

- “‘Dantesque © netherworld,’”

RPZZme

as it has been called, is a
place of mystery and magic.
Hissing and sivieking into

_a station is like penetrating a

cross section of a beehive,
except that the waiting horde
is wingless and silent. Mi-
raculously, no vacuum is
created that sucks them into
the maw cf the train. Yet as
you clatter away down the
tracks, newspapers flap like
birds through the air, behind

‘you. And the station is emp-
ty, as. though its denizens

had been swallowed, after

all.

Although the world’s first
subway—dubbed the “‘sewer
railway’’—started running in
London in 1863, and
Budapest, Glasgow and
Boston each had one by the
year 1900—with Paris’s
Metro opening that year in
time for a World's Fair—
they are mostly « 20th Cen-
tury phenomenon.

By the time Vancouver's
Automated Light Rapid
Transit comes on stream
next summer—it counts
because its first few stations
will be underground—the
world will have 70 such
transportation systems, and

by the end of the century,

there are expected to be no

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fewer than 100 at least partly
subterranean urban rail
transit grids.

Driving through New
Westminster the other day, I
realized what a difference
the ALRT is going to make
to Greater Vancouver. Until
now, I have viewed the city
as being beautiful enough to
break your heart, but not
rally a city, in the 20th
Century sense, not when it
takes you two hours to drive
from West Van to New
West.

In case you have somehow
missed it, that fantastic
elevated track is a beautiful
piece of work, a concrete
sculpture, really. The view
from the coaches when they
start to run will be without
parallel anywhere in the
world,

There has been quite a bit
of discussion about whether
the ALRT is liable to
become a fermenting ground
for crime, like New York’s

Ronald J Seti

system. The ALRT’s plan-
ners have gone to consider-
able effort to make it clear
that cameras wil! scan the
stations at all times and that
emergency communications

-will be possible from the

coaches theinselves, even
though there will be no
drivers. \

The two. situations—

Vancouver’s and New
York’s—don't bear com-
parison, except in one crit-
ical regard. Without an ef-
fective rapid transit system,
the centre cannot hold, You
don’t have a city. You have
a lot of suburban fiefdoms,
each growing inward.

I wish 1986 were here
already. I want to ride that
sucker!

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