Please Swipe Again, NYC
Sometimes I feel like a traitor to my city. After living for half a year in London, I cannot help but miss certain aspects of British public transportation. While an unlimited monthly pass in London was a whopping £106 (yes, that’s $168.87), I could barely believe that a subway could be so clean, organized, and well-ventilated. As a New Yorker in London, I was in awe of the orderly way passengers stood to one side of the escalator while those in a hurry could easily rush by. The underground human traffic moved through delineated paths; there was nothing to resemble the calamity that is the East 42nd street subway station.
The New York subway is simply not tourist friendly. There are no nice, clear signs on the platforms indicating all of the stations trains will stop at, the various styles of turnstiles at subway entrances are decidedly luggage-proof, and the muffled conductor announcements often get lost in translation. I cannot count the times I have missed an approaching train because the tourist in front of me had to please swipe again. 
To be fair, New York’s overall personality is not tourist-friendly, either. The live-and-let-live, figure-it-out-yourself New Yorker competitive edge was all I knew until I moved to Missoura to attend Wash U. It wasn’t until I returned to The Big Apple after time abroad that I truly saw New York’s character in a more global context.
I’ll admit it. I hate MetroCards and fantasize that one day the “improving, non-stop” MTA propaganda which plasters the six train walls will inform me that London's swipe-free Oyster Card has come to New York. But for now, I suppose installing Help Points at 2 out of the 468 MTA recognized New York City subway stations is a... um... start. 
Julia B. Mellon is an intern at CJP Communications