Of Summer and Infinite Space

June 25, 2013

There are two ways to know for sure if it’s officially summer in New York. One, thousands of people do yoga in Times Square. For the last dozen years, this is how the spandexed masses have celebrated the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.

The other way to tell: people begin bitching about how hot the subway is. Or actually: how hot the suffocating platforms are, and how cold the air-conditioned trains are inside by comparison. Why can’t we meet somewhere in the middle, MTA? The question was put to a Transit spokesman a few years ago. As it happens, the baking city’s heat actually seeks the subway spaces out, forming torrid “heat sinks,” which are exactly as repellent as they sound. And the air-conditioning of the cars makes matters worse by releasing hot air exhaust into the system.

And why not just air-condition the connected tunnels and platforms as well? “You can’t air-condition an infinite space,” said spokesman.

I hate summer subway platforms, but I admire this guy’s ballsy logic.