Via Laura Michet’s weekly roundup I came across the essay The Subway Is Not Scary.

You sound real corny being scared of the subway.

It is a nice essay, taking a look at the way some people argue against having public transit through bad-faith arguments of feeling unsafe. Living in a city that is slowly undergoing a fragile process of de-carification and seeing the absolute flood of garbage opinion pieces that are published in the local paper as a result, this essay resonated with me. (Though we do not have a subway.)

There have been like two times I’ve been uncomfortable on the tram. At no point have I felt in danger. Both times were due to some unfortunate fellow with some kind of substance issue having a much worse time than me. One hopes that they managed to find help to get out of it.

The essay made me think of what the strangest thing I’ve seen while using public transportation and a memory stands out:

It is the last couple of weeks of my exchange studies at the Technische Universität Berlin. I’m riding the S-Bahn from Schönefeld Airport after a brief visit home in Sweden. It is the middle of the day and there are not many people sharing the train car that I’m in.

A man stands near the door. Nothing noteworthy about him and he occupies no substantial space of my awareness. That is, until the train starts coming to a stop at which point he quickly starts taping small, yellow slips of paper onto the glass partitions separating the seating area from the space where the doors are. He then swiftly leaves the train as soon as the doors open.

Berlin is a city of graffiti and stickers, but I’ve never seen it happen so openly. I get up from my seat and have a look.

It is a flyer for a local Bridge club.