New York

A few months ago, I joined the ranks of the 45,000 some New Yorkers who commute to work by bicycle. I don't ride every day, unfortunately. I skip it and take the subway if it's raining, exceptionally cold (as in, below 30 with a significant wind chill) or if I have some plans after work that would keep me out until some very late hour. I'm also fortunate that both my apartment building and my office building have space to accommodate my parked bike. I've noticed some things about biking in New York.

I guess you could say I am totally "in the tank" for Barack Obama. In fact, I could've told you at least 8 years ago that I would be voting for Obama (or whoever the Democratic candidate ended up being) next week. I would almost venture to say that in the entire time any member of my family has lived in the United States, none of them has ever voted for a non-Democrat, so it's just part of my upbringing. Now, I also live in one of the bluest congressional districts in one of the bluest states in the country and I work for a pretty left-leaning newspaper, so not many of my friends, neighbors, or co-workers are particularly disinclined to vote for Obama either. So, while we're mostly not worth canvassing or get-out-the-vote organizing here in New York, we're still good to hit up for money.

Those who follow the local news in New York have no doubt heard of the MTA's plan to raise subway fares next year and again in 2011. People and politicians in the city and suburbs love to whine about the fare hike and how it will hit working people the most. Honestly, I don't mind that much. A few extra bucks a month is not a big deal to me and to most people. I still no car-related travel expenses and I still know that the subway here is cheaper than smaller and less useful mass transit systems in many other cities, both in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

At my old job, there was a lot of unspoken pressure to show up right at 9:00 a.m. Of course, I never really managed to do that consistently, but I tried. Given the 35-40 minute ride on the F train to get there, I would shoot for getting to the subway platform around 8:25 or so. Typically my fellow commuters were dressed up more than I was, and I tended to wear jeans and a non-dressy collared shirt. Maybe one out of every ten people had a Blackberry or iPhone on which they checked their email during the brief above-ground stint at Smith-9th St.