Transit Talk : New York's Bus and Subway Workers Tell Their Stories [Paperback]

Robert W. Snyder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

"Robert Snyder has compiled the tales and the war stories, sketches of the varied jobs and those who work on the buses and trains of the New York city mass transit system. These are the engrossing stories of the invisible workers-those who labor day and night to ensure a safe trip for the five million who ride the subways and buses of the city. Ever present, the workers have seen it all, and regale us with their experiences. It is an enjoyable read renewing our appreciation and respect for those who tend the transit systems."-New York History New York City may seem to be a place where everyone is a stranger, yet transit workers provide a human presence on a late-night bus or an empty subway platform. Few of us give any thought to these invisible workers-until something goes wrong. Transit Talk takes readers into the world of MTA New York City Transit employees, as they describe their lives and work, from the most visible subway conductor to the seemingly invisible mechanic. There are nearly 44,000 transit workers like those you will meet in Transit Talk, and every day they help five million of us travel to work, to school, to weddings, to funerals, to hospitals, to vacations. These workers labor daily on subway tracks inches from high-voltage powerlines, risking their lives for passengers they'll never know. The city can feel large and fragmented, but the transportation system and its workers create common threads in the lives of all New Yorkers, threads we take for granted. Nearly one hundred transit workers were interviewed for Transit Talk. These are the people who keep the country's largest transit system up and running. Together, their stories create a human tableau of life and labor in the city within a city that is the MTA New York City Transit. Transit workers find satisfaction in fixing a damaged subway car, gain wisdom from mastering a dangerous workplace, nurse emotional wounds from tending to someone injured in an accident, battle frustration from difficulties with management, and express satisfaction when reflecting on a productive career. They tell of how years spent in the same shop create bonds between workers. They talk of the burden of laboring in a twenty-four-hour system with night shifts and weekend workdays that take them away from families. You'll hear joyous anecdotes of workers delivering babies in a subway car as well as painful tales of informing next-of-kin of a death on the tracks. The stories weave together vignettes about race, unions, and the relations between men and women in the transit workforce. The memories recorded here cover the last fifty years of the twentieth century, a time when the transit system acquired many of the characteristics of contemporary modern American industry. Robert W. Snyder, a lifelong bus and subway rider and the grandson of a transit worker, is the author of The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York and coauthor of Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York. He lives with his wife and two children in Manhattan, where he is the editor of Media Studies Journal.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This testimony to working life illuminates the stories, adventures, and wisdom of New York transit workers. More than 100 transit workers were interviewed to discover just what goes on behind the scenes of public transportation. The challenges are legion: the danger of working next to high-voltage power lines in a system that operates 24 hours a day for 7 days a week; workers risking their own lives to save others, an act that often leaves them as witnesses to pain and death. In their testimonies, workers express the importance of bonding with their colleagues for protection as well as companionship.

Then there are the scams that workers cope with daily, such as the "blind" man who puts egg membrane in his eyes to implement his begging routine; "token suckers" who use soda cans to trap fare tokens for resale; holdups and gang activities that make many workers' jobs even more difficult and dangerous. For most passengers, the transit workers are a nearly invisible part of their own daily routine. Snyder's book gives transit workers both voices and names. --Susan Swartwout

From Publishers Weekly

Snyder, managing editor of Media Studies Journal, dedicates this book to his grandfather, who was a transit worker for 48 years?and this paean would make any grandfather proud. Snyder gets right to the point: there are 44,310 transit workers in the system and they somehow manage to transport five million people daily. Adopting an approach reminscent of Stud Terkel's, he lets the workers tell their own "war stories." Some are sweet, like when a baby is born in the last car of a train and is named after the nervous worker who helped in the delivery. Others are more grim, as when a jumper lands under a train and miraculously lives. "Why did you do this?" the worker asks the woman. "No one loves me," she replies. He says, "I love you. Why would I crawl under all these cars?" The transit authority, we learn, has traditionally been a haven for immigrants, from the Irish of the 1920s to the Jamaicans of today. It provides jobs, as one worker points out, of "secure poverty"?you'll never get rich, but you'll pay the rent. The author goes on to tell of scam artists in the subways, such as the "token suckers" who actually suck tokens out of turnstile slots; and of how quickly death can come to a track worker when he or she steps on the third rail. There are tales of ghosts of dead track workers (the "ghost" turns out to be the smoke of a track fire) and a heart-warming story of a bus driver who used to wait for the "scrubbies"?the cleaning ladies from the Empire State Building?every night so they wouldn't have to wait another hour for a bus home. This is a terrific book for railroad buffs and Big Apple aficionados.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813525772
• ISBN-13: 978-0813525778
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,592,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable testimonies!, October 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Transit Talk : New York's Bus and Subway Workers Tell Their Stories (Paperback)

It's about time someone did a book on what the guys who are up all day/night to get us where we want to go. This is a great book and it's nice to see these guys get some credit.

1.0 out of 5 stars OLD STUFF, Sugar Coated, November 10, 2010

By 

I. James - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Transit Talk : New York's Bus and Subway Workers Tell Their Stories (Paperback)

" This is just to get the job as a Porter AKA CTA "

To become a Cleaner..Lets start with you must have at least a H.S. Diploma, You file an application for $100.00. Then you go to a Public School a year or more later to take the 80 Question math tests which is so hard they let use a Calculator. Then if you get 75 or better you might get called for a Physical exam 2 to 3 years later. Because over 10,000 people will take the test, do the math on how much money Personnel Dept. makes (Not NYC Transit).Once you pass the physical (The Physical consists of Urinating in a cup and Blood Pressure test and eye exam & hearing test. More than half fail the Urine test so now we are down to 10 applicants out of 30 then you go get finger printed another 100.00. Then sworn in $1.00 then 2 weeks of training on Biological Waste & Pathological Waste removal & Asbestos abatement and then you get a uniform. Half of my class mates dropped out the first 2 weeks of training (30 Classmates that started with me). While on the job as needed, and I have done it removed body parts and Blood from Train Accidents and Shooting Victims in the Subway. Personnel Dept has 3 years to investigate your background. Don't forget to tell NYC Transit about Fare Beating tickets or Parking tickets, Or 3 years to date you will be terminated from employment. Lets not forget pay Union Dues the first year on the Job and can be fired for AWOL or Lateness without recourse. GOOD Luck. I have 4 years to go and I would never tell my Family members to take a test for NYC Transit

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is pretty damn good!, June 17, 2001

By 

Daniel Clemente (Staten Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transit Talk : New York's Bus and Subway Workers Tell Their Stories (Paperback)

I definently enjoyed reading it...some of the stories are amazing. I want a job in transit, and this book showes what ill face when i get it. Cant wait. This book clearly explains and shows the lives of workers which work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to please the public! This book is amazing...Get it, you will enjoy it!