It's curious that folks refer to "people" peeing, when, for the most part,it's one particular gender of "people" (that is to say, men) that you see peeing on the subway...

Apparently, only males lack the self control to wait til they get home and/or leave the station to find a public bathroom.. [and, in the interest of full disclosure, I have been one of those men on a couple of occasions]

On the other hand, women manage to hold out, even if they've been drinking, or are pregnant, or simply haven't had a chance to go to the bathroom before getting on the train...

The MTA has a few employees whose sole jobs are to pick up things that people drop onto the tracks. If you drop anything, you should leave it on the tracks, alert the "Station Attendant" and they will summon the proper personnel.

anyone ever notice that when you walk up the steps from the platforms at the south entrance at the whithall R/W stop, it always smells like someone's vomit? for the past 7 years i've smelled vomit walking out of that station, what gives?

yup, 51st is worst. the only odor Krista left out is the stank of an old bleach soaked mop left to mildew.

Brightliner:

In my Staten Island Railway tale this was a freak occurance where something fell out of a bag while exiting the train and I was lucky enough to see it, the fact that it was out of doors and daytime may have also helped.

So things can fall just in the normal course of entering/exiting the subway car.

I'm telling you, the fetid stench at 51st Street is due to the fountain at the plaza entrance on 53rd/Lexington. They must never clean out the pipes or something.

I'm glad someone mentioned the downtown 6 at 51st St. because that’s the most baffling stench I’ve ever encountered. The first time I got a whiff of the rotting flesh, body odor and vomit combo hovering near those short escalators, I thought it was a fluke. But I take that train maybe once a week and it never dissipates. It’s like that underpass is haunted by silent but deadly vileness.

the "grab it" telescopic poles are also called

"the reacher"

I've used one to pick stuff that's fell behind a TV or desk.

ah, the joys of getting old.

"Grab-it pole?" Has the discussion suddenly shifted to Dan Hoyt?

Here's a simple solution for retrieving things from the tracks. Stay the hell away from the edge of the platform. Then you'll never drop stuff down there. And if you do manage to drop a camera lens and it rolls off the platform, let it go. It's probaby trashed anyway after two consecutive falls.

Some more essential items for New York subway survival:

5. Bottle of water (in case you wind up getting stuck)

6. Candy bar (in case you wind up getting stuck, I recomend a Mars bar from the UK)

7. Flashlight (mini-Mag Lite is good, in case you wind up getting stuck/evacuated)

8. Something to read (in case you wind up getting stuck)

I was once drunk at Cancel Street where I saw the largest roach I've ever seen. Startled and confused, the roach limped toward me in a threatening manner. In a heroic act of bravery, I took out ‘Zeus’ and let spray my stream of justice, washing the foul creature onto the tracks. After my foe was finally vanquished, I pissed my name on the subway wall…’ZEUS’.

I was cheered and congratulated by my fellow straphangers. It stank being the middle of the summer, but It was indeed a glorious example of man’s triumph over animal-kind.

So the essential items for New York subway survival are:

1. A MetroCard.

2. Your own map, 'cos the trains don't have 'em.

3. A "grab-it" pole to fetch your stuff from the track.

4. An empty bottle to piss into.

Any more?

that's why I carry around those grab it poles.

the one you see in an old time grocery store to get the items from the top shelf.

they have folding one's now, thank goodness I have a relative in the healthcare equipment business.

It is not easy climbing back up a subway platform. I speak from experience when I dropped a camera lens out of my bag as I got off a train a few years ago. Please note that this was done on the Staten Island Railway where there is enough gaps between trains to make it less dangerous. Unlike the subway there was no railroad clerk to ask for help. And I wonder why I haven't been to Staten Island for years.

City Hall 4, 5, 6 tunnel - worst smelling no doubt.

b - it's not about how much srength you have, it's about how much strength you THINK you have. Most people can not do a single pull-up but still have this notion they are in good physical condition

so yeah, i can see a lot of people thinking that going down to the tracks and back up is no problem until they actually do it

How come Japan has the most beautiful, clean and futuristic toilets in the world and we can't get shit? oh yeah, it's cause of THOSE people who live in Public Housing.

how much upper body strength do you need to pull yourself up?

i've dropped my phone down there and getting it was no problem

What an idiot. You should never be on the tracks, NEVER. And I thought nothing could top the stupid story last year about how some woman jumped down onto the tracks to get a dropped cell phone but suddenly realized she didn't have the upper body strength to get back up on the platform as a train came roaring towards her-- and she died.

How much do you want to bet this turns into a lawsuit. Maybe Bloomberg should make banning idiotic lawsuits against the city his next crusade. Think of the money saved!