It took 2 university studies to determine that?! Hell, I could have told you that. It's a no-brainer, don't you think?

I don't ride them smelly subways or buses.

I just hop on my bike.

In addition to the maintenance issues they need to stop the ridiculous practice of having trains that aren't stopping in the station blow their horn several times while passing through the station.

They also need to enforce the alarmed gates so lazy people stop setting off the alarms. And if there is a way to open those designated as service gates without setting off the alarm it needs to be better instructions. I wonder how many babies have had their hearing damaged?

I wish I could give a copy of this study to all the people who look at me funny when I cover my ears on a subway platform. I'm sure I have hearing loss from riding the trains, and some from seeing The Who at Shea in 1982.

"For a typical day, you should not exceed between 70 and 75 decibels across that 24 hours."

What? That makes no sense. Noise exposure is determined by how long you're exposed during those 24 hours, not just no exposure whatsoever. OSHA says 90db is acceptable for up to 8 hours a day and 100db for up to 2 hours. I would err a little more on the side of caution, but you don't just say "don't exceed 70 and 75db." Either she was seriously misquoted (quite possible given how ignorant journaists are of science and medicine) or she's not the "health expert" we're led to believe.

I'm pretty sure it's just not a good quote. I don't think she meant you should NEVER exceed 75db. The emphasis is on "typical day," which is to say that you shouldn't be exceeding that SPL on a daily basis. Even if it's only for a minute or two, if it's a minute or two every day it adds up.

That's still wrong. Read up on OSHA noise exposure limits. They allow different lengths of exposure for each level of noise, starting at 90db. For every 10db increase above that, it's a 4x decrease in allowable maximum exposure per day. It's absolutely meaningless to say you can't exceed 75db on a daily basis.

You're relying on a study from a school called the Mailman School of Public Health?

70db is what you experience in a room full of people talking. heh.

I'm not worried about the subway making me deaf. The Prigs are gonna get me there long before the subway ever could.

The problem with Union Square is that it is on a relatively sharp curve. The noise problem is also one of the reasons the abandoned City Hall subway station was not turned into another annex of the Transit Museum. The 6 train going around the curve makes Union Square look quiet.

I smell a subway fare increase on the horizon. The MTA will put bids out for quiet subways like London has. Then two years later they will announce that the agent that won the contract is incompetent and over budget. There will be a lot of outrage and then we will welcome the $5 subway fare.

Earplugs or ear-bud headphones at lower volumes (JVC Marshmallows are great and cheap) are great. The people with headphones/buds that sit just outside of their ear canals end up blasting their iPod volumes to dangerous levels - and annoying the hell out of their fellow commuters of course.

There is always a guy in a suit blasting Britney Spears thinking no one is the wiser. Meanwhile everyone can hear and is staring at the dude with high levels of contempt and pity.

The "E" trains used to have a really loud breaking noise, now that the R32s are slowly being phrase out no more of that.

RUBBER TIRES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber-tyred_metro

same in mexico city. the soft swoosh of huge rubber tires echoing through the tunnels is very soothing, yet the lack of A/C is a bitch.

No AC in Mexico City? Awful. On the other hand I really wish the MTA would turn down the AC on some of their trains, it's like they're trying to make up for the old overheated trains by turning the new ones into ice boxes

gotta love the montreal metro. some of the lines in paris too, from what i remember. whipser quiet in comparison.

gotta love the montreal metro. some of the lines in paris too, from what i remember. whipser quiet in comparison.

Union Square on the 4,5,6 platform is the worst. Shrill!