Behold

The brick and concrete of New York City:

The glass and steel of Hong Kong:

Hong Kong wins.

I did just notice NYC has trees and bike lanes. It lacks trolleys, color, and any semblance of the future though.

Hong Kong MTR Signage at Tsim Sha Tsui East

Main Differences:

• Platform Screen Doors
• First Class Passenger Section
• Cleaner
• Painted on floor in front of doors to show you where to stand (although I don’t think Americans need this as they’re pretty good at letting others out before going in themselves)

New York City Subway Signage at 14th St – Union Square

• Multiple levels of lines
• Has express and local trains
• Has a train employee halfway between the line of cars that looks out the window while at station
• You have to swipe your card, not just put near the machine like Hong Kong (PATH does this though)
• Stations feel dank
• More tiled signage and art
• Water drips onto platform sometimes
• Poor people sing or ask for money
• Generally looks ancient
• Has an American flag on all cars

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?