Tritone,
When I was a kid I used to visit NYC with my mom and whatever other kids / cousins she could drag along. (We had relatives on Long Island we visited once a year or so.) We would often take the subway. She was totally creeped out by the subway and would warn us about not doing this or remembering to do that.

The last time I was there (late 1990s around Christmas time), my sis and I took my now hubby into the city since he had never been there. We took the Long Island commuter train to the city and got ourselves to Battery Park / Statue of Liberty (via subway? --can't remember). Then we took the subway up to the Empire State Building because he loves the old King Kong movie. After that we walked to Penn Station to go back to Long Island.

At one point in the subway, my sister had a melt down and completely lost her sense of direction. I had to grab her and hubby and tell them which train we were getting on.
It was weird because I had last been there 15 years earlier and was not sure where to go either.
Hubby loved the trip but felt like he was in a foreign county.

Later sis and I had a big huge drag out screaming match in the middle of Penn Station (?) during rush hour.

I remember being aware of thousands of people rushing past us and no one noticing us because it was NYC and rush hour.

So I have been in the subway -- not as a regular rider, but I can say I was there. We weren't concerned much about the folks in the cars with us.
We were focusing on which stop, which train next . . .

M.