Originally Posted by phred
It would never occur to me to ask someone in Chicago or NYC for a "subway schedule." All you need to know is which platform to stand on, the trains come and go all day long every few minutes.
"Every few minutes" and "schedule" are wishful thoughts in this context. Subways do run on "schedule" in Japan, and I think that's great. Reminds me of the announcement they make on the Red Line in Boston about reporting any suspicious or unusual objects in the station, and some wag waiting for a train mentioning that he saw a train and thought to report it, given that it was such an unusual sight.