Every now and then, as I ride the NYC Subway, I wonder if I’ve ever been in the same car more than once. Short of writing down every car’s individual number, there would really be no way to tell since every car of the same type looks almost identical. There might be variations that each car has, but to spot them, and remember them, would be almost impossible. This past week, however, I got in a car that had a large variation, one that stuck in my mind easily.
For my morning commute, I normally take the Q from its northern terminus at 96th street and Second Avenue to 57th Street & Seventh Avenue. I don’t leave at the same time every day because there’s not a scheduled train I’m trying to make, I usually do my morning routine and when I’m ready, I leave. Depending on my motivation that day, and distractions, I can leave my apartment anywhere between 8:45am and 9:15am. I also don’t try to get in the same car all the time. Depending on how much time there is before it departs, people traffic, and other factors, I may get in any one of the first four cars. Similar to the morning commute, my evening commute has no set start time, and I may get in any one of the last four cars. The Q line uses the R46 and the R68 type car, which has orange and yellow/orange colored seats (just realized that they match the colors of the line designators the Q shares tracks with).
On Wednesday morning, due to an issue at work, I didn’t leave until about 10:15am. When I got to the subway, I got into a car and one set of three seats was blue, the kind that would be found in an R44 car. I noticed that the blue seats were well worn, and had a series of scratches on them that revealed the orange color beneath. Because it was later than the normal rush, I sat in the blue seats and watched the someone’s dog trying to sniff every new person that walked into the car.
On Wednesday after work, I got on the subway, found a spot to stand, and at the next stop I noticed that farther in the car, there was a set of blue seats. How odd. Was that the same spot they were in in the car on my morning commute? I tried to remember details from the morning’s ride…I looked at the ads across from it to see if they were the same ones I might have remembered from the morning commute, but because I was mostly focused on the dog, I didn’t remember any. However, it was so odd seeing similar blue seats as the morning commute that I took a picture and texted a friend that, while I wasn’t certain, I might have been in the same car as the one I took to work in the morning.
On Thursday morning, I got on the subway, sat down and waited for departure. After a minute or two, another train arrived across the platform, and there was an announcement that the arriving train would be the one to leave first. I got up, walked across the platform, entered the car, and there was a set of blue seats! I sat down on them and waited for departure. I immediately started comparing the seat to the picture I had taken the evening before. It was quite easy since the scratched up areas of the seat were like fingerprints. Identical.
I excitedly texted my friend and started thinking about the chances of getting the same car three commutes in a row. My friend pointed out that it probably happens more often than we think, but, as previously mentioned, we never really notice it unless we’re purposely keeping track of car numbers (I did note that this car is number 5768, for future reference). I mentioned it to several people at work, and they all had similar thoughts.
On Friday afternoon, our office closed early at 3:00pm. I finally left at around 4:00pm and headed for the subway. I got in a car and sat down, and noticed that the seats across from me were blue! People were sitting on them so I couldn’t confirm the scratches were the same, but at 86th Street, most people exited the car so I was able to compare the scratches, and confirmed it was the same car again.
So, what does it all mean? Thinking about all of the variables that had to line up exactly right so that I would end up in the same car four out of the ten times I took that train this past week. Two of the times I was wildly off my normal commute time. Another time I was already in a different train, and the MTA switched us to the train with the “special” car. I don’t have set times that leave for the subway, and even a three minute variance on that time would cause me to catch a different train. Same thing with street crossings, other pedestrian traffic, the number of trains running on a line, using the same car, etc. I mean, what are the chances?
It can only mean one thing…there’s a glitch in the matrix.
Update: Got it again on Aug. 31, 2025 @ 3:40pm!
