Still, most of us know very little about the hundreds of blue-shirted men and women responsible for getting us to and from our destinations safely and efficiently every day.
So what's it like to work the rails of one the largest underground transit systems in the world?
We came across this revealing thread on Reddit created in 2011 by a first-year MTA subway conductor that answers some of our most burning questions about NYC's underground railway and the people who operate them.
Please take these statements with a grain of salt: An MTA spokesman told us that parts of this account were grossly inaccurate, though he would not confirm or deny specific statements.
NOTE: Reddit uses anonymous sources, which we can't confirm. But the conductor did post this snapshot of his uniform as verification.
