Often too crowded. Sometimes too slow. Most of the time you're in transition between one platform and the next. Too often you just want to get to where you're going. And then just when you think darkness is the only thing you'll ever know, you reach Dyckman street and the sun comes pouring in.
And for all you non-New Yorkers out there, the 1 train is part of our undeground subway system. It runs from South Ferry (the low end of the island) all the way up to the Bronx. And it happens to be my most often used and most convenient mode of transportation. Dyckman Street is way up there in the Bronx just south of 210 and the train ends at 245h street.