Tell me about it: congested subway train platforms, delayed trains, congested cars during rush hour when doors fail to close as bodies prevent it. As a New Yorker for five years now, I have experienced all of the above.

It becomes a way of life, and , as a global trotter who experiences subway rides in cities around the world, I always wonder two things while in New York City:

Why are our subway stations so dirty? Are there really laboratories that use the many rats that roam around the rails looking for food?
While the signage may be nice to remind us of another era, or perhaps an old movie filmed in New York City in the 1930s, how about modernizing the subway stations?

Could our NYC Subway system learn a lesson or two from those of Madrid, Tokyo and Amsterdam, for example?

Disclaimer: I moved to NYC just as the new Q Second Avenue Subway was about to open. It is clean, modern and inviting, and I am happy that I live at the corner of Second Avenue and 79th Street in the Upper East Side, thus taking advantage of the new stations, that should serve as models for the entire NYC Subway system.

Now The New York Times offers a detailed account of what has gone wrong, blaming it on two Metro Transit Authority decisions–one to slow down trains and another that tried to improve worker safety. Those appear to have pushed the subway system into its current crisis.

The graphic story, told through a combination of text and animated visuals tell the story in detail.