I noticed on the New York subways that they have a Free Subway Library which is provided by the New York Public Library system along with the Brooklyn Library and Queens Library. It started in June. The MTA and Transit Wireless provide riders with access to hundreds of e-books and short stories.

Basically only the first chapters are available, enough to read on a train ride and then you can download the whole book at the library’s app.

Now when you’re on the trains you see so many people staring down at their phones either reading or playing games. I usually go through the photos I took during the day.

It’s a far cry from the days, not too long ago (10, 12 years?) where everyone seemed to have their heads buried in a newspaper or paperback book. Tabloid sized newspapers were created for subways and buses, their smaller size than the broadsheet made it easier to manage.