Is it the space itself? Is it that, in Port Authority, the veins and the arteries of pedestrian movement are constantly pinched off, wrenched around, and constricted?; is it that the bus gates are scattered throughout the halls in defiance any organizing principle?; is it that the sight-lines and navigational aids that travelers depend upon have all been obstructed by souvenir kiosks, newspaper huts, coffee shacks, pretzel booths, donut depots, yogurt yurts, et cetera?
Or is it that visitors to the Port Authority are a particularly helpless lot? Is it that people who rides busses are simply, relative to the general population, more confused?
Or it is the result of strange cosmic transference, so that while a station such as Grand Central may be well-organized and rational because it delivers people into vehicles that travel on tracks, Port Authority must be free from the constraints of rational planning, just as a bus is free to turn down any road?
Or is it that the Union of Industrial Information Booth Attendants has won a contractual provision stating that there must be one booth every four hundred square feet?
Finally, it is your turn at the window.
If you ask the attendant, "Where can I obtain an overview of the aesthetic and architectural concept of the Port Authority?", click here.
If you ask, "Where can I sit down?", click here.
If you ask, "Where can I lay low for a few hours and avoid the cops until my bus leaves?", click here.