THE TRANSIT SHOWDOWN: THE SCENE; Passengers View Delays in the
Subway With New Suspicion  Published: December 13, 2002  Even in
the best of times, the New York City subway system is a realm of
perpetual mystery: inexplicable changes of itinerary, petulant
turnstiles, announcements spoken in tongues. In the face of
which, New Yorkers long ago perfected an attitude of weary
knowingness: if there is one thing New Yorkers think they know,
it is that they know the score.  So when what may (or may not)
have been the usual catalog of daily enigmas unfolding on the
subway yesterday -- trains idling in stations, trains skipping
stops, trains inscrutably yanked out of service -- more than a
few New Yorkers violated the eye contact taboo, locked onto the
gaze of a stranger and exchanged a knowing smirk.  ''No, I don't
believe there's anything wrong with the train,'' Rhonda Johnson,
a home health aide from the Bronx, said tartly as she was herded
off a southbound No. 4 train that had ended its run four stops
short of her