Okay, when watching some newer guy's video of a really simple water-ride type build, I had a sudden stroke of inspiration.
(here's the video, so you know where I'm coming from)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQMg7O8sJ_YOkay, looking at how rapids move you along, I was thinking that maybe the subway doesn't need to be a vehicle. Look at doors. They are neither bricks nor vehicles nor items. Meaning that you could create a subway spawn brick (for this to be executed well, you would need to have an 8x8 subway car that maybe held four people) and, when your player "entered" the subway car, it would mount you and act as rapids, except keeping you in the car and moving the car with you.
So, in short, it would put you in the middle of a rapids block and draw a subway type car around you.
Could this be done?