THE NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY, RUNNING SINCE 1904

Today, The Grandma has taken the New York City Subway, one of the world's oldest public transit systems and one of the most-used.

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the most-used, and the one with the most stations, with 472 stations in operation (424 if stations connected by transfers are counted as single stations).  

Stations are located throughout the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

The system has operated 24/7 service every day of the year throughout most of its history, barring emergencies and disasters. By annual ridership, the New York City Subway is the busiest rapid transit system in both the Western Hemisphere and the Western world, as well as the seventh-busiest rapid transit rail system in the world.

In 2017, the subway delivered over 1.72 billion rides, averaging approximately 5.6 million daily rides on weekdays and a combined 5.7 million rides each weekend (3.2 million on Saturdays, 2.5 million on Sundays).

On October 29, 2015, more than 6.2 million people rode the subway system, establishing the highest single-day ridership since ridership was regularly monitored in 1985.

The system is also one of the world's longest. Overall, the system contains 399 km of routes, translating into 1,070 km of revenue track and a total of 1,370 km including non-revenue trackage.

Of the system's 28 routes or services, which usually share track or lines with other services, 25 pass through Manhattan, the exceptions being the G train, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and the Rockaway Park Shuttle.

Large portions of the subway outside Manhattan are elevated, on embankments, or in open cuts, and a few stretches of track run at ground level. In total, 40% of track is above ground.

More information: MTA

Many lines and stations have both express and local services. These lines have three or four tracks. Normally, the outer two are used by local trains, while the inner one or two are used by express trains. Stations served by express trains are typically major transfer points or destinations.

As of 2018, the New York City Subway's budgetary burden for expenditures was $8.7 billion, supported by collection of fares, bridge tolls, and earmarked regional taxes and fees, as well as direct funding from state and local governments. As of 2020, its on-time performance rate was 89% during weekdays.

Alfred Ely Beach built the first demonstration for an underground transit system in New York City in 1869 and opened it in February 1870. 

His Beach Pneumatic Transit only extended 95 m under Broadway in Lower Manhattan operating from Warren Street to Murray Street and exhibited his idea for an atmospheric railway as a subway. The tunnel was never extended for political and financial reasons.

Today, no part of this line remains as the tunnel was completely within the limits of the present-day City Hall station under Broadway.

The Great Blizzard of 1888 helped demonstrate the benefits of an underground transportation system. 

A plan for the construction of the subway was approved in 1894, and construction began in 1900. Even though the underground portions of the subway had yet to be built, several above-ground segments of the modern-day New York City Subway system were already in service by then.

The oldest structure still in use opened in 1885 as part of the BMT Lexington Avenue Line in Brooklyn and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line. The oldest right-of-way, which is part of the BMT West End Line near Coney Island Creek, was in use in 1864 as a steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road.

The first underground line of the subway opened on October 27, 1904, built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) almost 36 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City (which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line).

The 14.6 km subway line, then called the Manhattan Main Line" ran from City Hall station northward under Lafayette Street (then named Elm Street) and Park Avenue (then named Fourth Avenue) before turning westward at 42nd Street.

It then curved northward again at Times Square, continuing under Broadway before terminating at 145th Street station in Harlem. Its operation was leased to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and over 150,000 passengers paid the 5¢ fare to ride it on the first day of operation.

More information: NYC Subway

On a New York subway
you get fined for spitting,
but you can throw up for nothing.

Lewis Grizzard