NYC Subway System
I have a lot of memories about the New York Subway System. I used to take a bus to the 7 Train from Flushing Main Street to Time Square to work in the morning and then came back by the same route to go to school at night. I used to read, sleep, or do nothing but endure the sardine-style packing of the trains at rush hours. I also used the subway to go shopping and hang out in the city with friends at my leisure time to have fun.
My memories about NYC subway were not always good. I still remember the filthy and noisy stations, the hot and stuffy air, and the sense of insecurity riding in it after 9.11 attack. I used to see some homeless asking for food and money; some vendors selling dollar goods or CDs/DVDs; and some musicians playing music in the subway but the music gets buried by the noise of the subway trains. I have not been back to the city by subway for several years ever since I left my jobs in the city.
This class took me back to my memories and changed some of my viewpoint towards the subway system. I actually see less negativity and more positive aspects of the subways. Most of the trains are new and clean. The underground shopping malls have almost everything you need. Some subway tracks travel through some famous historical buildings and sites, such as the City Hall, the Grand Central Station, and the former World Trade Center site which was destroyed in 9.11 terrorism attack. Most of the subway stations are decorated with art work. One of the stations in Corona Queens was decorated with color glass artwork windows that show some cultural events going on in Corona Park, such as the annual dragon boat festival. The 5th Ave and 42nd Street station has massive tile artwork that looks like tree roots throughout the walls of the passages. The tree roots remind us that we are walking underground close to our roots. Another station in downtown Manhattan has tile-art that shows hats worn by some famous people in US history. I also enjoyed some beautiful professional music in transit. The other day, we just met a group of enthusiastic young drummers playing music in the train for us. We all had fun with them. The culture of the subway can open up a whole new topic here.
Let’s go back to my previous subway commute experiences. I remember that I used tokens to pass the turnstiles. I still remember the static electricity shock from those metal turnstiles in the winter time. At that time, there was no free transfer between buses and subways. I went through tokens like eating popcorns. The fare was only $1.25 per token, but I thought it was pretty expensive back then. In 1997, the MetroCard came followed by free transfers between buses and subways within 2-hour period. This change saved subway commuters a lot of money. However, it did not last long, soon came the first fare hike in May 2003. The single ride fare was increased from $1.50 to $2.00. This was the largest fare hike in New York City history (Bricketto & Shu, 2003) . The current cost for a single-ride is $2.25. The cost of the unlimited daily (the Fun Pass), weekly, and monthly MetroCard also increased tremendously in recent years.
What I have experienced above was only a tinny slide of NYC Subway history. The New York City Subway has a long history. It was started as many disjointed train companies and eventually merging under City control. The NYC railroad history goes all the way back to 1828, when John Mason organized the New York and Harlem Railroad. It started with horse-drawn cars with metal wheels running on metal track. The “subway” came from a 312-foot tunnel under lower Broadway and ran a subway car from 1870-1873. It was created by Alfred E. Beach from Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the train was operated by “pneumatic pressure” – blown by a giant fan. The first New York’s official subway system was opened on October 27, 1904 by IRT. It had a 9.1-mile long subway line with 28 stations from City Hall to Broadway. The service expanded to the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens after that. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company began subway service in 1915 and was taken over by Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation a few years later. The first city-run subway service – the Independent Rapid Transit Railroad (IND) was created in 1932. It became the sole owner and operator of the NYC subway and elevated lines in 1940 after the city purchased the BMT and IRT (New York City Transit- History and Chronology) .
The subway customers used to purchase tickets to pay their fare until May 1920. Then the coin-operated turnstiles took nickels and dimes. Tokens were introduced in 1953 when the fare rose to 15 cents and the turnstiles could not handle two different coins. In 1968, the New York State Legislature created the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to oversee transportation operations in 12 counties and MTA became NYC Transit’s parent agency (New York City Transit- History and Chronology) . The MTA is still the sole owner of the subway and public local bus system in NYC as of today.
NYC Subway has a lot of interesting facts. It is by far the largest subway system in the US and in the world. It is also one of the most efficient people transportation in the entire world. It has total of 68 stations, 31,180 turnstiles, and runs 656 miles of tracks (NYC Subway Facts and Figures, 2005) . An interesting fact I realized is that NYC MTA runs its transit business in a monopoly manner in today’s competitive business world. Over 4.3 million people ride the subway system every day; over 1 billion people go through the turnstiles per year (NYC Subway System, 2011) . Each subway station makes millions of money annually. However, the subway stations are still not clean enough. It also consists of some potential dangers such as big gaps between the platform and the subway cars. The subway cars are still noisy and not moving as fast as the subways cars in some developing countries. The air quality in some underground stations is still hot and dingy that travelers have to try to leave as fast as they can before they pass out in one of the stations. I believe MTA can do better and more improvement to the subway system with all that money it makes. Improvement in the subway system can certainly make NYC a more comfortable and attractive to live, work, and visit.
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References
Bricketto, M., & Shu, C. (2003, June 6). Gotham Gazette. Retrieved June 11, 2011, from www.gothamgazette.com.
New York City Transit- History and Chronology. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2011, from www.mta.info/nyc/facts.
NYC Subway Facts and Figures. (2005). Retrieved June 13, 2011, from www.nycsubway.org/faq/factsfigures.html.
NYC Subway System. (2011). Retrieved June 15, 2011, from http://www.ny.com/transportation/subways/.
