One of the world’s oldest public transit systems, one of the world’s longest subway systems, and, of course, one of the world’s most-used metro systems: the New York City Subway.
On October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan inaugurated the city’s new and innovative rapid transit system. Boston was the first to build a subway in the United States in 1897, but when the New York City subway opened, it became the largest in America.
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) won a fifty-year operating lease and began construction on the NY underground transit system in 1900.
The construction work took four years, and the initial line ran through Manhattan from City Hall to West 145th Street. Local newspapers called it “the finest subway in the world,” praising its artistic and architectural features. And while some newspapers celebrated it, many others raised health concerns, focusing on poor air ventilation and the potential spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis.
On its opening day, by 7 p.m., the subway was open to the public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each for their first ride.
From 1904 to 1925, private corporations ran the Subway. The IRT extended it into the Bronx and Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) shifted from railroad lines to subway lines in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
In 1913, the IRT and BRT signed dual contracts with the city to improve existing lines, but after a while, BRT went bankrupt, and many of its subway lines were taken over by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation BMT.
The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) took ownership in 1953. And about ten years later, the state-level Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) took control of the NYCTA. Since then, the subway has been controlled by the MTA.
The system now has 36 lines and 472 stations in operation.
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