1. The NYC Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as MTA New York City Transit. Together with its bus operations, it is the most extensive public transportation system in the world, with 468 reported passenger stations, (or 422 if stations connected by transfers are counted as one), 656 miles (1056 km) of revenue track, and a total of 842 miles (1355 km) including non-revenue trackage. The subway is also notable for being among the few rapid transit systems in the world to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Among the ten busiest systems in the world in terms of annual passenger traffic, it is the only one to hold such a distinction, setting it apart from cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, and Moscow.
Though it is known as "the subway", implying underground operations, about 40% of the system runs on above-ground right-of-way (the system is almost entirely underground in Manhattan, as well as portions in the other boroughs), including steel or cast iron elevated structures, concrete viaducts, embankments, open cuts and surface routes. All of these construction methods are completely grade-separated from road and pedestrian crossings, and most crossings of two subway tracks are grade-separated with flying junctions.
As of 2007, the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway in the Upper East Side of Manhattan is being built to provide relief to the overcrowded IRT Lexington Avenue Line.
An underground transit system in New York City was first built by Alfred Ely Beach in 1869. His Beach Pneumatic Transit only extended 312 feet (95 meters) under Broadway and exhibited his idea for a subway. The tunnel was never extended, and was demolished when the BMT Broadway Line was built in the 1910s.
The first underground line of the subway opened on October 27, 1904, almost 35 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City, which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line. The oldest structure still in use today opened in 1885 as part of the Lexington Avenue Line, and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line in Brooklyn. The oldest right-of-way, that of the BMT West End Line, was in use in 1863 as a steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road. The Staten Island Railway, which opened in 1860, currently utilizes R44 subway cars, but it has no links to the rest of the system and is not usually considered part of the subway proper.
By the time the first subway closed, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT) and Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). The city was closely involved: all lines built for the IRT and most other lines built or improved for the BRT after 1913 were built by the city and leased to the companies. The first line of the city-owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND) opened in 1932; this system was intended to compete with the private systems and allow some of the elevated railways to be torn down. In 1940, the two private systems were bought by the city; some elevated lines closed immediately, and others closed soon after. Integration was slow, but several connections were built between the IND and BMT, and they now operate as one division called the B Division. Since the IRT tunnel segments and stations are too narrow to accommodate B Division cars, as well as curves too sharp for B Division cars, the IRT remains its own division, A Division. C Division consists of non-revenue maintenance cars, built to IRT specs in order to provide maintenance to all of the subway system.
The New York City Transit Authority was created in 1953 to take over subway, bus, and streetcar operations from the city, and was placed under control of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968.
In 1934, the BRT, IRT, and IND transit workers unionized into Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. Since then, there have been three union strikes. In 1966, transit workers went on strike for 12 days, and again in 1980 for 11 days. On December 20, 2005, transit workers again went on strike over disputes with MTA regarding salary, pensions, retirement age, and health insurance costs. That strike lasted just under three days.