23 NYC subway facts to entertain even the most jaded commuter
Public transportation in the U.S. serves a dual purpose: It gets us where we want to go (most of the time), while also being the bane of our collective existence.
But complaints aside, it does a lot of good: It's much more effective than private transportation during rush hour, provides ample time for commuters to read or catch up on podcasts, and has a never-ending trove of fun facts.
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Here are 23 things about the MTA to remember the next time you're smushed into a sweaty man's armpit during rush hour traffic.
1. Only 60% of the subway is underground.
2. Even though New York has the second largest population in the world, it ranks seventh for number of subway riders
3. Times Square-42nd Street is New York's busiest subway station, servicing more than 65 million riders a year.
4. If the entire length of NYC's subway tracks (approximately 660 miles) were laid out end to end, they would reach Chicago.
5. For workers who overuse the "my train was delayed" excuse, offices can request verification of delays.
6. From end to end, the A train is the longest route. The 31-mile journey carries passengers from 207th St. in Manhattan, to Far Rockaway in Queens.
7. A doorway from a platform in the Times Square-42nd Street station used to lead straight into the Knickerbocker Hotel, where F. Scott Fitzgerald and co. attended lavish parties. Today the MTA owns the space behind the door (they wouldn't let the new owners of the Knickerbocker revamp it.)
8. There's a mural by Roy Lichtenstein in the 42nd St. station.
9. There's a pretty dark poem written on the ceiling of the tunnel from 42nd Street to Port Authority stations. It was made in 1991 and is called "The Commuter's Lament." Everyone who sees it immediately regrets every life choice they've ever made.
10. The Woolworth Building also had its own secret entrance, at the City Hall stop.
11. There are nine ghost stations in the NYC Subway system: The most beautiful is the abandoned City Hall station on the 6 line. It was in service from 1904 to 1945.
12. One of the ghost stations is the South 4th Street station in Williamsburg. But this station wasn't abandoned — it was simply never used. In 2012, it was taken over by a street art collective and covered from floor to ceiling.
13. 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights may look like a normal townhouse, but it is not. It hides subway equipment.
14. A vigilante group used to patrol the subways to protect riders. They formed as the "Magnificent 13" in 1979, then grew to become known as the "Guardian Angels."
15. Subway cars were painted all white in 1981 in an effort to stop graffiti. But the Great White Fleet became a blank canvas, and graffiti artists covered it all.
16. The 4 train was once nicknamed "Mugger's Express." A much more exciting name than "Lexington Avenue Express."
17. The MTA does Nostalgia Train Rides every year. They drag old subway cars out of storage and have tea parties onboard.
18. When the subway system was accessed with tokens, desperate people would jam the machines and suck the tokens out of slots with their mouths. In order to combat this, the MTA would spray the slots with chili powder.
19. There's a New York Public Library outpost hidden in the Lexington Avenue-51st Street station. The Terence Cardinal Cooke-Cathedral Library is hidden at the entrance to the 6 train at 50th St. and available to all looking to liven up the commute.
20. There are currently 469 subway stops in operation. When the system opened in 1904, there were 28.
21. The 2nd Avenue subway line has been in development since 1920. It is still under construction, with a projected partial opening, to 96th St., in December 2016.
22. The Astor Place station is reportedly haunted. A lavish ghost train passes through the station late at night, picks up unsuspecting passengers and brings them back in time to the early 1900s.
23. The MTA banned hoverboards in the subway.
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Topics New York City
Cailey studied journalism at SUNY Purchase and french cinema & literature at Paris IV Sorbonne. She is a cynical optimist and Talking Heads karaoke enthusiast. Drop her a line @misscaileyanne
