The New York subway system began as a series of various electric trolleys operated by private owners. One of the first of these was the Interborough Rapid Transit system (IRT) which opened in 1904 with 28 stations. Fares were initally as low as five or ten cents. The city of New York developed its own rapid transit railroad, then purchased the IRT and BMT lines in 1941.
The separate lines were merged together and redundant stations were cut out. In 1953 the city created the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). The New York subway is now the 4th largest in the world by ridership and enjoys five million rides per day on average.
Detailed history and information
Track length: 842 miles
Number of stations: 468
Ridership: 5 000 000 passengers per day
Number of cars: 6485
MTA Chairman: H. Dale Hemmerdinger
The New York subway is the only major metro system to run 24/7, 365 days a year.
