Running head: NEW YORK SUBWAY SYSTEMS 1

New York Subway Systems

Sagar Gopalani
Molloy College















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New York City, considered to be one of the largest cities in the world, has many sites to
see, such as galleries, art museums, bars, concerts, etc Since it would always be crowded to
see all these wonderful things because of a lot of people in the way, it would be ideal to try to get
to any specific event early as possible. So, driving and parking would just be impossible to do.
As a means to make up for this mess, the New York subway system was made. In the year of
1904, New Yorks first underground subway lines open (Russo, 2014, P. 24). Now only would
this make up for the fact that New York City was an extremely crowded area for automobiles,
but it would make people more alert when to get there on time because the subways were
scheduled on when they came and went. It was also better because more people could fit into the
subway trains compared to a car, which could take in a limited amount. According to the New
York Times, the subway system started with transportation to certain locations in this great city.
As stated from the online article, The line ran approximately nine miles from City Hall north to
Grand Central Station, then west to Times Square and up the West Side to 145th Street (New
York Times, 2011). It is considered a vital part of the origins of the City of New York because of
its importance of transportation. Its not only for people who want to visit great sites in New
York City, but it is used for people who need to get to other areas around the five boroughs of
New York City to get to their jobs on time, getting to school if they go to school in the city, or
for people without any transportation to get to places on time. The subway system operates on a
twenty-four hour period, seven days a week. It was a huge impact in New York on 1904 and it
still continues to be a successful innovation today, in 2014.
A social reform is a movement, or idea, that works to make changes to improve the social
status of a civilization. New York had a huge social reform through the creation of the subway
systems. It all began around March 1913, when the Dual System of Rapid Transit, the name of
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the largest public works project in American history, doubled in size by the creation of the
subway networks in New York. This tripled their capacity, all around the cost of $366 million
(Derrick, 2001, p.1). The problem with Manhattan back then was the massive population in
which the inhabitants had to dealt with. This is the main number one reason the subway systems
were made in the first place. This problem roots all the way back to the 1860s. Back then, New
York City was known for one thing that probably was the reason for its crowdedness and that
was the geographical buildings. According to Clifton Hood, he states in his book, Introduced in
the late 1820s, the omnibus became the first mass transit vehicle in New York City (Hood,
1993, p. 97). Back then, there were no automobiles or trains. The other means of transportation
was by the use of the horsecars, which were nothing but a horse empowered street car. All of this
was in a need of change. Alfred E. Beach, a forty-two-year-old inventor and journalist, received
permission from the state legislation to build a pair of pneumatic dispatch tubes, building a type
of passenger subway (Hood, 1993, p.42). Beachs whole goal was to replace the horse as the
primary means for urban mass transportation. The way Beach managed to get approval from the
stage legislation was his impressive work at the American Institute fair. Beachs first
demonstration project, the Beach Pneumatic Railway, was unveiled around 1870 under
Broadway, running up from Murray Street to Warren Street. At first Beach failed to achieve his
goal of building a full-scale subway line due to certain technical issues such as fake leases and
kickbacks. Around 1912, the underground entrance was sealed off and abandoned. This didnt
fully stop the whole construction, however. Beach elevated the first transit lines due to it being
much cheaper compared to it being made underground. The passage from the book states, The
elevated railways lacked the carrying capacity and high speeds demanded by the citys rapid
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population growth and its difficult geography (Hood, 1993, p. 55). Eventually Beachs elevated
network failed as well. The new solution would be to build an underground railway.
Along with the ideas came the way to afford the ideas and the efforts needed to make
those ideas happen. According to Brian J. Cudahy, he states in his book, Dual contracts were
agreements between the city and the two traction companies stipulating that the BRT and the
Interborough would help in the financing of construction in return for attractive lease
agreements (Cudahy, 1988, p.53). Basically each track line needed to be paid for by its own
Dual Contract bonds. Two companies, the Interborough and the BRT took care of most of the
construction work for the dual system development. All of this lead to the signing of the dual
systems, which gave permission for the construction work to begin. The signing took place
around the time of World War I, where it irreversibly altered the nations economic posture
(Cudahy, 1988, p.70). From there more complex ideas and differences collided as more
companies tried to alter the subway system. But whatever the case may be, the origins of the
success of subways trace back to the Dual System of Rapid Transit.
There are a variety of sites to see in New York City. Being overcrowded with people and
tourists, it can easy to miss out on a lot of great shows, museums and galleries. Cars and buses
would be the last means of transportation to the city. Because of great contributions from the old
times, fellow New Yorkers are able to get to place to place around the big apple without having
to drive there. Recently, the subway is run under a network by the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, or most famously known as MTA. It still continues to grow and improve through
2010-2014. Its Capital Program committed significant resources to the first substantial expansion
of the network in 60 years, including Long Island Rail Road access to Grand Central, the uptown
segment of a full-length Second Avenue subway, and the extension of the number 7 line west
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from Times Square to the Javits Center (MTA.info, 2014). Its very convenient for anyone at any
time due to it being available twenty-four seven. There are also MTA bridges, which were
created by Robert Moses. Currently how the subway works is that certain trains are named by
numbers and letters, example being the F train or the 7 train. Each of these trains go to certain
parts of New York City, at different time intervals. Overall, the subway system has been very
beneficial to our society and continues to be a huge social reform monument of New York.













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Refrences
Derrick, P. (2001). Tunneling to the Future: The story of the Great Subway Expansion That
Saved New York. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Hood, C. (1993). 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and how they transformed New York.
New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Cudahy, B., J. (1988). Under the Sidewalks of New York: The Story of the Worlds Greatest
Subway system. Toronto, Canada: The Penguin Group.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. (2012). Public Transportation for the New York Region.
The MTA Network. Retrieved from http://web.mta.info/mta/network.htm.
The New York Times. (2012). New York City Subway System Opens. The Learning Network.
Retrieved from http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/oct-27-1904-new-york-city-
subway-system-opens/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0.