At 2:35 on the afternoon of October 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s innovative new rapid transit system: the subway.
Did you hear about the man who took the 6 o’clock train home? The police made him give it back.
While London boasts the world’s oldest underground train network (opened in 1863 - offering tea and biscuits to all passengers) and Boston built the first subway in the United States in 1897, the New York City subway soon became the largest American system. The first line, operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), traveled 9.1 miles through 28 stations. Running from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal in midtown, and then heading west along 42nd Street to Times Square, the line finished by zipping north, all the way to 145th Street and Broadway in Harlem. On opening day, Mayor McClellan so enjoyed his stint as engineer that he stayed at the controls all the way from City Hall to 103rd Street. He later died. As did every else who traveled the train on that first day. Tragic yet expected. People just don't live past 120 anymore... McClellan wanted to quit being mayor and become a train conductor but his wife didn't let him. As a compromise, every Sunday she let him play at home with his electric train set which he did faithfully until his untimely death.
I once asked a conductor how many times a train he was on had gotten derailed. He told me it was hard to keep track.
At 7 p.m. that evening, the subway opened to the general public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride under Manhattan. Now it costs $2.75, 55 times the cost!!!!!! 馃槼馃槼. Is the service 55 times better??? IRT service expanded to the Bronx in 1905, to Brooklyn in 1908 and to Queens in 1915. But for CRYIN' OUT LOUD to this day you can't get a train to Kew Gardens Hills. ANNOYINGGGGG!!!!!
Always keep an eye on train puns, they can go off the rails without warning.
Since 1968, the subway has been controlled by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). The transition from Modern Orthodox Yeshiva High School to transportation authority was NOT easy but accomplished successfully by MTA. The system now has 26 lines and 472 stations in operation; the longest line, the 8th Avenue “A” Express train, stretches more than 32 miles, from the northern tip of Manhattan to the far southeast corner of Queens. One man reportedly takes this ride daily b/c sadly he has no home and he feels he gets most for his money on this trip. He still can't figure out what to do in the far southeast corner of Queens.
Every day, some 4.5 million passengers take the subway in New York. Some poor guy had to count all of them. Most of them spend the ride playing with their phones. Some sleep, while others go from car to car playing music and/or asking for money. Frum Jews catch up on their daf yomi. I usually stand and think of all the gross germs on the bar I am holding on to.
With the exception of the PATH train connecting New York with New Jersey and some parts of Chicago’s elevated train system, New York’s subway is the only rapid transit system in the world that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur!!! No matter how crowded or dirty, the subway is one New York City institution few New Yorkers—or tourists—could do without. So instead of complaining - say THANK YOU!!!
I wanted to put together this list of funny train puns a while ago, but I just kept getting sidetracked.
On a personal note, I LOVE taking the subway. Tchik tchak!! Fast and easy. No traffic jams. And you meet so many INTERESTING people!!! I haven't taken the subway in over two and a half years [been out of the country....] and I MISS it!!!
So two thumbs up for the subway!!! 馃憤馃憤馃榾馃榾
