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City, State of New York reach deal on MTA contributions
Isn’t NYC’s MTA the WORLD’s largest transit system, subway-wise?
WDH, the answer depends on how you define ‘subway’ and how you define ‘largest’. Subway systems usually have some track above ground where they are just the same as regular electric railways. Does the term largest mean geographic area served, number of route miles, number of lines, number of trains per day, or total passenger volume? Where is the break point between an electric railway with some underground track and a subway with some above ground track?
This was a big-time Italian (in honor of Col. Day) sausage making deal: Cuomo opted for mild and de Blasio for hot, or was it vice-versa? The bottom line? Long overdue.
The oldest subways, the original IRT routes, were opened in 1904. Significant parts of the system, the BMT & IRT lines built under the dual contracts of 1913, are approaching the century mark. And the IND lines date to the 1932 opening. Some of the oldest parts of the “subway” is the surviving section of the Jamaica elevated.
All in all a the city has gotten a lot of use out of what was built in the past.