The New York City Subway (sometimes abbreviated to NYCS) is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York in the United States and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It is the most extensive public transportation system in the world by number of stations, with 468 stations in operation (421, if stations connected by transfers are counted as single stations), and by total length of routes. The New York City Subway is also one of the world's oldest public transit systems. Overall, the system contains 209 mi (337 km) of routes, translating into 656 miles (1,056 km) of revenue track; and a total of 842 miles (1,355 km) including non-revenue trackage. In 2011, the subway delivered over 1.64 billion rides, averaging approximately 5.3 million rides on weekdays, about 3.0 million rides on Saturdays, and about 2.4 million rides on Sundays.
By annual ridership, the New York City Subway is the seventh busiest rapid transit rail system in the world; the metro (subway) systems in Tokyo, Seoul, Moscow, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou record a higher annual ridership.
In the United States, five public transit systems offer service 24 hours per day and 365 (or 366) days per year: the New York City Subway, PATH trains, PATCO trains, parts of the Chicago 'L' system, and San Francisco Municipal Railway.
Read more about New York City Subway: Overview, History, Lines and Routes, Rolling Stock, Renovation and Expansion Plans, Public Relations
Famous quotes containing the words york, city and/or subway:
“New York is the last true city.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)
“This city is neither a jungle nor the moon.... In long shot: a cosmic smudge, a conglomerate of bleeding energies. Close up, it is a fairly legible printed circuit, a transistorized labyrinth of beastly tracks, a data bank for asthmatic voice-prints.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“In New York—whose subway trains in particular have been “tattooed” with a brio and an energy to put our own rude practitioners to shame—not an inch of free space is spared except that of advertisements.... Even the most chronically dispossessed appear prepared to endorse the legitimacy of the “haves.””
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. “Cleaning and Cleansing,” Myths and Memories (1986)