New York City Subway

Ye Olde MetroCard: Check Out These Ancient Subway Tickets

According to the ticket's photographer, Kate Gardiner, head of WNYC's Archives Andy Lanset recently purchased these very cool-looking old-fashioned subway tickets for the station. The New York City subway cost 5 cents when it first opened in 1904 and that fare stayed the same all the way until 1948 ... More >>

Cast In Concrete #7: Lenna Pierce Reminds Us Why the Worst Parts of the Subway System Should Still Be Saved

Cast In Concrete tracks Vijith Assar as he records New York City's street musicians. If you'll be busking nearby soon and would like to appear in a future installment, please let him know. Who: Lenna Pierce, d.b.a. Meaner Pencil When: November 1st, 11:30pm Where: C line, Nostrand Avenue station, ... More >>

Going Rate To Lick Entire New York City Subway Railing: $1

You know that thin, slimy film of what we can only assume is liquid hepatitis found on just about every piece of metal in the entire New York City subway system? You probably don't know what it tastes like, do you?Well, Youtube's latest "star" does, and that's because he licked an entire subway rail ... More >>

Anti-Islamic Subway Ads Already Vandalized. That Didn't Take Long *VIDEO*

It's been less than 48 hours since anti-Islamic subway ads went up in 10 New York City subway stops, and -- as we predicted/perhaps encouraged -- several of them already have been vandalized.In one case of alleged vandalism -- which was caught on tape and you can see below -- a self-described Egypti ... More >>

Ads Calling Islamic Jihadists "Savages" Hit NYC Subways. Related: "Making Graffiti" Only A Misdemeanor In New York

Just in time for day one of the meeting of the United Nations' General Assembly -- when people from across the world will be in the Big Apple to see how civilized and accepting New Yorkers are -- an ad campaign is going up in the New York City subway system that calls Muslim jihadists "savages."We w ... More >>

Fun In The Sun At The Miami Film Festival

The 19th annual Miami International Film Festival--a wonderfully inclusive and unpretentious happening--sent me down for the weekend, and I even got extra leg room on the plane! And it was orgasmic to stroll around in the 80-something-degree weather and to pause each night for some air-conditioned ... More >>

Army Officers Killed Over Quran Burnings In Afghanistan; Occupy Town Square Set For Tompkins Square Park Today; Subway System Sees Injury, Death

Two U.S. Army officers were killed at their desks in Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior Saturday by a junior intelligence officer. "We believe it was 100% linked to the Quran burning because of the religious background of this junior officer. He spent two months in a Pakistani madrassa," an Afghan ... More >>

Watch the Last 100 Years of New York City Subway Maps

Today in subway porn we have a beautiful depiction of the ebb and flow and changing formats of the New York City subway map over the years. The only thing better than watching the map come of age to the inspirationally epic music in the video created by Gizmodo's Matt Toder back in December (Bowery ... More >>

The NYC Subway from Birth to Now, in One Gif

It's been a good few days for subway nerdists -- earlier in the week we were all agawk over the "Lost Subways" map of NYC, which showed the subways that would have been but weren't. Yesterday we saw what happens when people stop being real and start being polite (even friendly!) on the subway. Today ... More >>

Here Is Your Mesmerizing Subway Video of the Day

Add this to your collection of things posted on YouTube that happened on the New York City subway this year. This one, "Zilla March," is from a group called The Next Level Squad; they're doing a Brooklyn-bred mix of street dancing and contorting called flexing. The gas masks do give us pause, and th ... More >>

Would You Pay $12,500 for a Subway Sign?

EV Grieve has noted an eBay listing of interest to New York City public transportation geeks -- there's an authentic 51" x 31", 26-pound New York City subway sign, from outside Union Square, available for a mere $12,500. The seller writes that the sign was by the stairs to the entrance and is "from ... More >>

Skaters Break MTA Rules (Like, All of Them)

These guys prove that under special circumstances, it is in fact possible to have fun while using the New York City subway system.

Animated 'Subway Surfer' More Amusing Than Actual 'Subway Surfer'

First things first, let's get the semantics down: A surfer stands on top; a skylarker clings to the edge of the train. Both are bad, but you have rare opportunities to use the word "skylarker," so, use it now! In other news, remember that guy who became something of a faux-Internet-celebrity when th ... More >>

New Yorkers Demand Use of Subway on Weekends, Now

Not quite like Tokyo -- yet.​An article in the New York Times today alerts us to something you've probably known about, at least anecdotally, for a while. Good to have it proven, though, if only so your complaining can be official! Despite New York subways frequently having longer waits, screw ... More >>

Help Make Union Square's George Washington Statue Look Like a Tourist

​Public artist Leon Reid IV wants to turn Union Square's classical equestrian statue of George Washington -- you know, our first American president, that guy with the wig, on the horse -- into just another subway-map-gazing, fanny-pack-wearing, camera-toting tourist. At least it's a tourist on ... More >>

This Is How People Who Plan Transit Systems See the NYC Subway

According to PTV America, a company that consults in transportation solutions, this is what it looks like when passengers leave a New York subway train. It is both altogether too clean and orderly, and also strangely captivating. We can't wait for a look inside the subway train -- spaghetti fights, ... More >>

Woman Washes Self on Subway; Civilian Videographer Documents It

We thought that subway video documentation had hit a low point with the masterwork entitled "Man Licking Shoes on New York Subway," but no, that is not the case. Here we have a video of a woman, who appears to be half-nude, washing herself on what seems to be a relatively new, and relatively clean, ... More >>

Man Licks Own Shoe on 5 Train: Has Civilian Subway Journalism Bottomed Out?

For as long as we can remember, we (and, basically, the Internet) have had a certain fascination with people doing weird and freaky things on the subway. Perhaps it is because a subway train -- about the size of this blogger's studio apartment -- is a compact moving container for an array of divers ... More >>

New MTA Campaign Asks "What's New?"

​We had hoped the MTA would revive Poetry in Motion, a collaborative campaign between the MTA and Poetry Society of America that brought the likes of Dylan Thomas and Emily Dickinson to the New York City subway walls in the early 90s, but not all of our wishes can be granted, especially when i ... More >>

MTA's New Trash Can Slogan Will Completely Eliminate Garbage

​People who complain about trash on the subway are like vacationers who whine about the heat in Florida. Nonetheless, the MTA is trying to do something about all that subterranean rubbish. "Hauling reeking, rat-filled garbage" through the cars late at night didn't work, so they've put their th ... More >>

New York Subway Video From 1986 Features K and CC Trains

Making the blog rounds this morning is a 10-minute YouTube video uploaded just yesterday of the New York City subway system in 1986. It's beautiful in its way and fascinating in both its similarities to today (sad-looking people, grimy stations, hustle, bustle) and its differences (graffiti, the K a ... More >>

Study Finds 83% of Subway Announcements Are Clear and Accurate, But Uh: No

​A new survey by the Straphangers Campaign claims that 83% of subway announcements, including routes, stations and transfer options, are both clear and accurate, making it seem instantly to anyone who has ever been on the subway that something is wrong with this study. New trains with pre-reco ... More >>

Man Actually Converses With People on New York City Subway [Video]

Filmmaker Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change, aggrieved by lack of human interaction (notwithstanding spaghetti fights) and, really, humanity, on the New York City subway, decided to talk to people to ask them the hard questions, like "Why are you here?" "What motivates you more, fear or love?" and "Wh ... More >>

Subway-Themed Greeting Cards Are Cuter Than the Subway

​The people of New York have an odd relationship with the subway. Codependent, maybe...even a little "love-hate," as they say? While we have all sorts of ill will with regard to the MTA and what they aren't doing and how much they're charging us, we also nearly daily depend on the subway to ge ... More >>

Subway Catfight of the Week Involves Spaghetti-Eating, Spaghetti-Disrespecting

Man, people are cranky! Come on, everyone, it's a gorgeous day, we should all be outside, not sitting on the subway eating spaghetti out of a styrofoam container, or hating on someone who's sitting on the subway eating spaghetti out of a styrofoam container, even if they don't know how to twirl it p ... More >>

Assholes Fight on Subway, Capture Assholery for Posterity [Video]

We do everything on the subway now! Play with rats, discard what should really go in a Kleenex on walls, yell at each other, yell at each other and record it to be posted on YouTube and make us look like even bigger assholes! Here is your daily dose of "God, people are terrible." ... More >>

The MTA Might Stop at Nothing to Keep Us From Falling in the Subway Tracks

Your subway of the future might look like this.​Today in things that may never happen: In the wake of the most recent New York City subway death, that of a 24-year-old who was killed by an L train this Sunday after taking to the tracks in a possible attempt to retrieve something, the MTA is sa ... More >>

Subway Rider Mutiny Involves Taking Over N Train for Warmth

​New York subway riders will not be stopped! Well, technically, they will be stopped. But when they are stopped on a D train at Coney Island because it's freakin' blizzards outside, they will COMMANDEER another train regardless of what the MTA and NYPD say! (This is good, because we really don ... More >>

Yarn Human Takes New York City Subway Just Like Everybody Else

via Subway Art Blog, courtesy Olek and Christopher Henry Gallery​Olek, the Lower East Side crochet artist behind the yarn bike, the baby yarn bike, and the yarn car has yet again one-upped herself, this time covering a full-fledged human in a yarn suit and setting him loose on the New York sub ... More >>

In Defense of New York City Rats

​Not by me, of course. That's disgusting. But out there in this wild city, somewhere between the men with no eyebrows and the old lady chomping on a raw potato, are people who were taken aback by the New York Times article entitled "Study Scours New York Subway, Finds Rats Remain Wily." It was ... More >>

Police Seeking Missing Queens Boy

​The NYPD is asking for the public's assistance in locating Delvin Garcia, 18, of Queens Village, New York. He was last seen at his residence there today at 2:30 p.m. He's 4'9" and 97 lbs., with brown eyes and black hair, and is in good physical but poor mental health. Delvin, pictured, has ... More >>

Subway Bathrooms Are Grosser Than Gross

Just like at Mom's house.​If you've ever had to go -- like, really go -- while confined to the innards of the New York City subway system, you've gotten your own little private taste of hell. And if you haven't, the fearless hand-sanitizer-toting journalists at amNewYork have done the dirty wo ... More >>

Can't We All Just Take the Subway Without Killing Each Other?

​Public transportation is not seeming so fun lately. We woke to the news of 37 or more people being killed this morning in coordinated terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway system during rush hour -- an act thought to have been orchestrated by Chechen rebels.

The Subway Sucks, But at Least It Isn't the DC Metro (Which Derailed, Again)

​OK, so our subways are getting more expensive and frequently out of service, but at least they're not as dangerous as the DC Metro. This morning at 10:13 a Red Line train derailed near the Farragut North Metrorail station. No injuries are reported, but at the writing passengers are still in t ... More >>

STRIPPED

Don’t forget to wear clean underwear

Clip Job: When a Newspaper Dies

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. April 28, 1966, Vol. XI, No. 28 Mr. Hearst's Flagship Sank Like the Maine By Stan Fischler The Journal-American died with its boots on last Sunday morning at the age of 71. When the boots were removed there was a stench. "Nat Hento ... More >>

D.C. Metro Crash: At Least 2 Dead, Dozens Injured (UPDATE: 6 Dead, 80 Hurt, Search Goes On) (UPDATE 2: 9 Dead)

Twitpic by shawberhood. The New York City Subway is not as padded nor as quiet as the D.C. Metro, but it's been about 12 years since we've had a collision of trains in service, and 18 years since we've have a passenger fatality. At least two people are reported killed by a collision on the Metro's ... More >>

Clip Job: Ibiza, the Beatnik Paradise

Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archivesJune 14, 1962, Vol. VII, No. 34Beats Meet at IbizaBy Louise LevitasThis time of year, the beats are returning to Ibiza like birds in season. They're en route from Bloomsbury, Schwabing, Bleecker Street, Montmartre, and other coffee-house neighbor ... More >>

Blah Blah Terror Blah Blah Thanksgiving Blah Subway Blah Blah

MTA Unveils Images from Unaffordable Second Ave. Subway

NYC Subway Cars Falling Into Ocean

'Urchin'

Picture This

An unsentimental journey through this season's most stylish, sinful coffee-table books

Your Turn: MTA Leaving You Stranded?

It's Off to Work They Go

1965

Exit Strategy

When it comes to subways and terrorism, the best defense might be a good escape

Forbidden Photos, Anyone?

Subway shooters to set their sights on underground camera ban

Film

Down But Not Out

Downtown Scene Not Diminished