The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City, serving four of the city's five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority,[14] an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).[15] Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the most-used, and the one with the most stations,[16] with 472 stations in operation[17] (423, if stations connected by transfers are counted as single stations).[1]

The system has operated 24/7 service every day of the year throughout most of its history, barring emergencies and disasters. By annual ridership, the New York City Subway is the busiest rapid transit system in both the Western Hemisphere and the Western world, as well as the ninth-busiest rapid transit rail system in the world.[18] The subway carried 2,314,388,000 unlinked, non-unique riders in 2025.[6]: 2 [note 5] Daily ridership has been calculated since 1985; the record, over 6.2 million, was set on October 29, 2015.[20]

The system is also one of the world's longest. Overall, the system consists of 248 miles (399 km) of routes,[10] comprising a total of 665 miles (1,070 km) of revenue track[10] and a total of 850 miles (1,370 km) including non-revenue trackage.[11] Of the system's 28 routes or "services" (which usually share track or "lines" with other services), 25 pass through Manhattan, the exceptions being the G train, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and the Rockaway Park Shuttle. Large portions of the subway outside Manhattan are elevated, on embankments, or in open cuts, and a few stretches of track run at ground level; 40% of the track is above ground.[21] Many lines and stations have both express and local services. These lines have three or four tracks. Normally, the outer two are used by local trains, while the inner one or two are used by express trains.[11]

As of 2018, the New York City Subway's budgetary burden for expenditures was $8.7 billion, supported by collection of fares, bridge tolls, and earmarked regional taxes and fees, as well as direct funding from state and local governments.[22]

Alfred Ely Beach built the first demonstration for an underground transit system in New York City in 1869 and opened it in February 1870.[23][24] His Beach Pneumatic Transit only extended 312 feet (95 m) under Broadway in Lower Manhattan operating from Warren Street to Murray Street[23] and exhibited his idea for an atmospheric railway as a subway. The tunnel was never extended for political and financial reasons.[25] Today, no part of this line remains as the tunnel was completely within the limits of the present-day City Hall station under Broadway.[26][27][28][29] The Great Blizzard of 1888 helped demonstrate the benefits of an underground transportation system.[30] A plan for the construction of the subway was approved in 1894, and construction began in 1900.[31] Even though the underground portions of the subway had yet to be built, several above-ground segments of the modern-day New York City Subway system were already in service by then. The oldest structure still in use opened in 1885 as part of the BMT Lexington Avenue Line in Brooklyn[32][33][34][35][36] and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line.[37] The oldest right-of-way, which is part of the BMT West End Line near Coney Island Creek, was in use in 1864 as a steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road.[38][39][40]

The first underground line of the subway opened on October 27, 1904, almost 36 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City (which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line).[41][42] The 9.1-mile (14.6 km) subway line, then called the "Manhattan Main Line", ran from City Hall station northward under Lafayette Street (then named Elm Street) and Park Avenue (then named Fourth Avenue) before turning westward at 42nd Street. It then curved northward again at Times Square, continuing under Broadway before terminating at 145th Street station in Harlem.[43] Its operation was leased to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), and over 150,000 passengers[44] paid the 5-cent fare ($2 in 2025 dollars [45]) to ride it on the first day of operation.[46]

By the late 1900s and early 1910s, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the IRT and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT). The city built most of the lines and leased them to the companies.[47] The first line of the city-owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND) opened in 1932.[48] This system was intended to compete with the private systems and allow some of the elevated railways to be torn down but stayed within the core of the city due to its small startup capital.[14] This required it to be run 'at cost', necessitating fares up to double the five-cent fare of the time, or 10¢ ($4 in 2025 dollars [45]).[49]

In 1940, the city bought the two private systems. Some elevated lines ceased service immediately while others closed soon after.[50] Integration was slow, but several connections were built between the IND and BMT.[51][52][53] These now operate as one division, called the B Division. Since the former IRT tunnels are narrower, have sharper curves, and shorter station platforms, they cannot accommodate B Division cars, and the former IRT remains its own division, the A Division.[54] Many passenger transfers between stations of all three former companies have been created, allowing the entire network to be treated as a single unit.[55]

During the late 1940s, the system recorded high ridership, and on December 23, 1946, the system-wide record of 8,872,249 fares was set.[56]

The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), a public authority of New York City, was created in 1953 to take over subway, bus, and streetcar operations from the city, and placed under control of the state-level Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968.[55][57]

Organized in 1934 by transit workers of the BRT, IRT, and IND,[58] the Transport Workers Union of America Local 100 remains the largest and most influential local of the labor unions.[59] Since the union's founding, there have been three union strikes over contract disputes with the MTA:[60] 12 days in 1966,[61] 11 days in 1980,[62] and three days in 2005.[63][64]

By the 1970s and 1980s, the New York City Subway was at an all-time low.[65][66] Ridership had dropped to 1910s levels, and graffiti and crime were rampant. Maintenance was poor, and delays and track problems were common. Still, the NYCTA managed to open six new subway stations in the 1980s,[67][68] make the current fleet of subway cars graffiti-free, as well as order 1,775 new subway cars.[69] By the early 1990s, conditions had improved significantly, although maintenance backlogs accumulated during those 20 years are still being fixed today.[66]

Entering the 21st century, progress continued despite several disasters. The September 11 attacks resulted in service disruptions on lines running through Lower Manhattan, particularly the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which ran directly underneath the World Trade Center.[70] Sections of the tunnel, as well as the Cortlandt Street station, which was directly underneath the Twin Towers, were severely damaged. Rebuilding required the suspension of service on that line south of Chambers Street. Ten other nearby stations were closed for cleanup. By March 2002, seven of those stations had reopened. Except for Cortlandt Street, the rest reopened in September 2002, along with service south of Chambers Street.[71][72][73] Cortlandt Street reopened in September 2018.[74]

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded several underwater tunnels and other facilities near New York Harbor, as well as trackage over Jamaica Bay. The immediate damage was fixed within six months, but long-term resiliency and rehabilitation projects continued for several years. The recovery projects after the hurricane included the restoration of the new South Ferry station from 2012 to 2017; the full closure of the Montague Street Tunnel from 2013 to 2014; and the partial 14th Street Tunnel shutdown from 2019 to 2020.[75] Annual ridership on the New York City Subway system, which totaled nearly 1.7 billion in 2019, declined dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not surpass one billion again until 2022.[76]

Since the opening of the original New York City Subway line in 1904,[41] multiple official and planning agencies have proposed numerous extensions to the subway system. One of the more expansive proposals was the "IND Second System", part of a plan to construct new subway lines in addition to taking over existing subway lines and railroad rights-of-way. The most grandiose IND Second Subway plan, conceived in 1929, was to be part of the city-operated IND, and was to comprise almost 1⁄3 of the current subway system.[95][96] By 1939, with unification planned, all three systems were included within the plan, which was ultimately never carried out.[97][98] Many different plans were proposed over the years of the subway's existence, but expansion of the subway system mostly stopped during World War II.[99]

Though most of the routes proposed over the decades have never seen construction, discussion remains strong to develop some of these lines, to alleviate existing subway capacity constraints and overcrowding, the most notable being the proposals for the Second Avenue Subway. Plans for new lines date back to the early 1910s, and expansion plans have been proposed during many years of the system's existence.[53][95]

After the IND Sixth Avenue Line was completed in 1940,[100] the city went into great debt, and only 33 new stations have been added to the system since, nineteen of which were part of defunct railways that already existed. Five stations were on the abandoned New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, which was incorporated into the system in 1941 as the IRT Dyre Avenue Line.[101] Fourteen more stations were on the abandoned LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch (now the IND Rockaway Line), which opened in 1955.[102] Two stations (57th Street and Grand Street) were part of the Chrystie Street Connection, and opened in 1968;[103][104] the Harlem–148th Street terminal opened that same year in an unrelated project.[105] Six more new stations were built as part of a 1968 plan: three on the Archer Avenue Lines, opened in 1988,[68] and three on the 63rd Street Lines, opened in 1989.[67] The new South Ferry station was built and connected to the existing Whitehall Street–South Ferry station in 2009.[106] The one-stop 7 Subway Extension to the west side of Manhattan, consisting of the 34th Street–Hudson Yards station, was opened in 2015,[107][108][note 8] and three stations on the Second Avenue Subway on the Upper East Side were opened as part of Phase 1 of the line at the beginning of 2017.[109]

There are 28 train services in the subway system, including three short shuttles. Each route has a color and a local or express designation representing the Manhattan trunk line of the service.[118][119] New York City residents seldom refer to services by color (e.g., "blue line" or "green line") but out-of-towners and tourists often do.[17][120][121] The 1, C, G, L, M, R, and W trains are fully local and make all stops. The 2, 3, 4, 5, A, B, D, E, F, N, and Q trains have portions of express and local service. J, Z, 6, and 7 trains vary by direction, day, or time of day. The letter S is used for three shuttle services: Franklin Avenue Shuttle, Rockaway Park Shuttle, and 42nd Street Shuttle.[119][122]