In
2004, the New York Subway reaches its 100th anniversary.
Since it first opened in 1904, New York’s
subway – the
second oldest subway in the nation – has
been the fastest and most popular mode of personal transportation
in the city.
Today it is the largest 24-hour operating subway system in
the world, with 468 stations, 656 track miles and a fleet
of more than 5,700 passenger cars. Its more than 26,000 employees
help move 4.2-million riders daily around and through the
Bronx,
Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, and to railroad terminals
that connect the city to the suburbs of New York State, New
Jersey, and Connecticut.
Such an active,
vast, and historic system provides countless
starting points for the exploration of a great many disciplines.
The subway not only offers rich lessons about city, state and
national history, but also demonstrates the real-world application
of physics and math principles at work
every day in powerful, although often unappreciated, ways. Observation
of any aspect of the subway -- which is in perpetual motion
as it carries people from all walks of life
-- can lead
to inspiration
for
original
art work, film,
poetry or literature.
This site
encourages learners to actively learn some of the many lessons
the subway has to offer -- through observation, exploration
and inspiration.
