five million riders per weekday, the fourth highest in the world [behind Tokyo, Moscow and Seoul] and a network that extends some 650 miles, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority [MTA] has its hands full maintaining the system for its 24 hours-a-day operation.

History
The subway's use of numbers and letters is an historical one. By the time the first underground subway line opened in 1904, the lines had been consolidated into two privately-owned systems, Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (later Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit, BMT) and Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT). In 1940 the city bought outright the two systems. Evidence of the different systems can still be seen around certain stations, where signage still points to IRT trains or BMT trains.

IRT lines consist of what's now known as the: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and S [42nd St shuttle]. BMT lines consist of the current: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, M, N, Q, R, V, W, Z and shuttles, the S-Franklin Ave [Brooklyn] & S-Rockaway Park [Queens].

There are 26 subway lines in the system with 468 stations. The new 2nd Avenue subway line [Manhattan] is finally scheduled to be built, but don't hold your breath - they've been planning this one since the 1920s. If you're disabled, the Subway will prove difficult for you - even more than the London Underground. With few exceptions, there's an extremely limited number of escalators throughout the system and lifts [elevators] are hard to find, even when they're working. Outside of the major hubs, [eg. 34th St; 42nd St; Columbus Circle; Atlantic Avenue], it is unusual to find a subway station with an escalator.

The New York Subway may be familiar to many Brits thanks to countless movie scenes that have been set on its system - going back to the 1949 musical 'On The Town'. But is probably most well-known for the subway and car chase scene in 1971's classic French Connection with Gene Hackman, shot on the elevated section of the D-Line through Borough Park in south Brooklyn.

Other films featuring the subway include: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three; Charles Bronson's Death Wish; scenes from Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta; the Superman films; Patrick Swayze in Ghost; Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey in Glengarry Glen Ross; 1995 films Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Hackers, and many more, even Max Payne, Rockstar's video game from 2001.

Buying tickets
Subway stations have ticket vending machines that will accept notes or credit/debit cards - except when they're broken, which they can be. As the system operates 24-hours-a-day you will find that late nights, staff are only present in major stations and at the 24-hour entrance/exit [signified by the green 'lollipop' at the entrance].

This is 42nd St/Grand Central, there are performers everywhere on the system - particularly 14th St/Union Square. Image ©MTA

A Metrocard contains a metallic strip which is 'swiped' through a card-swipe and can be bought in one of two ways, either as an 'unlimited ride' card [for a fixed period] or a 'fixed price' card [for a given number of rides]. Current prices are: a single ride is $2, a 1-day unlimited ride is $7; 7-day unlimited, $24; 30-day unlimited, $76. And unlike the London Underground, the New York Subway isn't 'zoned', so a $2 ride can take you from 241st Street in the Bronx down to Rockaway Beach in Queens, a distance of more than 38 miles.

Lines and Routes
Also unlike the London Underground, the NYC Subway system has express trains and local trains, which makes travelling longer distances by subway easier and quicker [under normal conditions] as the express doesn't stop at all stations on the route, only the main hubs and interchanges. For example, if you live in Brooklyn or the Bronx - close to the 4 or 5 train - you're on an express line that can get you through Manhattan considerably quicker than the local 6 train. Other express trains include: the A, B, D, Q and N trains.

Although on the MTA Subway map the lines are coloured [eg. the A, C, E are blue; the Q, N, R, W are yellow; the 4, 5, 6 are green], no New Yorker ever refers to the line by the colour, ever. If you ask directions, the train will usually be referred to by its shortform, [ie: "...take the A, to the F..."].

Despite the age of the network there's still no platform-side LED indicators for upcoming trains as on the Underground, although it's planned to come into effect soon on selected lines, mostly in Manhattan. Many stations in the outer boroughs are still in need of refurbishment and although there is a rolling programme of improvements - including new trains on the N-line - they're taking longer than you'd expect to improve stations in the boroughs. The job is of course, huge.

With its 468 stations the network has just 35 fewer stations than the combined total of ALL other subway systems in the US. With stations ranging from the highest [Smith-9th Street on the F and G lines] in Brooklyn, 88ft above street level, to the 191st station [on the 1 line] in Manhattan, 180ft below street level. The logistics of maintaining these varied sites are huge indeed.

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