It is refreshing to hear that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority New York City Transit has begun running a series of nostalgia trains and buses to help celebrate the holidays in December.
The “Shoppers Special” consisting of eight cars from the 1930s runs between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. between 2nd Avenue F 2nd Avenue 125th Street Harlem A,B, C & D line stations in Manhattan Sundays on November 25th, December 3, 10 & 17th and 24th.
Riding the old subway cars reminds me of a time when it was common to find both penny gum and soda machines dispensing products at many subway stations. Clean and safe bathrooms were readily available.
It was a time when people respected authority and law. Previous generations of riders did not litter subway stations and buses, by leaving behind gum, candy wrappers, paper cups, bottles and newspapers.
No one would openly eat pizza, chicken or other messy foods while riding a bus or subway. Everyone paid their way and there was no fare evasion.
NYC Transit is also operating a fleet of vintage buses on the M42 midtown cross town 42nd Street route in Manhattan for weekday service during December between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m from December 3rd to 21st.
Likewise, riding the old vintage buses are also a great trip down memory lane. It was a time when bus drivers had to make change and drive, at the same time. No one dared bring any food on the bus or leave any litter behind.
You had to pay separate fares to ride either the bus or subway. Now there are Metro Cards affording free transfers between bus and subway, along with discounted weekly or monthly fares. Employee transit checks to help cover the costs didn’t exist decades ago.
Previous generations of both bus and subway riders survived daily commutes with no air conditioning. All they had for comfort were overhead fans.
Air-conditioned buses and subway cars that we all take for granted today were virtually nonexistent up until the time of the 1964-65 Worlds Fair. Air-conditioned buses were still a novelty. It was not until 1966, that NYC Transit first purchased over 600 buses with this new feature. Subsequently, all future new buses would include air conditioning. By the early 1990s, 100 percent of the bus fleet air-conditioned.
In 1967, NYC Transit introduced the first 10 air-conditioned subway cars operating on the old IND system (Independent municipal NYC built, financed and operated A, C, E. F & G lines).
It was not until 1975, that air-conditioned subway cars were introduced on the old IRT (NYC private franchised Independent Rapid Transit system operated 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Franklin Avenue and Times Square shuttle lines).
Subsequently, this also included the old BMT (NYC private franchised Brooklyn Manhattan Transit system B, D, J, L, M, N, Q, R & Z lines). It took until 1982 to retrofit all the original IRT “Redbird” series subway cars. By 1993, 99 percent of the NYC 6,000 subway carair-conditioneditioned with the exception of a handful running on the No. 7 Flushing line.
Fast forward to today, and you can see how MTA public transportation is still one of the best bargains in town. Riders can count on air conditioned buses, subway and commuter rail cars working close to 99 percent on a daily basis.
Larry Penner
(Larry Penner is a transportation historian, advocate and writer who previously worked 31 years for Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office) .
