subwayphobe? tourist? don't be such a tool. i don't recall seeing criticism of the convenience of the nyc subway. i however fail to see how 24-hour convenience has anything to do with the hideous urine smells.

Tiamat, you missed the point, you subwayphobe/tourist/ninny! I'll keep my 24/7 subway and metrocards, thank you very much.

Letterman's Top 10 NYC Tourist questions:

10. "Does it always smell like this?"

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/ls_topten_archive2001/ls_topten_archive_20010803.shtml

Hehe

I thought Budapest had the oldest subway, but am too lazy to look that up.

hmmm... I think i own the trade mark to the phrase "quick hits."

I'm not sure about the scale of the maps, but I recall from recently reading Clifton Hood's book 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York that the total track miles for the New York City subway is such a high number because both the local and express tracks are counted separately.

It's not 125 miles from the north Bronx to Coney Island?

thank you "not tiamat" for the insight into the dc metro, one of many major subway systems of the world. the nyc subway still smells.

I'm rather dubious about the subway comparison site, actually -- according to it, it's 125 miles from the north Bronx to Coney Island.

24/7. is any other subway system 24/7?

Hey Tiamat, go read this: http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/opinions/what_lies_beneath.php#002731 and get back to us in the morning

My favorite subway in the world has to be Tokyo's - it is to NYC's subway what NYC's subway is to Chicago's. There is that small issue of being closed during the wee hours and packed as all hell during the others, though.

i love me some subway smell!!

Regarding ventilation systems, I believe that the Grand Central one (a real nice breath of cool air in the summer) is a test project and is to be done in more stations. Unfortunately, I could be wrong.

And our subway system isn't antiquated? The city refused to put in further ventilation in the mid-20th century, despite the fact that systems such as Paris were beginning to implement them. Had they done this, one would actually be able to stand in the Union Square station without feeling faint on hot summer days. This is one example of many issues that the city didn't start to address until the late 1990's. While the system has gotten much better in the past 10 years, it's still hopelessly behind others. I don't think size is really an excuse.

No matter what, though, I love my NYC subways. Even if they're stinky, hot, and dirty.

he jumped. i'm still not sure why it reported as an accident. he was apparently taken to the hospital, but i really don't see how he could have possibly survived.

Boston had indeed the first subway, and they are oh so proud of it, just like they are proud of their Red Sox. Funny how both have now become antiquated and ineffective, in a quaint nostalgic sort of way.

http://members.aol.com/netransit/private/tss/tssnews.html

longest, second longest...it doesnt matter. the new york subway still reigns as the foulest of all the major subways of the world.

wow, incredible. what is amazing to me is that I have walked the length of Barcelona or Vienna many times here in manhattan. scale is an amazing thing.

Would be cool too if these were overlayed on a larger scale...

I thought NYC's system was the longest with 722 miles of track:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/067167756X/qid=1078430104//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-0446912-3069706?v=glance&n=507846

Actually, I believe the first stretch of Boston's subway predates New York's by a couple of years. Not sure of the date, though.