In all the cities in the world, the metro lines carry numbers or letters. In New York, you will find both formulas, with numbers and letters. Here’s why !
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The New York subway mixes letters and numbers
- If you look closely at a New York City subway map, you’ll quickly notice a quirk. While metro lines all over the world are designated by the same system, with numbers (Paris, Marseille, Brussels, etc.) or letters (Lyon, Rennes, etc.), the New York metro mixes numbers and letters.
- The red lines, which connect the Bronx to the southern tip of Manhattan, bear the numbers 1, 2 and 3. The blue lines have the letters A, C and E… Same thing in Brooklyn where you can take the lines 4 and 5 but also N, R or Q. Here are the 10 things to know to use the subway in New York.
Three companies for a single metro network
- So why these letters and numbers? It is simply a historical legacy. When the New York subway was created in the early 1900s, two private companies shared the network. Lines with numbers were operated by Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT). The lines with the letters from A to G depended on the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT).
- Quickly, the operation of the two private companies was called into question and the town hall decided to regain control of the network. In 1932, the municipality created its own company, the Independent Subway System (IND), and launched the construction of a new line. There were then 3 companies for a single network! In 1940, the city bought the two private companies and gradually unified the network. The names of the lines have remained!
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