The first subway line opened to riders on October 27, 1904. And almost since that day, New Yorkers have been grumbling, justified or not, about crappy service.
“Trains will run at the company’s convenience” states the fine print in this New York Herald cartoon from 1905.
It wasn’t just lateness that annoyed residents a century ago. Other grievances are the same ones we have today, like jam-packed trains and filthy stations.
“All the trains are dirt-filled and full of nameless odors,” bellyached one passenger in a letter to the New York Times in 1915.
Even dim lighting was open to complaints. “The lighting of subway trains was now so poor as to be dangerous to the sight of passengers who might attempt to read their newspapers,” states a 1909 Times article.
Tags: IRT opening 1904, MTA, New York City subway complaints, New York City subway history, New York Herald, New York in 1900, political cartoons New York City newspapers, subway service
June 25, 2010 at 3:53 am |
[…] http://upcoming.current.com/nyblogs?format=rss […]
June 25, 2010 at 4:37 pm |
[…] the trains are dirt-filled and full of nameless odors,” reads a letter to The Times in 1915, quoted by Ephemeral New York. (Apparently, the more things change, the schmutzier they stay.) The short […]
June 25, 2010 at 5:11 pm |
[…] is nothing new. It’s been happening since the debut of subways back in 1904. Some grievances aired at the time were crowding, foul odors, and filthy stations. Sound familiar? [Ephemeral […]
June 25, 2010 at 5:57 pm |
[…] New Yorkers have complained about New York since at least 1905. [Ephemeral] […]
August 9, 2017 at 4:02 pm |
[…] blog Ephemeral New York notes that in 1915, riders were already complaining that the subway was filthy and smelled bad. In a […]
February 12, 2019 at 1:15 pm |
Boi
April 6, 2021 at 12:50 pm |
[…] Cartoon source : Ephemeral New York […]
April 6, 2021 at 12:57 pm |
Congratulations for your blog. Wonderful job! Enjoy the day.
September 25, 2023 at 4:01 am |
[…] that didn’t happen. As stations opened across the boroughs in the decades after the 1904 debut of the first stretch of the IRT, the signage at each stop reflected the design ethos of its […]
September 25, 2023 at 7:34 am |
I wonder what the story is with the Ben Franklin-like character standing almost dead center on the platform. Open to interpretation?????