Transit Authority
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Q: It seems like almost every time I enter or leave Manhattan, my car runs over a small wire that is taped to the ground. What are these wires for?
A: Yes, the wires you’ve described are indeed used to collect information about vehicles using bridges and tunnels to enter Manhattan. The city has collected such information since 1948, seeking to tally every single trip made over a bridge or tunnel in the five boroughs. Since 1978, the city’s Department of Transportation has conducted the surveys, according to documents obtained from that department. In addition to monitoring roads in its jurisdiction, the DOT collects data from bridges and tunnels managed by the Port Authority which connect Manhattan with New Jersey.
Statistics are kept on the number of vehicles that enter and exit Manhattan, the time of day they cross into or leave Manhattan, and in some cases the type of vehicle being driven.
Q: How come the letters or numbers that identify subway lines do not follow a logical order?
A: There is a different answer for almost every omitted letter or number in the subway system. Keep in mind that three private companies built all the lines in New York today except for the G, which was built by the city and began running in August 1933.
A no. 8 line did exist at one point. It was part of the IRT, like all other numbered trains, and originally ran from Times Square to Astoria, Queens. When the BMT began service to Astoria in 1949, the 8 designation was given to a line in the Bronx that ran along Third Avenue from 149th Street to 210th Street before terminating a stop later at Gun Hill Road and White Plains Road. The 8 was abandoned in 1973.
The H line opened in 1936 as a shuttle from the Court Street station to the Hoyt Street-Schermerhorn Street stop in Brooklyn. The H line stopped rolling 10 years later in 1946. An I line has never been used. The K began service at Brooklyn along Broadway in 1906, replacing an above-ground steam-engine train that followed a similar route. The T was once used to designate the BMT’s West End line at Brooklyn. The letters P, U, X, and Y have never been used.
