History UsefulNotes / NewYorkCitySubway

** The other sport in which two teams from the same area could face each other is football. However, the SuperBowl is a single game played in a pre-determined neutral location; no subway applies.[[note]]Theoretically, one supposes, a "Subway Super Bowl" could be where the teams can both get to the stadium by subway for the single game. This is unlikely as only one city in the country--New York--has two teams assigned to it, and ''both'' of them actually play in New Jersey--at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetLife_Stadium the same stadium]], in fact. Which stadium is hosting the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XLVIII Super Bowl in 2014]], but even if the Giants and Jets made the Super Bowl that year you couldn't call it a "Subway Bowl" because you can't get there by subway--even the PATH; you need to take one of UsefulNotes/NewJerseyTransit's commuter lines and transfer to the Meadowlands Rail Line to get to the stadium by train.[[/note]]

*** Additionally, even if the World Series came down to Cubs-White Sox or Angels-Dodgers, public image of such a series would unlikely give it a Subway brand. Chicago's public transit system is mostly above-ground, and its most prominent portions around The Loop are actually elevated above street level (hence why it is called the 'L') (even though the Red Line that serves both Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field, where the teams play their home games respectively, actually goes underground when it reaches downtown). Los Angeles, on the other hand, is in the public mind the epitome of urban sprawl with a large, expansive freeway network to connect everything - there is a public transit system in LA, but it is barely utilized. Further, there would likely be a concious effort by local promoters and sports fans to ''not'' use the term "Subway Series", as by now the terms are pretty much inexorably linked with New York. End result: an Angels-Dodgers series might be termed the "I-5 Series" or "Freeway Series", while Cubs-White Sox might be the "Red Line Series" or "L Series".

** Within baseball, only three metropolitan areas other than New York have two teams: Chicago (NL Cubs/AL White Sox), UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Bay (NL SF Giants/AL Oakland Athletics), and Greater UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (NL Dodgers/AL Angels). However, of these, Chicago and LA are right out--Chicago because the Cubs [[IronWoobie have been consistently bad for the better part of a century]],[[note]]"The Cubs win the World Series" has long been a baseball equivalent of "CueTheFlyingPigs"[[/note]] and LA because the Angels and Dodgers have never been good at the same time. As for the Bay Area, the Giants and Athletics have in fact faced each other in the World Series since moving to the area,[[note]]In 1989; they also played against each other three times when the Giants were still in New York and the A's were in Philadelphia[[/note]] and a series between them remains a strong possibility (both have made the postseason regularly of late), but the press prefers to call it a "Bay Bridge Series" (the subway connecting the two, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit BART]], is too goofily-named and too obscure to outsiders to qualify, anyway).

* The term "Subway Series" is applied to any series between New York baseball teams, now down to just the Bronx-based Yankees and the Queens-based Mets. In 2000, they met for the World Series and they [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2145674416/ played it up in advertising for all it was worth.]] Indeed, it is rare but not unheard of for them to have a "double-header" with one game at each stadium in the same day. Theoretically, "Subway Series" applies to any North American sports championship between two teams from the same city/metropolitan area, but a pairing of anyone other than the Yankees and Mets is relatively unlikely, for several reasons.

* Jay-Z takes his name in part from the J/M/Z lines that serves his old neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
* Similarly, Jennifer Lopez named her first album "On the 6" because she used to ride the 6 train from the Bronx into Manhattan while still trying to get her big break.

** Goetz is also name dropped in the BillyJoel song "We Didn't Start the Fire".
* "[[TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway And out of the subway...]]"
* PetulaClark's 1965 hit, "Don't Sleep in the Subway."

** And ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' (with guest star [[{{Seinfeld}} Barney Martin]]).

* [[SexyCoatFlashing Flashers in overcoats]]. With the advent of camera phones, this has become a [[DoNotPassGo Go Directly to Jail]] card.

* A couple of ''NewsRadio'' episodes have a subway scene. One early episode has them trying to cover a subway accident, but all we see is Matthew standing in a pitch-dark tunnel waist deep in water.

* PetulaClark's 1965 hit, "Don't Sleep in the Subway"

** As does AllInTheFamily.

Another reality-impaired subway trope is that there are [[SinisterSubway miles upon miles of abandoned subway tunnels beneath the city,]] just [[BeneathTheEarth waiting to be inhabited]] by [[{{Morlocks}} something evil]]. Not so much. Though, there ''are'' several abandoned stations, as well as the [[DevelopmentHell infamously half-complete Second Avenue Line]], which has been on the city's to-do list for decades. (Seriously. The impending construction of the Second Avenue Line was [[HistoricalInJoke cited as a good reason for Peggy to buy a particular apartment]] in ''Series/MadMen'' Season 6. That's set in ''1968''. It was actually first proposed [[OlderThanTheyThink in 1929]]. They're claiming a 2016 completion date now. Bets they'll do it this time?)

* NoMoreHeroes features a level that takes place in a subway station, and later on an actual train used to get to a distant fight. Both were obviously inspired by New York subways.

As you can see from the page quote, most announcements on the Subway, including the famous "Stand clear of the closing doors, please," are done by a friendly-sounding guy with a very neutral accent. Fun facts: his name is Charlie Pellett, he was born in London but moved to New York as a kid, worked hard to erase his accent after he got teased for it in school, he's a reader for Bloomberg Radio, and yes, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhH2eEG8gAc he rides the subway every day]].

* The Unova region in the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite fifth]] [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 generation]] ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of New York City. The subway system exists in lieu of the Battle Tower present in previous games. From a [[IncrediblyLamePun grand, central station]] in Castelia City, the player can take one of a multitude of lines and engage in a battle-til-you-lose tournament. Each line has a different format such as single, double, triple, and rotation battles.

Twenty-three lines, 468 stations, 5 million daily riders, 1.5 billion yearly riders (at $2.75 a pop) ...and it's in the red. Probably the most famous subway system in the world. Not the first, certainly not the best, but the one everybody seems to know. Administered by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA. According to ThatOtherWiki, the subway trails only the metro systems of Tokyo, Moscow and Seoul in annual ridership and carries more passengers than all other rail mass transit systems in the United States combined.

** NJ Transit's Secaucus Junction--where all NJ Transit heavy rail lines save the Atlantic City Line[[note]]Which doesn't meet ''any'' NJ Transit Rail lines; the only trains it meets are the PATCO subway into Philadelphia and the SEPTA and Amtrak lines out of Philadelphia 30th St. Station[[/note]] and Princeton Branch[[note]]Which is a short shuttle off the Northeast Corridor Line from Princeton Junction to [[IvyLeague Princeton University]][[/note]][[labelnote:Also...]]The Raritan Valley Line also didn't stop at Secaucus until 2014, as being diesel-powered, it couldn't cross the North River tunnels to NY Penn, but only go as far as Newark Penn. With the acquisition of dual-mode electric/diesel locomotives, direct service to NY Penn has started.[[/labelnote]] meet--is touted as a potential terminus for the new extension of the 7 train of the NYC Subway proper. If this happens, it would be the first NYC Subway station outside the city itself.

* The "miles of abandoned tunnels" trope appears in Creator/GrantMorrison's ''SevenSoldiers: The Manhattan Guardian'', where they're the domain of ''{{pirates}}''. [[SpacePirates Subway pirates]]. With names like "Captain Nobeard".

* ''SaturdayNightLive'' performed a sketch about Bernie Goetz waiting in a studio green room and inadvertently intimidating the other guests.

This has led to the former IRT lines still being colloquially known as "the IRT", while the IND and BMT designations are little-used outside the {{fandom}}. Whatever you do, [[BerserkButton do not]] refer to lines by color. The most famous cars that shout "New York Subway", the "Redbirds", once the canvas for graffiti artists, have all been decommissioned and used to build an artificial reef in the Atlantic. Modern cars are slightly more generic looking.

* The subways do not run on anything that resembles a schedule. Residents don't expect it to, out-of-towners get frustrated, and the MTA still tries to claim that [[http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/schemain.htm their official schedules have worth]].

Unlike many similar subway systems that use a zone system or calculate fares based on the entry and exit stations, the New York subways are flat-rate: pay once when you enter, and you can go anywhere the cars will take you, be it one stop away or to the opposite end of the city. Originally costing a nickel, it's now $2.75 for entrance[[note]]Sort of: a single-ride ticket is $3, but a swipe from a reusable "Metrocard," the standard fare card for New York subways and buses, costs $2.75; when you put more money on a Metrocard, you also get a 10% bonus. Plus, new Metrocards cost an extra $1. Also, you get one free transfer within 2 hours, but only bus-to-bus, subway-to-bus, and bus-to-subway. And also subway-to-subway, but only at certain "out of subway transfer" stations. Again, Metrocards only, not single rides. Get all that?[[/note]], with the option to purchase unlimited cards that last a set time period--7 days (perfect for visitors) or 30 days (the Commuter Standard)--instead.

* ''{{Futurama}}'': When Fry, Leela, and Bender explore the abandoned "Old New York City" in "The Luck of the Fryrish" they get around by Bender running on an old subway line by using his feet for wheels while Fry and Leela ride on his back. Oddly enough, the line is still electrified despite being over a thousand years old and in a state of decay. Bender makes a fake subway announcement informing his "passengers" that they're on the "B train" traveling nonstop to "wherever the hell [he] feels like" ending it with an imitation of the iconic "Stand clear of the closing doors... Bing-Bong!"

* ''NeedForSpeed The Run'' has you DRIVING THROUGH the tunnels in its final level...and the trains are still running.

Unlike many similar subway systems that use a zone system or calculate fares based on the entry and exit stations, the New York subways are flat-rate: pay once when you enter, and you can go anywhere the cars will take you, be it one stop away or to the opposite end of the city. Originally costing a nickel, it's now $2.25 for entrance[[note]]Er, sort of -- a single-ride ticket is $2.50, but a swipe deducts $2.25 from a reusable farecard, and adding $10 or more to a farecard gives you a discount that brings the effective cost down to about $2.09. Also, you get one free transfer within 2 hours, but only bus-to-bus, subway-to-bus, and bus-to-subway. And also subway-to-subway, but only at certain "out of subway transfer" stations. Also, this only applies to metrocards and not single rides. Got all that?[[/note]], with the option to purchase unlimited cards that last a set time period--7 or 30 days--instead.