19321776 Club
A city-owned subway opens on Eighth Avenue; New York now runs three rival systems
The IND ran from 207th Street to Chambers Street with a fleet a tenth the size of its private rivals.
By 1932, New York's subway riders were packed into cars run by two private companies, the IRT and the BMT, with no public alternative. On September 10, 1932, the city opened the Eighth Avenue Line from 207th Street to Chambers Street, launching the Independent Subway System, or IND, the first rapid transit line owned and operated by the city itself. It started small, just 300 cars against the IRT's 2,281 subway and elevated cars and the BMT's 2,472. Within hours, vandals at some uptown stations jammed the turnstiles with gum…
