My letter to the NY Senator Brad Hoylman.
In the world NYC is equivalent of 24/7 subway service!!!
First of all thanks for your commitment to save the 24/7 NYC subway service.
I am Italian and NYC has been my favourite city in the world since I was a child. I love the skyscrapers, the 24/7 delis, the multi-ethnic aspect, the bridges, Central Park, Broadway, Times Square, Harlem, Soho, Chinatown, St Patrick's Cathedral, Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, Coney Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, the 24/7 Staten Island ferry, the New York City FC (
https://www.facebook.com/Forza-NYCFC...6557112076346/) and a thousand other things, but ABOVE ALL I love the CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS and my myth has always been the 24/7 SUBWAY SERVICE!!!
NYC has a 24/7/365 subway service since October 27,1904 and even before the birth of the subway there was a 24/7 service of the Manhattan Railway Company (the elevated railway) since 1878 (this is a 1881 map:
https://www.loc.gov/item/98688705/)!! I hope that Cuomo and De Blasio (Italian origin....) know this and that next 1-5AM shutdown will be ONLY TEMPORARY (AND SHORT) for the Coronavirus!!
NYC is a myth in the world also and above all for its mythical subway and if it is a myth more than Paris Metro or London tube it is ONLY for its 24/7 service!!! It is the TRUE ALWAYS BEATING HEART of the city.
NYC is very different from other cities in the world. In fact over 50% of the people hasn't got a car and therefore the 24/7 subway service is ABSOLUTELY VITAL!!
Finally in 2019 I realized my dream: to visit NYC!! Everything was wonderful, but my dream was to take the subway in the late night hours and this is my story:
The last August I have been in the most important city in the world and I could see that it is truly the CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS. The more beautiful thing was seeing the late night crowd in the subway. In fact, I took the N train at 1.58AM in a normal weekday at 23rd Station on the Broadway and at 2.14AM, after the last Manhattan station (Lexington Avenue/59 Street), my car (it was a R68 car with 70 seats...) was standing room only, with some peolple standing!!! And the train had other 7 cars.... And, when I am arrived at my station (Queensboro Plaza station) at 2.17AM, there were many persons waiting the train. In another normal weekday, I took the 7 train at Times Square at 2.53AM and in my car (it was a R188 with about 20 comfortable seats or max 28 total seats) we were about 20 persons and after the last Manhattan station (Grand Central station) and before of the first Queens station (Vernon BLVD/ Jackson Avenue) at 3.00AM I have seen that also in the contiguous car there were about 20 seated persons. Now, I don't know how many people there were in the other 9 cars, but surely on that train there more than 120, 130 persons.... And also this time, at Queensboro Plaza station (at 3.07AM), there were many persons waiting the trains on the both levels (even in Manhattan direction)!
This is my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Save-247-NY...?ref=bookmarks
P.S. I hope that you can give this my letter to De Blasio, Cuomo, MTA and have it published on the NYT, NY Post or NY Daily News to make it clear that WITHOUT THE 24/7 SUBWAY SERVICE NYC ISN'T THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, BUT ONLY A CITY LIKE SO MANY OTHERS!!!
An Italian New Yorker.