This is the unofficial web site of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (B.M.T.). Incorporated in 1923 as a re-organization of the then bankrupt Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the B.M.T. emerged to operate the most colorful, innovative, progressive, and profitable subway line in New York City. Unfortunately political and economic considerations prompted a municipal takeover in 1940. I have scanned some of the documents in my possession with the intention of creating a site dedicated to preserving the history and legacy what was arguably New York’s BEST Subway.
Headline in the NY Post – November 21, 2002: MTA TO RIDERS: GO TAKE A HIKE
Something to think about:
“ELIMINATE politics from transit and the people of Greater New York can obtain the best transit service in the world. They may have universal service on a single fare and a comprehensive building program can be devised to provide this progressive, growing community with adequate service in the future. Everything is possible if and when common sense is substituted for politics in dealing with our transit problems.”
–Gerhard M Dahl, 1924
Why do I admire the B.M.T. Corporation?
The primary reason is that it represented, in its day, the most advanced concepts in rapid transit design. Imagine, if you will, riding in an aluminum subway train, with mohair upholstered seats, mirrors, and a ride cushioned by rubber sandwiched wheels and rubber springs — NOT IN THE YEAR 2000 — IN 1939!!! Beginning with the Standards and ending with the Bluebird (see roster) the BMT was always on the leading edge. If this is what they had in 1939 – one can only imagine what transit service would look like today if the B.M.T. Corporation had remained in business.
Here’s what others had to say:
Stan Fischler wrote in Uptown, Downtown: A Trip Through Time on New York’s Subways. (New York: Hawthorn. 1976.) that the BMT was the “playboy of the underground. It boasted the flashiest rolling stock ever seen in New York”
In a February 8, 1939 editorial entitled It’s Done With Mirrors, The New York Times stated that the Bluebird “will make each trip to work a delightful adventure, each evening’s homeward journey a period of happy relaxation” .
James C. Greller recently published an excellent book entitled Subway Cars of the BMT (Xplorer Press). In it he writes that the men of the BMT “had a deep devotion to public transportation and in their work were able to encompass imagination, science, and common sense to create a successful rapid transit system”.
A Transit Commission official once referred to William Menden, president of the BMT, as “one of the ablest operating men in the country” Source: (City and the B.M.T. Agree on All Terms Excepting the Price” The New York Times, February 14, 1928. p. 1.)
The spirit of the B.M.T. lives on in 2003 – the new Hudson-Bergen used the B.M.T. as a “model operation”. According to Allfred E. Fazio in his new book Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: “The early B.M.T. was of particular interest to the executive management of the HBLR because of its innovative blend of rapid transit and “light rail” operating practice, and its innovative rolling stock designs”.
And it was profitable:
See it for yourself in the annual reports that I scanned.
According to Moody’s Investor’s Manual “the B.M.T. has demonstrated its ability to earn a dividend on its common stock at a five cent fare”
Are we better off under government ownership?
In 1924 the chairman of the B.M.T. prophetically asked these questions: Who will hold the bag? Can the taxpayer do it? Will he if he can?
Let us examine what has happened since. In 1940 the City of New York got its wish and took over the entire NYC Subway system. The fare became further politicized and deficits piled upon deficits. In order to cut costs the city began a policy of deferring maintenance. In the 1970′s the subway system reached a low point as this policy finally took its toll. The long awaited and badly needed Second Avenue Subway was postponed indefinitely. The 1990′s witnessed a resurgence, but we are now again in a fiscal crisis. The MTA has now raised the fare to $2.25…
What is the real fare anyway? Are you paying 2.25? Well here are some things that may surprise you. That extra 0.375% tacked on to the sales tax to make it 8.875% – It goes to subsidize the MTA. There are MTA surcharges on all your telephone and utility bills. The MTA receives a share of all automobile registration fees and driver license fees. If you buy gas in NY there are two levels of taxes going to finance the MTA that are passed on to the driver – a petroleum business tax and a motor fuel excise tax. Corporations doing business in counties served by the MTA pay an MTA surcharge on their corporate income tax and pass it along to YOU – the consumer! The MTA receives all revenue from two mortgage recording taxes AND just last year a new PAYROLL tax was imposed on employers doing business in the MTA region. This new Tax generated over $1 BILLION for the MTA in 2010. On top of that a large portion of the bridge and tunnel tolls on TBTA facilities goes towards the MTA too…So I will ask again – What is the real fare??
We accept a privately owned telephone and utility network and even encourage competition in those areas. Yet we say nothing of the MTA Monopoly that has failed miserably in both operating the subway system and providing us with new subways since 1940.
Consider what the B.M.T. chairman said in 1924: “Shall transit be treated as a business problem? Shall the people have service? Or — shall cheap politics continue to block subway construction and force added discomforts and congestion?”
New York City never learns: In 2005 Mayor Bloomberg orchestrated the takeover of the remaining private bus companies by the MTA Transportation MONOPOLY ostensibly in order to improve service. The city complained about the large subsidies it had to pay the bus companies to operate yet while the MTA was charging up to a $2 fare the privates were FORCED to charge as little as $1. By failing to live up to its part of the contract the city effectively deprived the private companies of any fair chance to succeed while at the same time using the resulting deteriorating service as an excuse for a full takeover. Where did we see this before? Allowing the privates to raise the fare would have had the same effect of reducing the subsidy and improving service, but the city once again chose a socialistic solution to its transportation problem.
Update on the Bus Takeover: In spite of the fact that the fare doubled the City’s subsidy to maintain the now-FORMER private bus routes increased from $150 million to $261 million (source: New York Post 3/11/06).
