![]()
Peter Samson, standing in the center, and his teammates during the failed 1966 run. From the New York Herald-Tribune, via the Queens Borough Public Library
In May of 1940, electric railroad enthusiast Herman Rinke became the first person to tour the entire New York City subway system on a single token, putting in 25 some hours underground all for fun. After reading about Rinke’s journey, Peter Samson, a computer software engineer who later invented the world’s first video game Spacewar, decided to take a stab at making his own record. As the Times recounts, he formed the Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee (ANYSRC) to develop rules for the challenge. After one failed attempt in 1966, Samson, with the help of 15 volunteers and a computer program that tracked the fastest route, completed the trip in 25 hours, 50 minutes and 30 seconds on April 21, 1967. Since then, the subway challenge has taken off for puzzle and transit lovers worldwide.
![Peter Samson, Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee, subway challenge]()
Peter Samson’s notebook used during the challenge
The official rules defined by Samson’s ANYSRC are broken down by three class. Variations of the challenge include riders traveling every line, but not necessarily the entire line (Class A), a full-system ride that requires a rider to stop at each station (Class B), or a skip-stop ride that only requires a rider to pass through each station (Class C). While rules of the ANYSRC challenge require rides to be completed on a single fare, the Guinness World Records, which recognizes Class B, allows for riders to transfer between scheduled lines by train or foot. No use of motor vehicles or personal transport, like bikes or skateboards, is allowed.
![Peter Samson, Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee, subway challenge]()
A 1967 map of a subway station
To break the record, Samson wrote software that would find the quickest route and the team entered schedules into the PDP-6 computer at M.I.T. His plan included having two people compete for the record, while volunteers reported their progress by a payphone and then others would update the computer which would create a revised route for their journey. The two men who ran the route, George Mitchell and Andy Jennings, started at 2:43pm at the 168th Street station on the Jamaica el, and then clocked in at 4:30 the next afternoon in Pelham Bay Park.
Since then, various routes have been eliminated, others added, and some of the original rules have been amended. New versions of the subway challenge have been created, evolving into the Rapid Transit Challenge or the Ultimate Ride Challenge. New rules include making participants log the time the train doors open and close at each station, providing a time-stamped photograph or video proving they stopped at every station, and there must also be a witness at every station.
While many have come before him, the current record holder is Matthew Yahn. He traveled to each of the 469 subway stations on January 16, 2015, in just 21 hours, 49 minutes and 35 seconds. However, since the 7 Subway Extension opened in September of 2015, his record became invalid, so of course, he tried again. In the dead heat of summer, Yahn attempted a second go in September of 2016 and set off from the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue Station at 2:20 a.m., and arrived at the end of his route at Flushing Main Street exactly 21 hours, 28 minutes and 14 seconds later.
Unfortunately, with the opening of the Second Avenue subway in January of this year, his record has become invalid yet again. Although Yahn has no plans to try to beat his record, he told Time Out NY, “Never say never.”
Tomorrow, the Transit Museum is hosting an event at Hunter College where a now-75-year-old Peter Samson will discuss his history with George Mitchell and Manhattan Borough Historian Michael Miscione. The talk will last from 7:00 to 8:30pm–find out more information and purchase tickets here.
[Via NY Times]
RELATED:
On Monday, numbers released by the MTA served to confirm something we’ve all known for quite some time now: NYC subway service sucks. More than 60,000 delays plagued weekday service in November 2016, an increase of nearly 10,000 delays over the previous November. The less than favorable figures are a major sore spot for the agency, which is hoping to approve a 25 cent fare hike this week that would bring the cost of a single swipe to $3. As NY1 writes, “Trains are breaking down more frequently, riders are waiting longer for trains and on-time performance is slipping. … [and] some of […]
When the Second Avenue Subway opened on the first of the year, it changed the lives of many commuters, namely those living in Yorkville on the Upper East Side who had long walks to the 4/5/6 trains and then faced their notoriously tight cars and frequent delays. But those New Yorkers who still rely on the Lexington Avenue line have also gotten some relief: According to a New York Times analysis of MTA data, on an average January weekday, ridership fell by about 11 percent, or 88,000 trips, between 110th Street and Grand Central, undoubtedly a direct effect of the Second […]
This morning MTA officials voted in favor of a subway and bus fare hike, which will go into effect March 19, writes The Times. The transit agency opted not to increase per-ride costs to $3, as previously floated, but to instead up monthly and weekly MetroCard prices from $116.50 and $31 to $121 and $32, respectively. Moreover, although the base price of a ride will not see an increase, there will be a decrease in the “bonus” riders get when they add money to their cards. This will drop from 11 percent to just 5 percent. Source: MTA. The “Alternate Option Not Selected” breaks […]
New Yorkers living in the outer reaches of Brooklyn and Queens may soon find some relief when it comes to their daily commutes. The MTA’s New York City Transit Riders Council (NYCTRC) is looking to make travel more efficient and affordable for those residing in the city’s transit deserts through a “Freedom Ticket” pilot initiative that will, says Gothamist, temporarily offer discounted flat-fee tickets for bus, subway and commuter rail travel with unlimited free transfers. The price of the ticket has not yet been announced, but $6.50 had been floated in 2015 when the idea was first unveiled. While this figure is considerably higher than a single subway or […]
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget includes a “hidden” $65 million cut to state funding headed for the MTA, the Daily News reports. The $244 million in funding–compared to $309 million in 2016–represents a 21 percent drop in money from the state’s general fund intended to shore up the MTA after a drastic 2011 payroll tax cut on regional businesses the transit agency serves. The funding cut comes on the heels of data that show subway delays have more than doubled during that same time period according to the New York Times. The 21 percent cut would hit the MTA in the […]
Despite the fact that NYC today has more than 8.5 million residents, the subway system had some of the highest ridership numbers back in the 1940s. In fact, a 1948 record was only recently beat in 2015 when 5.7 million rode the train daily, with annual ridership hitting 1.7 billion–another high not reached since the 1940s. To show just how packed the subway was 60 years ago, 6sqft has uncovered this 1949 film footage of daily subway operations from the New York Transit Museum Archives, which shows the crew working all the angles to keep trains running on time, while crowds jostle and shove […]
For those who thought removing subway station garbage cans as a means to decrease litter and rats seemed counterintuitive, you were right. The Post looks at how things have fared since the MTA took out cans in 39 stations in 2012, and since this tactic was nixed by the state Comptroller’s Office in 2015. Despite the latter attempt to course correct, a new state report shows that the situation is still just as bad in many stations, with the amount of litter on the upswing and an increased number of track fires. Via Dan Nguyen/Flickr As 6sqft previously reported, “This past […]
We already know that the MTA holds monthly online sales of ephemera–including everything from retired subway cars to vintage tokens–but apparently individuals with their own collections of transit collectibles can also make a pretty penny selling the goods. Take for example this 100-year-old subway sign that Gothamist spotted for sale on Etsy for $150,000. Sure, the price tag may seem fair for a century-old relic, but the 8′ x 11″ piece is a simple white sign with black letters that read “Times Square.” And it’s authenticity isn’t actually confirmed… Stein included historic images of similar Times Square subway signs in his Etsy […]
