The Third Avenue El – the last elevated train in Manhattan – shut down in May of 1955, but it lived on in the memories of New Yorkers and in popular and high culture. What aesthetic possibilities did filmmakers find in the elevated train stations and cars? How did the El offer a different sense of community and a different perspective on the city? And how does this moment in transit history help us understand contemporary elevated train lines and elevated parks? Join Sunny Stalter-Pace, Associate Professor at Auburn University, to explore the mid-century moment when nostalgia for the El reached its height.

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Join the New York Public Library's NYC Space/Time Directory project at the Transit Museum for a evening about historical transit maps. Learn about the streetcars, elevated trains, ferries and railroads in use before the construction of the underground subway system, key moments in subway map-making, and maps of New York City’s unbuilt public transit plans.

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Ever since the first commercial ferry slip between Long Island and New Amsterdam opened in 1642, ferries have been an important thread in New York’s transportation fabric. The City of New York is now embarking on an unprecedented expansion in ferry service with its newly launched NYC Ferry. NYC Ferry provides a new, affordable way to travel between waterfront communities along 60 nautical miles of waterways throughout New York City — and it recently welcomed its 2 millionth rider aboard since service began in May 2017. Join us to learn about the ways that development and transportation impact each other, understand the planning process that led to NYC Ferry service, and find out how ferry service meets community transportation needs in neighborhoods throughout the city.

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The New York Transit Museum Archive recently completed one of its biggest projects in years: processing approximately 300,000 images from The New York City Transit Authority Photographic Unit, an internal division charged with visually documenting transit agency facilities, operations, and events. The photographs, shot from the mid-1960s through 2004, highlight the transition from token to MetroCard, fiscal crises and subsequent recoveries, the graffiti wars, the agency’s response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and a wide variety of the people behind the ceaseless and indispensable operation of transit services. Funded by a year-long grant from the New York State Archives, Transit Museum archivists have sorted and organized the collection, which may be accessed by visiting the Transit Museum archives. Join archivist Emily Toder to discuss the project and highlight some of the photographic treasures in this collection.

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Poetry in Motion® has placed poetry to New York City’s transit system for more than 25 years, starting with an excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” in 1992 and growing to include more than 200 poems to be seen by millions of subway and bus riders every day. Each of the poems has, in sixteen lines or less, the power to enliven the quotidian, provide nourishment for the soul, and enchant even the youngest among us. Join the Poetry Society of America and MTA Arts & Design at the New York Transit Museum to reflect on the last quarter-century and to celebrate The Best of Poetry in Motion, an anniversary anthology of 100 poems from the program.

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For four decades, Philip Ashforth Coppola has meticulously documented the New York City subway system in a series of extraordinary drawings, detailing the historic mosaics and ornamental designs found there. His drawings celebrate the power of intense observation and highlight the work of the artists and artisans who built the subway more than a century ago. Now, a new book from Princeton Architectural Press brings together Coppola’s intricate ink drawings with anecdotes he assembled through painstaking research to uncover the history of what is rightly called New York’s largest public art work, its legendary subway system. Join Coppola, co-editors Jeremy Workman and Ezra Bookstein and Senior Curator Amy Hausmann at the Transit Museum to celebrate the launch of One Track Mind: Drawing the New York Subway with a screening of the documentary short of the same name, a conversation, and a book signing.

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What makes a great transit map? What tools will future urban geographers and transportation planners use to understand and predict travel patterns? How can navigation apps change the way we get around our cities? Four expert panelists will dig into the roles that private companies, public agencies and academic institutions can play in mapping transportation networks, talk about their diverse careers, and provide insights into emerging trends and technologies in their respective fields.

Learn how fare collection has evolved through the decades – from paper tickets, to coins, to tokens, to MetroCards – and get an insider’s view about how the future of fare collection is also the future of easier commuting. Transit legend Alan Putre (Executive Director of the MTA’s New Fare Payment Program and Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer at New York City Transit) shares tales and adventures from the frontlines of fare collection and a career spent making sure the money gets where it’s supposed to go.

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New York City has played a starring role in comics and graphic novels since the 19th century, with artists placing the stories of humans, superheroes, monsters, and more in its neighborhoods, on its transit systems, and within its historical eras. Joining curator Jodi Shapiro, Karen Green of Columbia University Libraries and comic artists Stan Mack and Peter Kuper will discuss the ways that satirical cartoons, comic strips, and comic books have been used to bring the stories – and histories – of New York to life.

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