When New York City was addicted to mass transportation

Abstract

New York City was addicted to public transportation until well into the second half of the 20th century. The 5 million inhabitants of the city moved around the city either by tram or by urban rail. A large city model absolutely dependent on collective transport that occurred less than a hundred years ago, based on a system that combined a tram distribution scheme and a radial urban rail scheme.

This article is intended to study the mobility system of the City of New York when movement through the city resided in collective transport, and demonstrates how it was possible to build a large city of 20 km in diameter without the need, nor the presence, of the car.

The article is a compendium of nine short texts, which together with their respective nine graphic documents, build the research corpus. The reader then faces a graphic essay formed by small chapters that will immerse itself in the origins of mass transport whose invention was in New York City.