Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 26, 2007

The transportation system of New York City is highly complex and varied. It includes the largest subway network in the world by track mileage, the longest suspension bridge in North America, the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel and an aerial tramway that transports commuters between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan. Along with its size and variety, the city's transport infrastructure is also beset with ongoing congestion, reliability, and funding challenges. New York City is distinguished from other American cities by its significant use of public transportation. While nearly 90% of Americans drive to their jobs, public transit is the overwhelmingly dominant form of travel for New Yorkers. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York and its suburbs. New York City is the only locality in the United States where more than half of all households do not own a car (the figure is even higher in Manhattan, over 75%; nationally, the number is 8%).