Understanding New York subway routes in 1966 The New York City subway of today has much in common with the subway of the mid-1960s: most of the train numbers and letters are the same, and they generally follow the same routes they did more than 50 years ago.

Yes, subways were well-established in the 1960s, and the decade saw a massive global expansion of underground transit. By 1960, legendary systems like the London Underground (1863), the New York City Subway (1904), and the Paris Métro (1900) were already decades old. However, the 60s was a "golden age" for new construction: the Montreal Metro and the Milan Metro both opened in the mid-60s, and the Mexico City Metro launched in 1969. In the United States, the 60s saw the beginning of "modern" heavy rail projects like San Francisco's BART and the Washington Metro, which were designed during this decade to revitalize urban centers. The 1960s also saw the introduction of more aesthetic and futuristic station designs, moving away from the purely utilitarian look of the early 20th century. For commuters of that era, the subway was a symbol of 20th-century progress and the primary solution to the "urban sprawl" and traffic congestion of the post-war boom.