Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation

BMT
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Minimum radius	(?)
Route map A 1914 map showing what was at the time the proposed expansion for the BRT. The only major differences from what was built is that a new 60th Street Tunnel was used rather than the Queensboro Bridge, the Manhattan-side Brooklyn Bridge connection was never built, and several lines ended up with fewer tracks than shown.

The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. It is now the BMT Division of the New York City Subway. Together with the IND, it is operationally described as B Division. The original BMT routes have the letters from J to R, as well as the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. The ex-IND B, D and F partly use former BMT trackage in Brooklyn, as does a short section of the A in Queens, while the Z supplements the J.

Corporate background

The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation was the successor in bankruptcy to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company in 1923. Like its predecessor it controlled subsidiaries which operated the great majority of the rapid transit and streetcar lines in Brooklyn with extensions into Queens and Manhattan. One of these, New York Rapid Transit Corporation operated the elevated and subway lines.

Industry position

The BMT was a national leader in the transit industry, and was a proponent of advanced urban railways, participating in development of advanced streetcar designs, including the PCC car, whose design and advanced components influenced railcar design worldwide for decades. The company also sought to extend the art of rapid transit car design with such innovations as articulated (multi-jointed-body) cars, lightweight equipment, advanced control systems, and shared components with streetcar fleets. The BMT was also the original proponent of the all-four concept of integrated urban transit.

Unlike the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the other private operator of subways in New York City, the BMT remained solvent throughout the Great Depression and showed a profit, albeit small in its last year, until the very end of its transit operations.

Sale to the City of New York

The BMT was pressed by the City administration of Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia to sell its operations to the City, which wanted to have all subway and elevated lines municipally owned and operated. The City had two powerful incentives to coerce the sale:

• the BMT was forced by provisions of the Dual Contracts to charge no more than a five-cent fare, an amount set in 1913, before the inflation of World War I.
• the City had the right of “recapture” of those lines that had been built or improved with City participation under those Dual Contracts. This meant that, if the City forced the issue, the BMT could have been left with a fragmented system and City competition in many of its market areas.

The BMT sold all of its transit operations to the City, completing the deal on June 1, 1940.

The post World War II years saw the city-built IND subway taking over parts of the former BMT, starting in 1954 with the extension of the D train from its terminal at Church Avenue via a new connection with the former BMT Culver line at Ditmas Avenue. The 3 remaining Culver stations between 9th Ave and Ditmas Ave were converted into a connecting shuttle service that ran until 1975 when it was discontinued because of budget cuts. That section was later torn down. The next connection between the IND and BMT was between the IND Queens Blvd. Local west of Queens Plaza and the BMT 60th Street Tunnel in December, 1955. This new route was used by the BMT Brighton local, which formally ran to Astoria, for service to Forest Hills along with the IND GG local. The next year saw the new extension of the IND Fulton Street Line (A train) in Brooklyn connected to the rebuilt section of the former BMT Fulton Street elevated at 80th Street in Queens in April, 1956. The portion of the BMT Fulton Street El running west of 80th Street to Rockaway Avenue was torn down. The late 50's and early 60's saw the biggest project of that era with the building of the Chrystie Street Connection, and the IND 6th Ave express tracks. This project connected the IND 6th Avenue services to the BMT lines that ran over the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. Express services were directly connected to the Manhattan Bridge, and local services could use either the Williamsburg Bridge or the Rutgers Street Tunnel. Both connections opened in November, 1967 and created the largest re-routing of train services in the history of the NYCTA. The BMT West-End and Brighton Lines became served by IND services exclusively as a result. Between 1967 and 1976, some IND 6th Avenue trains called KK and later K, used the connection to the BMT Jamaica Line over the Williamsburg Bridge. That connection was discontinued due to budget cuts. In June 2010, as a result of more budget cuts, the MTA re-activated the Williamsburg Bridge connection for M service.

Operations

Main articles: New York Rapid Transit Corporation and Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation

The BMT operated rapid transit (subway and elevated lines) through the New York Rapid Transit Corporation and surface transit (streetcars and buses) through the Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation.

External links

• Article about BMT rapid transit car designs in The Third Rail by Paul Matus
• http://www.rapidtransit.net History site including articles about the BMT