27 October: The New York City Subway

On this date in 1904 The New York City Subway started operating. The 9.1-mile (14.6 km) subway line, was called the "Manhattan Main Line", and ran from City Hall to 145th Street station in Harlem. More than 150,000 people paid the 5¢ fare to ride it on its first day of operation. 10 things you might not know about the New York Subway.

1. The New York Subway is the seventh busiest public transit system in the world. Tokyo comes in first, followed by Shanghai, Seoul, Guangzhou and Moscow. The NYC subway does, however, hold the record for the system with the most stations. There are 472, only 2 of which are not open 24 hours a day.
2. The idea of a subway system in New York dates back to 1869 when Alfred Ely Beach built the first demonstration for an underground transit system which extended 312 feet (95 m) under Broadway from Warren Street to Murray Street. It was never extended for political and financial reasons. However, the Great Blizzard of 1888 made the politicians think again. A plan for the construction of the subway was approved in 1894, and construction began in 1900.
3. In 2016, 5.7 million people were riding the Subway on an average weekday. 1.757 billion people used it over the course of the year.
4. The busiest station is Times Square with around 63 million people passing through every year. The highest station above ground is Smith-9 Streets in Brooklyn. It is 88 feet above street level, and is the highest rapid transit station in the world. The deepest station is 191 Street in Manhattan at 180 feet below street level.
5. The longest of the 28 routes is the A Line, which runs from 207th Street in Manhattan to Far Rockaway in Queens. It is over 31 miles long. This line also boasts the longest run between stations – 3.5 miles between Howard Beach/JFK Airport and Broad Channel in Queens.
6. The system comprises, since the latest extension in 2017, over 655 miles of track. If all this track was laid out in a straight line it would reach from New York to Chicago.
7. When the fare increased to 15 cents in 1953 there was a problem, because vending machines which accepted more than one type of coin hadn’t been invented yet. So they came up with subway tokens. They weren’t without their problems since criminals found a way to cheat the system involving jamming the machines and sucking tokens out with their mouths. Pretty unsanitary. Some subway staff tried to stop it by sprinkling mace or hot chilli powder into the slots. Nevertheless, tokens were used for 50 years until 2003 when a magnetic card system was introduced. No more handling of tokens which could have been in some criminal’s cake hole, but they can track people’s every move with them. Fine if you’re accused of a crime and your card provides your alibi, but who knows what else they could be used for in a dystopian future.
8. In 1993 a 16 year old wannabe train driver called Keron Thomas managed to take control of a train for three hours, and was doing a reasonable job until he accidentally triggered an emergency brake and was put on probation. When the subway system opened in 1904, Mayor George B. McClean started the train as part of the opening ceremony. He was supposed to hand over control to a professional driver after that, but didn’t. He declared that he was "running this train," and ended up driving for most of the journey; but didn’t, presumably, get put on probation.
9. If you’re late for work because of a train delay and your boss won’t believe you, the MTA will email or fax you a "late letter".
10. There is a secret platform underneath the Waldorf-Astoria building for extremely rich people to use. President Franklin Roosevelt used it so people wouldn’t know he used a wheelchair.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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