Beginning
with Herman Rinke in 1940, more than 70 others have ridden the
entire system. They are recorded in an unofficial file in
the MTA Public Relations Department and below are some stories we
pieced together.
Please
click on the name of each person to find out more about their journey
Herman
Rinke - May 30, 1940
25
hours
Two
days before the IRT, BMT and IND were unified in 1940, Herman Rinke,
an electric-railroad buff, became the first person to tour the
entire system on a single 5-cent fare, doing it purely as a
"sentimental gesture." Rinke rode the system for
some 25 hours that day. Since then, more than 70 others -
recorded in an unofficial file at the TA Public Relations Department
- have ridden the entire system.
Jerome
Moses - 1957
25
hours, 36 minutes
NYC Subway maps circa 1960 included the following fact on the back
of them, "A
Flushing youth, who wanted his money's worth, rode all lines of the
subway on a single token. With doubling back as needed, the trip
totaled over 400 miles - more than the train journey from New York
to Pittsburgh." That youth was Jerome Moses who was
immortalized, even though
he was not the
first to travel the whole system.
Geoffrey
Arnold - 1963
24
hours, 56 minutes
In
1963, Geoffrey Arnold set a record of 24 hours and 56 minutes.
Three years later, while a student at Harvard, Arnold worked with
the MIT group led by Peter Samson to develop a set of rules which
Samson then prevailed upon the Transit Authority to take as
gospel. These rules delineated three different categories of
record attempts for (A) Covering all Lines, (B) Touching all
Stations and (C) Passing all Stations.
Peter
Samson - March 31, 1966
25
hours, 57 minutes, 20 seconds
In
1966, inspired by the "Flushing Youth," MIT student Peter Samson cured spring break
boredom by using the computer in the Artificial Intelligence lab to
determine the optimal route through the system. He completed
the first ride with
George Mitchell, Andy Jennings, Jeff Dwork, Dave Anderson and Dick
Gruen. On April 19, 1967 they made a second attempt and
improved by only 7 minutes.
James
Law - August 3, 1967
22
hours, 11 minutes
James Law and six high school
buddies rode the entire system in 22 hours, 11 minutes, a time
that was reportedly cited at one point in time in the Guinness Book of World Records.
No further information was found regarding this ride.
Eliot
Shulman - December, 1968
exact
time unknown
Eliot
Shulman, Steven Scofield, Richard Spivack, Lawrence Danziger and
Ray Marzoll, stopped at every station in December 1968.
Reviewing their schedule it appears their target was about 26
hours, and they said they beat their tentative time by an hour
and beat the existing record by over an hour and a half. They submitted
their record to the NYC Transit Authority, for verification,
and then to MIT.
Rich
Temple, Phil Vanner, and Tom Murphy - December 12-13, 1988
29
hours, 47 minutes
This
group set the Guinness World Record and were featured in the 1990
edition of the book (published Oct 1, 1989). As part of
their ride, they celebrated the opening of three new stops in
Queens and the inauguration of the Z rush hour train that ran
along the J tracks. They began their trip at those new
stops, which probably cost them 45 minutes, because they had to do
the run out to the Rockaways twice.
Kevin
Foster - October 25, 1989
26
hours, 21 minutes, 8 seconds
Searching
for a diversion while training to become the first person to bicycle
the entire length of The Great Wall in China, Kevin Foster opened up
the Guinness Book of World Records to find another challenge.
He decided that to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the New York
subway system he would spend 85 consecutive hours on the subway,
during which he broke the record for stopping at every station.
Michael
Falsetta and Salvatore Babones - January 1998
25
hours, 11 minutes
Instinct,
not planning, worked for Michael Falsetta and Salvatore Babones who
say their only preparation for their 1998 record run was a lifetime
of riding the trains. They followed the guidelines that you
must ride past all stations, but not stop at every one. They also
did not leave the system over the course of their ride.
Jenni
Marquiss and Max Jacobs - November 10-11, 2002
31+
hours
In
a ride that was designed as a short film documentary by the group
Flite Risk Films, this pair stopped at every station in over 31
hours....well actually if you watch the film you'll see the Max
threw in the towel several hours before the end. We're not
sure why the camera man wasn't recognized for completing the ride.
Rich
Green and Mike Fields - July 25-26, 2005
24
hours, 59 minutes, 52 seconds
Rich
has completed a full system ride three times and topped the Class
C record of Falsetta and Babones, though there was no media
coverage to recognize this feat. His first trip took over 28
hours, and the second was 26 hours. His next goal is to do a
class A trip: riding the entire right of way rather than stopping
at every station.
Matt
Green and Don Badaczewski - August 23, 2006
24
hours, 2 minutes
Matt and
Don met at the University of Virginia where
they embarked on such challenges as eating 16
tacos and then running a mile barefoot. They spent five months
pouring over subway maps to find the route with the fewest transfers
and then fine-tuned their strategy for service advisories the
day of their attempt.
