At Least One Stop
on Each Line - 7 hours, 38 minutes, 57 seconds
Life-long resident
of Brooklyn Dan Herman had been seeking more challenges in his
life, and dreamed up an adventure that he had always wanted to
tackle, involving the New York City Subway. A bit less
demanding than a 24 hour tour of subway stations, Dan created a
"One-Stop Challenge." Dan's idea was to ride at
least one stop on all 26 lines (including all 3 shuttles), in the
shortest possible time.
Dan is a 38-year-old
associate at an investment advisory firm. After downing a
pre-journey meal at a Sheepshead Bay diner, he bought 2 bottles of
Vitamin Water, a few granola bars, and headed for Rockaway.
The preparation and planning of the Challenge took several months,
including countless emails to several knowledgeable subway
travelers, and many visits to the MTA TripPlanner page. The
routes were fine-tuned in December, and with Christmas looming,
the final plans were set.
The journey started
in Rockaway at 3:14:59PM, and passed many points in downtown
Brooklyn, downtown and midtown Manhattan, and parts of Western
Queens, before finally achieving success, 90 minutes ahead of his
planned schedule, at Grand Central station. He took one
restroom break early in the journey at the 42nd Street-Bryant Park
station. There was one 'out-of-system' free transfer
used.
Along the journey,
not only were all lines reached, but every type of car in the
current NYC Transit fleet was used. Along this journey Dan
encountered 2 subway performers (34th St-Herald Sq and Times Sq),
and one panhandler on the M toward Queens. Dan aims to
travel with a group of at least 4-8 folks in the next such
challenge, which may duplicate this one or be similar to it.
Actual riding time:
3 hours, 48 minutes, 18 seconds, on 31 rides
Average riding time was 7 minutes 21 seconds
Actual waiting time was 3 hours, 50 minutes, 39 seconds
Average waiting time was 7 minutes 41 seconds
Total time: 7 hours, 38 minutes, 57 seconds
Note: All
information in this article courtesy of Dan Herman
