Comparing Subways In NYC and Buenos Aires

Click on image for an animated history of New York’s subway development

With all the recent talk about expanding the subway system in Buenos Aires, it may be instructive to take a look at how the system compares with its counterpart in another great cosmopolitan center, New York City.

Mauricio Macri, who becomes the new mayor of Buenos Aires December 9, has proposed to build 27 kilometers (16.7 miles) in new subway lines. Macri, who coincidentally met with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week in Manhattan, also has pledged to increase the frequency of times that trains pass through each station everyday.

The two systems are roughly the same age. Argentina’s was completed in 1913 while New York’s was established a bit earlier in 1904. Buenos Aires was the 13th city in the world to get its own subway system, according to Metrovias. But while both emerged in the early part of the 20th century, development of the two systems since then has been markedly different.

Argentina’s left-lane system (designed by – who else? – the Brits) runs 42.7 kilometers (26.5 miles) while New York’s spans a whopping 595.5 kilometers (370 miles). This, according to Metrobits.

Argentina’s “subte” has 63 stations while New York’s has 468. Argentina’s has six lines; New York’s has 27. In the summertime, New York’s subway has air conditioning while Argentina’s has the climate-control button set permanently on “sweat like a pig.” Around 5 million passengers ride New York’s subway everyday while about 1. 3 million do so in Buenos Aires. Argentina’s system has limited hours while New York’s runs 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

WiFi In Subway & Subte Stations

Buenos Aires beat New York to the punch, however, by being the first to install WiFi in its stations. At least the B, C, D & E lines in Buenos Aires provide free and unrestricted wireless Internet access. I used my iPhone this week to test the service on the D line and it worked perfectly, allowing me to download email and surf the web. The service works in stations themselves but not inside the tunnels. Buenos Aires was the fist city in the Americas and the second city in the world to install WiFi in its subway stations, according to La Nacion. New York City is only now about to install WiFi in its subway stations, according to Newsday.

But Argentina’s subway costs just 70 centavos (about US 22 cents) while New York’s costs US $2 dollars. That ratio will change January 1, however, when local transportation costs rise by up to 30%. Then the cost of riding the subway here will jump to 90 centavos (US 28.5 cents). However, the cash saved by traveling in Buenos Aires is partially offset by having to put up with the God-awful, screeching, death-rattle noise produced when train wheels brush up against inhospitable tracks. And while Argentina’s network is cheaper, in NY you get to ride with Elvis.

The inspiration for this post was a similar one by Matías Maciel on his blog Entretanto. Matías is an Argentine journalist in NYC. His blog, though in Spanish, is well worth visiting.

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