Bill DelGrosso

Upper West Side

A New York City Subway Token

The token represents the MTA, the one thing that unified the whole city: the establishment of a working subway. The MTA gave everyone in all 5 Boroughs the chance to travel around the other 4 easily and cheaply. Every New Yorker knows at least one train, bus or ferry to get where they are going, or navigates around the City via the MTA system.

Every business, apartment, house of worship, restaurant, bar etc identifies where the closest subway stop is. The token is also fashioned after Roman coins, and represents an exact value if you still had them in your pocket.

It represents the achievement of engineering, and the labor of the immigrants that dug the tunnels, surfaced the streets, or built the ferries that encompass the system.