History of the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign

The campaign was founded in 1979 by the New York Public Interest Research Group at a critical time for New York City transit: By the late 1970s, the city's subways had become unreliable and decrepit. Graffiti covered every car and station. Transit fires and derailments hit record levels. Crime steadily worsened. Ridership plummeted to the lowest level in 80 years. Businesses cited poor transit as a leading reason for moving out of New York. The system had become a symbol of the decline of the city itself.

There's been great progress since then. Today, trains are nearly ten times more reliable. Ridership has bounced back. Transit crimes, fires, derailments—all have been greatly reduced in the last two decades. In 1997, the transit system started offering free transfers between subways and buses. In 1998, riders received the first fare decrease in the history of the system in the form of unlimited-ride transit passes. As a result, ridership has soared. By 2007, ridership was at its highest level since 1952!

These improvements didn’t happen by accident. The Straphangers Campaign played a leading role in building a consensus for scores of billions of dollars in new investments in metropolitan transit—through our rider organizing, coalition building, research, reports, and media savvy. (More detailed histories can be found at: www.straphangers.org/25th/essay.pdf or www.straphangers.org/exhibit/.)

At neighborhood forums, we ask whether people think the transit system has gotten better, worse, or stayed the same. The majority always respond "better." How many New Yorkers would say that about our other key institutions, from schools to health care? Although much more remains to be done, the campaign is proud of our role in turning around transit. The campaign had many achievements in our advocacy for decent, safe, and affordable transit. Through our presence in the media, scores of reports, millions of leaflets handed out in the subways, and our coalition work, we have helped win:

more than $75 billion since 1981 for desperately needed transit repairs;
unlimited-ride transit passes;
free subway-bus transfers;
new service since 1998 in response to booming ridership (but more is needed!);
restoration of hundreds of personnel in 1999 to clean the subways;
creation of independent transit safety and management monitors;
rebuilding of a subway line in Brooklyn (the Franklin Avenue Shuttle);
rebuilding of a station in the Bronx (Intervale Avenue);
laws that allow the public to speak at meetings of the MTA board of directors;
the defeat of plans to tear down subway newsstands and bar subway musicians and performers;
a "trade-in" for transit of $1.4 billion of Westway superhighway funds;
the rescue of the New York City Transit Museum; and
the annual release of preliminary budgets for transit, increasing transparency of the MTA to the public.

Get Involved

New Yorkers interested in becoming involved in NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign should contact us at 9 Murray Street, 3rd Floor, New York, New York 10007, call (212) 349-6460 or e-mail us.