It’s rare to find a New Yorker not enamored with the city’s extensive metro network. But on this day all the way back in 1832, public transit debuted in a much more modest way on the streets of New York City.
It was on that day that the New York and Harlem company began using the country’s first-ever horse-drawn streetcar, running down some of the larger streets in Manhattan. The price was set to 12.5 cents a ride, around $4.58 in today’s dollars according to some back-of-the-envelope math.
It wasn’t exactly luxurious: the 12-seat cars were regularly over-packed and known to be a sweaty ride. To disembark, riders pulled a leather strap that was directly connected to the driver’s ankle. Because, as we all know, it’s very safe to yank on the body of someone driving a moving vehicle containing dozens of people. At least they weren’t driving with pedals!
You can read more about the horse-driven streetcars in the blog post from the NYC Department of Records & Information Services.
