View source for Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation

{{Short description|Defunct transit operator in New York City}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2011}}
{{Infobox rail line
 | box_width   =
 | name        = BMT
 | color       =
 | logo        = NYCS BMT logo col.svg
 | logo_width  =
 | image       = BMT 100 Nostalgia Ride (19142195760).jpg
 | image_width =
 | caption     = A [[New York Transit Museum]] set of [[D-type Triplex (New York City Subway car)|BMT Triplexes]] on the [[BMT Brighton Line]]
 | type        =
 | system      =
 | status      = Incorporated into the [[New York City Subway]]
 | locale      =
 | start       =
 | end         =
 | stations    =
 | routes      =
 | open        = {{end date and age|1923}}
 | close       = {{end date and age|1940}}<br><small>(acquisition by the [[New York City Board of Transportation|NYC Board of Transportation]])</small>
 | owner       = [[New York City|City of New York]]
 | operator    = [[New York City Transit Authority]]
 | character   =
 | depot       = [[Coney Island Yard]], [[East New York Yard]]
 | stock       = [[R46 (New York City Subway car)|R46]], [[R68 (New York City Subway car)|R68]], [[R68A (New York City Subway car)|R68A]], [[R143 (New York City Subway car)|R143]], [[R160 (New York City Subway car)|R160]], [[R179 (New York City Subway car)|R179]]
 | linelength  =
 | tracklength =
  | gauge       = {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}}
 | minradius   = 
  | speed       =
 | elevation   =
 | map         = [[Image:1914 BRT proposed map.jpg|center|250px|A 1914 map showing what was at the time the proposed expansion for the BRT. The only major differences from what was built is that a new [[60th Street Tunnel]] was used rather than the [[Queensboro Bridge]], the Manhattan-side [[Brooklyn Bridge]] connection was never built, and several lines ended up with fewer tracks than shown.]]
 | map_state   = collapsed
}}
The '''Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation''' ('''BMT''') was an [[urban transit]] [[holding company]], based in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]], [[United States]], and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the [[Independent Subway System|IND subway system]], it forms the [[B Division (New York City Subway)|B Division]] of the modern [[New York City Subway]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Sims |first=Calvin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/30/nyregion/about-new-york-alphabet-soup-telling-an-irt-from-a-bmt.html |title=About New York – Alphabet Soup – Telling an IRT From a BMT |location=New York City |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 30, 1990 |access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref>

The original BMT routes form the {{NYCS|J/Z}}, {{NYCS|L}}, {{NYCS|M}}, {{NYCS|N}}, {{NYCS|Q}}, {{NYCS|R}} and {{NYCS|W}} trains, as well as the [[Franklin Avenue Shuttle]], with the [[Independent Subway System|IND]] {{NYCS|B}} and {{NYCS|D}} using BMT trackage in Brooklyn. The {{NYCS|M}} train enters the IND via the [[Chrystie Street Connection]] after crossing the [[Williamsburg Bridge]]. The {{NYCS|Q}}, along with some rush-hour {{NYCS|N}} trains enter the IND from the [[63rd Street Lines|BMT 63rd Street Line]]. The {{NYCS|R}} train enters the IND via the [[60th Street Tunnel Connection]].

The {{NYCS|Z}} train supplements the {{NYCS|J}} in the peak direction during rush hours only. Prior to city ownership, the BMT services were designed with numbers, and the current letter scheme was developed as a continuation of the [[New York City Subway nomenclature|IND nomenclature]] as the IND and BMT systems were integrated.

==History==
{{main|History of the BRT and BMT}}
[[File:New York Streetcars (1930).svg|thumb|center|The [[List of streetcar lines in Brooklyn|Brooklyn streetcar network]]]]
[[File:BMT Lines Coney Island vc.jpg|thumb|The [[Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue (New York City Subway)|Coney Island]] station entrance]]

===Company years===
The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation took over the assets of the [[Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company]] on June 15, 1923, following the previous company's bankruptcy.<ref name="New York (State). Transit Commission 1924 p. 501">{{cite book | title=State of New York Transit Commission Third Annual Report for the Calendar Year 1923| publisher=New York State Transit Commission | issue=v. 3 | year=1924 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFxLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA501 | page=501}}</ref> Like its predecessor, it controlled subsidiaries which operated the great majority of the [[rapid transit]] and [[streetcar]] lines in [[Brooklyn]] with extensions into [[Queens]] and [[Manhattan]]. One of these, [[New York Rapid Transit Corporation]] operated the elevated and subway lines.

In 1923, their president, [[Gerhard Melvin Dahl]], published a document called "Transit Truths" to explain the issues the company faced. In it, he complained that the company had "met with the bitter, personal and unfair opposition of [[John Francis Hylan|Mayor Hylan]]." In a separate letter to Hylan he said: "For seven years, you have been misleading and fooling the people in this community… For seven years, you have blocked every effort at transit relief. You, and only you, are to blame for the present…deplorable condition of the whole transit situation. You have used the transit situation as a political escalator".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.baycrossings.com/Archives/2003/03_April/paving_the_way_for_buses_the_great_gm_streetcar_conspiracy.htm|title=Paving the Way for Buses– The Great GM Streetcar Conspiracy Part I, the villains|quote=Any appeal to Mayor Hylan was rebuffed. Bankruptcy and receivership didn’t help. In 1923, Gerhard Dahl, president of the reorganized B.M.T., published "Transit Truths" to gain some public sympathy. Dahl’s words serve to highlight the relationship between transit and Hylan: " … the B.M.T. has met with the bitter, personal and unfair opposition of Mayor Hylan." And from a letter to Hylan: "For seven years, you have been misleading and fooling the people in this community… For seven years, you have blocked every effort at transit relief. You, and only you, are to blame for the present…deplorable condition of the whole transit situation. You have used the transit situation as a political escalator. You have been willing to sacrifice the comfort, the convenience and even the necessities of the people of this community to your selfish political interests. You are persisting in that course." Unfortunately, this broadside changed nothing|access-date=October 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403191459/http://www.baycrossings.com/Archives/2003/03_April/paving_the_way_for_buses_the_great_gm_streetcar_conspiracy.htm|archive-date=April 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1930s, the BMT was pressed by the City administration of Mayor [[Fiorello H. La Guardia]] to sell its operations to the City, which wanted to have all subway and elevated lines municipally owned and operated. The City had two powerful incentives to coerce the sale:
* the BMT was forced by provisions of the [[Dual Contracts (New York City Subway)|Dual Contracts]] to charge no more than a five-cent fare, an amount set in 1913, before the [[inflation]] of [[World War I]].
* the City had the right of "recapture" of those lines that had been built or improved with City participation under those ''Dual Contracts''. This meant that, if the City forced the issue, the BMT could have been left with a fragmented system and City competition in many of its market areas.

The BMT sold all of its transit operations to the City on June 1, 1940.

===Afterward===
After World War II, the city-built [[Independent Subway System|IND subway]] took over parts of the former BMT, starting in 1954 with the extension of the [[D (New York City Subway service)|D]] train from its terminal at [[Church Avenue (IND Culver Line)|Church Avenue]] via a new connection with the former BMT [[IND Culver Line|Culver line]] at [[Ditmas Avenue (IND Culver Line)|Ditmas Avenue]]. From 1954, the three remaining Culver stations between Ninth Avenue and Ditmas Avenue were used by the [[Culver Shuttle]]. The service was discontinued in 1975 because of budget cuts and was later demolished.

The [[60th Street Tunnel Connection]] between the [[IND Queens Boulevard Line]] and [[BMT Broadway Line]] opened in December 1955. This new route was used by the BMT Brighton local, which formerly ran to Astoria, for service to Forest Hills along with the IND GG local.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fg4KAQAAMAAJ&q=1977|title=A History of the New York City Subway System|last1=Cunningham|first1=Joseph|last2=DeHart|first2=Leonard O.|date=January 1, 1993|publisher=J. Schmidt, R. Giglio, and K. Lang|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Straphangers Sit As Tunnel Opens |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0613FB345E1A7493C0A91789D95F418585F9 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 2, 1955 |page=29 |access-date=February 13, 2010}}</ref> The next year saw the new extension of the [[IND Fulton Street Line]] ({{NYCS|A}} train) in Brooklyn connected to the rebuilt section of the former [[BMT Fulton Street Line|BMT Fulton Street elevated]] at 80th Street in Queens in April 1956.<ref name="Sparberg2014">{{cite book|last=Sparberg|first=Andrew J.|title=From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oktGCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA111|date=October 2014|publisher=Fordham University Press|isbn=978-0-8232-6190-1}}</ref><ref name=NYTimes-INDGrantAv-April1956>{{cite web|title=First Leg of Rockaways Transit Opened at Cost of $10,154,702|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/04/30/94293042.pdf|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 29, 2015|date=April 30, 1956}}</ref> The portion of the BMT Fulton Street El running west of 80th Street to Rockaway Avenue was demolished afterwards.

The late 1950s and early 1960s saw the biggest project of that era with the building of the [[Chrystie Street Connection]], and the [[IND Sixth Avenue Line|IND Sixth Avenue]] express tracks. This project connected the IND Sixth Avenue services to the BMT services that ran over the [[Manhattan Bridge|Manhattan]] and [[Williamsburg Bridge]]s. Express services were directly connected to the Manhattan Bridge, and local services could use either the Williamsburg Bridge or the existing [[Rutgers Street Tunnel]]. Both connections opened in November 1967 and created the largest re-routing of train services in the history of the NYCTA. The BMT West End and Brighton Lines became served primarily by IND services as a result.<ref name="NYTimes-ChrystieStChanges-1967">{{cite news |last1=Perlmutter |first1=Emanuel |title=Subway Changes to Speed Service: Major Alterations in Maps, Routes and Signs Will Take Effect Nov. 26 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/11/16/90418352.pdf |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=July 7, 2015 |page=1 |date=November 16, 1967}}</ref> From 1967, some IND Sixth Avenue trains called {{NYCS|KK}} and later K, used the Chrystie Street Connection to the [[BMT Jamaica Line]] over the Williamsburg Bridge. That connection was discontinued due to budget cuts in 1976.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/31/archives/transit-agency-drops-215-runs-resulting-schedule-shifts-bewilder.html|title=Transit Agency Drops 215 Runs|date=August 31, 1976|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 26, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1988, the [[BMT Archer Avenue Line]] was opened, connecting to what was then the east end of the BMT Jamaica Line. Two stations&nbsp;— [[Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport (New York City Subway)|Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport]] and [[Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer (New York City Subway)|Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer]]&nbsp;— were added.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/09/nyregion/big-changes-for-subways-are-to-begin.html|title=Big Changes For Subways Are to Begin|last=Johnson|first=Kirk|date=December 9, 1988|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=June 6, 2016|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1989, the [[63rd Street Lines|BMT 63rd Street Line]] opened as an extension of the express tracks of the BMT Broadway Line, connecting to the IND 63rd Street Line at [[Lexington Avenue–63rd Street (63rd Street Lines)|Lexington Avenue–63rd Street]] station. A connection from the Broadway/63rd Street Lines to the [[Second Avenue Subway|IND Second Avenue Line]] opened in 2017.

In June 2010, as a result of more budget cuts, the [[Chrystie Street Connection]] was put back into revenue service for use by the {{NYCS|M}} train, which was rerouted up the [[IND Sixth Avenue Line]] to replace the discontinued {{NYCS|V}} train.

==Operation==
{{Main|New York Rapid Transit Corporation|Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation}}
The BMT operated [[rapid transit]] (subway and elevated lines) through the [[New York Rapid Transit Corporation]] and [[surface transit]] ([[streetcar line|streetcar]]s and [[bus]]es) through the [[Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation]].

The BMT was a national leader in the transit industry, and was a proponent of advanced urban railways, participating in development of advanced streetcar designs, including the [[PCC car]], whose design and advanced components influenced railcar design worldwide for decades. The company also sought to extend the art of rapid transit car design with such innovations as ''articulated (multi-jointed-body) cars'', lightweight equipment, advanced control systems, and shared components with streetcar fleets.

Unlike the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] (IRT), the other private operator of subways in New York City, the BMT remained solvent throughout the [[Great Depression]] and showed a profit, albeit small in its last year, until the very end of its transit operations.

==Surviving BMT Equipment==
Several pre-unification BMT equipment have been preserved in various museums. While some of the equipment are operational, others are in need of restoration or are used simply as static displays.
* [[BU cars (New York City Subway car)|BU cars]] 197, 659, 1227, 1273, 1349, 1362, 1365, 1404 and 1407 have been preserved. Cars 197, 659, 1227, 1349 and 1362 are located at the [[Shore Line Trolley Museum]]. Car 1365 is on static display at the [[St. Louis Museum of Transportation]]. Cars 1273, 1404 and 1407 are operational at the [[New York Transit Museum]].
* BMT Elevated Instruction car 999 is preserved at the [[Shore Line Trolley Museum]].
* [[Q-type Queens car (New York City Subway car)|Q-type cars]] 1602A and 1612C have been preserved. Car 1602A survives at the Trolley Museum of New York, while car 1612C survives at the New York Transit Museum.
* [[AB Standard (New York City Subway car)|AB Standards]] 2204, 2390, 2391, 2392 and 2775 have been preserved. Car 2204 is located at the New York Transit Museum; cars 2390, 2391 and 2392 are preserved by the Railway Preservation Corp; and car 2775 is preserved at the Shore Line Trolley Museum.
* [[D-type Triplex (New York City Subway car)|D-type Triplex]] sets 6019, 6095, and 6112 have been preserved by the New York Transit Museum.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons and category|Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation|Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040213174428/http://www.thethirdrail.net/0001/index.htm Article about BMT rapid transit car designs] in ''The Third Rail'' by ''Paul Matus''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040204184113/http://rapidtransit.net/ History site including articles about the BMT]
* [http://bmt-lines.com/ Site dedicated to the history of the BMT]
* [http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Early_Rapid_Transit_in_Brooklyn,_1878-1913 Early Rapid Transit in Brooklyn, 1878–1913], nycsubway.org
* [http://brooklynrail.net/images/historic_maps/Brooklyn-trolley-map-BMT-19.JPG BMT map]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Corporation}}
[[Category:Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation| ]]
[[Category:Defunct public transport operators in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct New York (state) railroads]]
[[Category:History of the New York City Subway]]
[[Category:1923 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:1940 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1923]]
[[Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1940]]
[[Category:Transportation in Queens, New York]]
[[Category:Transportation in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Transportation in Brooklyn]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1940]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1923]]