As The Associated Press reported Monday, the New York  Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to increase fares and tolls by 10 percent, including the subway, which will increase to $2.25 with the monthly subway pass jumping to $89 
        The rate now to hop on board is a striking contrast to the nickel it used to cost way back on October 28, 1904, the day the New York subway first opened its doors to passengers.
        After taking a quick dip into the archives, I found where The New York Times wrote extensively about the opening of the NYC Subway that extended from City Hall to One Hundred and Forty-Fifth Street and Broadway in a story accompanied by a map on page 2 showing the stations on the route. 
        The Times’ also reported on a number of other notable firsts on that historic day, including: 

        • F.B. Shipley, from Philadelphia, was the first man to give up a seat for a woman; 

        • The first subway ticket was purchased by Joseph Curran of 310 West Forty-eighth Street; 

        • The first theft on the subway was reported by Henry Barrett of 348 West Forty-sixth Street, who noticed his diamond horseshoe pin missing three minutes after buying his ticket; 

        • The first subway delay took place two hours after the subway opened on the express train at the 14th Street Brooklyn Bridge Station due to a broken brake hose.

        NOTE: The most prophetic statement on opening day came from an unnamed passenger who told the Times’: “Mark my words; the Subway is going to boom the newspaper business. When you get in there's nothing to look at except the people, and that's a tiresome job.”
      In 1904, New York City published 13 dailies, including The Times.

        NOTE: New York’s nickel fare remained intact for 44 years, until it increased to a dime beginning in 1948.

        -Bill Lucey
        WPLucey@gmail.com