Menu
Idea

public transportation

44
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Issue of the "Subway Sun" from 1939, advertising an art exhibit..

When “The Subway Sun” Ruled NYC’s Underground

With its signature two-toned design and illustrations, the mock newspaper encouraged polite passenger etiquette and promoted local attractions.
by Maya Pontone via Hyperallergic on May 15, 2025
Black and white photograph of the Opening of the New York City Subway, 1904.

Advertising Etiquette: On Shaping the New York City Subway

NYC subway etiquette reflects socio-economic divides.
by Simone Blandford via Journal of the History of Ideas Blog on November 21, 2024

Anatomy of an ‘American Transit Disaster’

In his new book, historian Nicholas Dagen Bloom chronicles the collapse of public transportation in US cities — and explains who really deserves the blame.
by David Zipper, Nicholas Dagen Bloom via CityLab on April 27, 2023
The image of the forlorn girl on the outskirts of the Highway to Nowhere was shot by John Van Horn in the fall of 1968

Road to Ruin

In the late 1960s, Baltimore began demolishing Black neighborhoods to make room for an ill-fated expressway. Will the harm from the Highway to Nowhere ever be repaired?
by Ron Cassie via Baltimore Magazine on February 10, 2023
A horse-drawn streetcar on Canal Street in New Orleans (ca.1860s).

The New Orleans Streetcar Protests of 1867

The lesser-known beginning of the desegregation of public transportation.
by John Bardes via We're History on April 28, 2018
A subterranean shot of the Lexington Avenue station, which made a loop around City Hall, in the early 1900s.

October 27, 1904: The New York City Subway System Opens

“The bearing of this upon social conditions can hardly be overestimated.”
by Richard Kreitner via The Nation on November 3, 1904
Fiorello La Guardia.

How Mayor Fiorello La Guardia Transformed New York City

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign is questioning what a socialist might accomplish as mayor of NYC. To answer it, it’s worth looking back on Fiorello La Guardia.
by Joshua B. Freeman via Jacobin on April 23, 2025
Crowd marches against high inflation and unemployment in 1973.

What Would Studs Terkel Make of 'Essential Workers'?

What American workers have lost since 1974 — and how some are getting it back.
by Robert Hennelly via Village Voice on August 9, 2024
Map of Southeast DC showing the Anacostia River

The Anacostia and Residential Displacement in Postwar Southeast DC

The long-polluted Anacostia bisects the District’s Potomac waterfront, segregating the majority-Black Southeast from the rest of the capital city.
by S. D. Hodell via The Metropole on April 17, 2024
Looking north over Union Square East, in 1901 or 1902.

When the NYC Subway Was Just a Dirt Trench

Rare photos from the early 1900s show the 120-year-old system’s pick-and-shovel beginnings.
by Christopher Bonanos via Curbed on April 3, 2024
A photograph of Anne Morrissy next to the cover of her book, "Street Fight."

The Chicago Taxi Wars of the 1920s

The turbulent history of an often forgotten moment that would leave blood in the streets and shape the modern landscape of Chicago.
by Anne Morrissy, Michael Welch via Chicago Review of Books on March 6, 2024
1906 plan of proposed street widening in San Francisco.

Putting Chinatown on the Map: Resisting Displacement through Infrastructural Advocacy

How San Francisco's Chinatown community used infrastructure as a conduit for identity, empowerment, and resilience.
by Deland Chen via Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center on September 15, 2023
15 women involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott; Rosa Parks's mugshot is the center.

The Women Behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott

We've heard about Rosa Parks and her crucial role, but Parks was just one of many women involved.
by Karen Grigsby Bates via NPR on March 22, 2023
Collage of people and water.

America’s Blueprint For Urban Inequity Was Drawn in Philly. Where Do We Go From Here?

From a bus line named Jim Crow to racial violence at public parks, racism shaped Philadelphia. Can we imagine a more equitable city?
by Layla A. Jones, Dain Saint via Philadelphia Inquirer on December 6, 2022
Photograph of Robert Moses on a background collage of a blueprint and a photo of passengers waiting in Penn Station.

Robert Moses Helped Ruin Penn Station. He'd Have Made it Easier to Fix, Too.

Preservationists like Jane Jacobs are urbanist heroes. But their rules can stifle.
by Samuel Goldman via The Week on December 10, 2021

Did Cars Rescue Our Cities From Horses?

Debating a modern parable about waste and technology.
by Brandon Keim via Nautilus on November 10, 2021
Segregated waiting room at Union Station railroad depot in Jacksonville, Florida.

Historian Mia Bay on ‘Traveling Black’

Bay’s new book explores the intertwined history of travel segregation and African American struggles for freedom of movement.
by Kristen De Groot, Mia Bay via Penn Today on February 9, 2021
A parking lot taking up an entire city block in Downtown Denver, Colorado.

From Chaos to Order: A Brief Cultural History of the Parking Lot

How urban planners and suburban shoppers responded when “the storage of dead vehicles on roadways” became a nuisance to street users.
by Eran Ben-Joseph via The MIT Press Reader on September 3, 2020
A sign that reads "We Want White Tenants in Our White Community." Two American flags are on top of the sign.

Highway Robbery

How Detroit cops and courts steer segregation and drive incarceration.
by Jade Chowning, Erin Keith, Geoff Leonard via ArcGIS StoryMaps on June 8, 2020

Escape Route

How cars changed the lives of black Americans.
by Gretchen Sorin via Lapham’s Quarterly on February 12, 2020
Map of New York City.

Here Grows New York City

An animation of the historical trends of New York's growth since its founding.
by Myles Zhang via MylesZhang.org on July 25, 2018
The World Trade Center.

The World Trade Center: Before, During, and After

A biography of the towers that became "bane as well as boon to lower Manhattan."
by Michael Tomasky via New York Review of Books on March 28, 2002
Highways & Horizons, front and back covers of brochure for the General Motors pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. [Prelinger Library]

Highways and Horizons

The Interstate Highway System created a national polity defined by circulation. To rethink the Interstates is to rethink the United States.
by Reinhold Martin via Places Journal on June 20, 2025
Pedestrians, buggies, and a streetcar in a Los Angeles intersection in 1910.

LA’s Traffic Ordinance Went Into Effect 100 Years Ago. It Changed Streets Across America.

The Ordinance, which prioritized cars on the city’s roadways, quickly became the template for the country.
by Alison Sant via Next City on January 24, 2025
Portrait of Morris Hillquit.

When Socialists Run for NYC Mayor, Good Things Can Happen

Socialist legislator Zohran Mamdani is running for New York City mayor against a corrupt, unpopular mayor. Morris Hillquit did the same thing a century ago.
by Charlie Dulik via Jacobin on December 19, 2024
The East Boston Tunnel while under construction.

Circumventing the Past

Navigating around the harbor through the East Boston Tunnel.
by Genna Kane via The Metropole on September 5, 2024
Cover of "The Black Tax"

Tax History Matters: A Q&A with the Author of ‘The Black Tax’

The history of the property tax system and its structural defects that have led to widespread discrimination against Black Americans.
by Andrew W. Kahrl, Brakeyshia Samms via Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on April 24, 2024
Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) tries unsuccessfully to hail a taxi as cabbies stage a rolling protest against app-based ride-hailing services.

Uber and the Impoverished Public Expectations of the 2010s

A new book shows that Uber was a symbol of a neoliberal philosophy that neglected public funding and regulation in favor of rule by private corporations.
by Sandeep Vaheesan via The American Prospect on January 16, 2024
Myisha Eatmon.

Break Every Chain

How black plaintiffs in the Jim Crow South sought justice.
by Max J. Krupnick via Harvard Magazine on January 5, 2024
Costumed re-enactors at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum in Boston.

The Boston Tea Party Turns 250

How does the most famous act of politically motivated property destruction in American history speak to our own polarized moment?
by Jennifer Schuessler via New York Times on December 15, 2023
View More
30 of
44

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

brought to you by
© Bunk History