ICYMI: New York Transit Museum Marks 50 Years with Citywide Scavenger Hunt, Historic Train Rides, and New Exhibit

Celebrating 50 years of telling New York's most moving story.

BROOKLYN, NY - The New York Transit Museum is celebrating 50 years of preserving and sharing the stories of mass transportation and the people who make it possible. Founded in 1976 as part of America's Bicentennial, the Museum began as a temporary exhibition proposed by NYC Transit employees. Housed in a decommissioned 1936 subway station in Brooklyn, the exhibition was meant to last only a few months but became the largest museum in North America dedicated to mass transit and a beloved cultural institution.

Over the decades that followed, the Museum grew alongside the city it serves. What began as a grassroots effort by transit workers evolved into a permanent institution, expanding its archives to over 1 million objects today, launching educational programs for thousands of students each year, and introducing beloved traditions like Nostalgia Rides and the annual Bus Festival. From its single station in Brooklyn, the Museum expanded its reach into Grand Central Terminal and across the five boroughs, while continuing to preserve the vehicles, objects, and stories that define New York's transit system.

Today, the New York Transit Museum connects New Yorkers and visitors alike to transit history through exhibitions, educational programs, and one-of-a-kind experiences. Throughout its anniversary year, the Museum will mark this milestone with special events, new exhibitions, a citywide scavenger hunt, and historic train rides that honor transit's past, engage the present, and look toward the future of how New York moves.

To explore the Museum's history, visit the digital exhibition Our Journey: The New York Transit Museum at 50.

"Fifty years since opening, the Transit Museum has claimed its place as a New York destination," said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. "New Yorkers of all ages are passionate about transit, and they deserve a place where they can participate in the City's ongoing romance with our system."

"New York's transit system is one of the great engines of city life, and the New York Transit Museum exists to share the stories behind it," said Regina Shepherd, Acting Director of the New York Transit Museum. "Our 50th anniversary is a chance to celebrate the people who built, operated, and rode the system, and to spotlight the vital role transit plays in New Yorkers' lives today."

50th anniversary programming will kick off on Saturday, April 18 as part of Members Appreciation Month with the Anniversary Member Express Nostalgia Ride. Vintage BMT Standards, manufactured from 1914 to 1924, will depart from the Museum's historic Court Street station platform and travel on tracks that once served the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit (BMT) and Independent (IND) subway companies. The trip launches the Museum's milestone year with a ride through the transit system that inspired it. Tickets are available to Museum members only and are now on sale.

Additional highlights of the anniversary year include:

Party on Wheels Family Fundraiser - Sunday, May 17
On Sunday, May 17, Party on Wheels: A Family Subway Celebration invites families to celebrate the Museum's 50th birthday with a festive morning inside its historic 1936 subway station home. Guests can ride vintage trains between the Museum and Hoyt-Schermerhorn, enjoy hands-on art activities, work on a 10ft birthday card together, get their face painted, and celebrate with classic New York bagels, coffee, and birthday cake. Proceeds support the Museum's educational programs for children and families across the city.

City-Wide Transit Scavenger Hunt - June 1 - November 1
On June 1, the New York Transit Museum App launches with a citywide scavenger hunt inviting New Yorkers to explore 50 transit history sites across all five boroughs. Spanning subways, buses, railroads, bridges, and tunnels, the hunt unlocks hidden stories and surprising transit facts at each stop, along with interactive trivia pop quizzes for each MTA agency. As players move through the city, the experience turns New York itself into a living museum, revealing the people, places, and vehicles that keep it moving.

Parade of Trains - Saturday, June 6 and Sunday, June 7
A fan-favorite tradition returns with the Parade of Trains! From 11am to 4pm each day, a variety of vintage subway cars will shuttle between Brighton Beach and Kings Highway on the B/Q line, taking riders on a trip through more than a century of New York City transit history. Rides are free with subway fare.

New Exhibit in Brooklyn - Opening June 17
The New York Transit Museum: 50 Years of Stories is a special anniversary exhibition exploring some of the most surprising, funny, and fascinating tales from the history of New York's transportation system. Drawn from the Museum's vast collection of photographs and objects, the exhibition highlights unusual transit experiments, bold proposals for improving the system, and the memorable personalities who shaped it. Along the way, visitors will encounter singing bus drivers, inventive scientists, and a few New Yorkers who pursued immortality in unexpected ways.

50th Anniversary Weekend Shuttle Rides - Saturday, July 4 and Sunday, July 5
Museum cars will revive the spirit of the original HH Shuttle, the short shuttle service that once ran between Court Street and Hoyt-Schermerhorn. Board at the Museum and ride vintage trains back and forth along the same route that connected Brooklyn commuters in the 1930s and '40s. Rides are included with Museum admission and reservations open June 1.

50 Secrets of Transit Video Series - Ongoing, April - December
"50 Secrets of Transit" is a new social media video series uncovering the hidden, surprising, and little-known stories of New York's transit system. Shared on the Museum's Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube, the series explores forgotten spaces, rarely seen artifacts, untold stories, and quirky transit facts. Each episode reveals another layer of the system and the people who power it every day.

Vinyl Nights - Saturday, September 26
Step into the groove at Vinyl Nights, a one-night-only fundraiser celebrating 50 years of the New York Transit Museum, from our debut in 1976 to today. The Museum transforms into a two-level dance party powered by the rich, analog sound of vinyl, with disco spinning upstairs on the mezzanine and funk and hip-hop taking over down on the platform. Dress to impress in your boldest 1970s-inspired looks, from bell bottoms and platform shoes to sequins, satin, and statement prints, and come ready to dance. With DJs spinning records the old-school way, Vinyl Nights brings a night of music, movement, and retro style, all in support of the Museum. Tickets go on sale on June 1.

For more details about anniversary events and programs, visit nytransitmuseum.org/50years

ABOUT THE NEW YORK TRANSIT MUSEUM:
The New York Transit Museum is the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history and one of the premier institutions of its kind in the world. Since its inception fifty years ago, the Museum - which is housed in a historic 1936 IND subway station in Downtown Brooklyn - has grown in scope and popularity. For nearly 25 years, the Transit Museum has also operated a Gallery & Store in Grand Central Terminal. To learn more, visit nytransitmuseum.org.