New York City Transit Museum *

Nestled in an abandoned subway station near downtown Brooklyn is the NYC Transit Museum, a favorite among local train-loving children and adults. At a surprising $6- per person entry the subway museum, as it is lovingly referred to, allows visitors to go into some of the oldest trains from the system while taking a brief walk through the history of the construction of the system and exploring the joys of pretending to drive city buses.

The wonderful thing about the Transit Museum is that is a chance for visitors to our city to see that we are made of more than huge buildings and concrete pavement. Our city is made up of our people and they can see that they helped to create our public transit system. This helps visitors appreciate how this helped to make our city what it is today. Because of the public transit system there is virtually very few corners of the city that you cannot get to from almost any starting point. (Sure, it may take 2 hours due to budget constraints, but that's another topic for discussion!) The train tunnels were not carved with giant space age high tech equipment, but by men, with wheelbarrows and lanterns on their helmets. The reality of this is pretty stark to most visitors. The human element is really brought to life in a way we can all appreciate.

The area covering bus travel is far less exciting than entering a train from the golden age of subway travel with its wicker seats and overhead fans. But little ones will sit for hours in driver's seat of the abbreviated city buses, pretending to steer and brake. The small section explaining energy sources for these vehicles is a bit dated and a little shaky but children won't focus on this.

The museum offers many opportunities for artistic interaction in their classroom and this is a rainy day outing that can't be beat in a city where a coffee can cost you almost $6-. Kids will spend the whole afternoon happily jumping from one train car to the next, pretending to drive buses, and appreciating the truly 'human' factor that makes our public transportation system run.