The New York Transit Museum is significant to the culture of New York, because the whole city is on top of a vast transit system. It is “impossible to imagine New York without a mass transit system.” New York City has always depended on this “network of transportation routes and systems for its vitality and development.” It is New York’s “lifeline” as it ensures “workers can get to their jobs,” life-sustaining and life-enriching goods can get to the marketplace,” and satisfy New Yorkers’ “requirements for travel and recreational pursuits.” Founded in 1976, the New York Transit Museum tells and preserves the “stories of mass transportation” and its impact on New York City.

http://www.transitmuseumeducation.org/trc/background

Edited: Additional source: http://downtownbrooklyn.com/places/arts-entertainment/new-york-transit-museum