History: The New York City Subway, United States

Since the majority of the system was built before 1990, the year the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect, many New York City Subway stations were not designed to be handicapped-accessible. Since then, elevators have been built in newly constructed stations to comply with the ADA. (Most grade-level stations required little modification to ADA standards.) In addition, the MTA identified "key stations," high-traffic and/or geographically important stations, which must conform to the ADA when they are extensively renovated. As of June 2011, there are 89 currently accessible stations; many of them have AutoGate access.
• Entertainment
Since 1987, MTA has sponsored the "Music Under New York" (MUNY) program in which street musicians enter a competitive contest to be assigned to the preferred high traffic locations. Each year, applications are reviewed and approximately 70 eligible performers are selected and contacted to participate in live auditions held for one day.
At present, more than 100 soloists and groups participate in MUNY providing over 150 weekly performances at 25 locations throughout the transit system. For example, Mr. M. Salieu Suso, a kora player from The Gambia, plays at Union Square.