One of the great engineering achievements of New York City began operation on this date 110 years ago. The city’s famous subway system was inaugurated amid speeches, bands, a ribbon cutting, and throngs of riders. The original line was just over nine miles long and connected City Hall to West 145th Street. Today, the system has 230 miles of routes. Each weekday, nearly 5.5 million people ride the subway. Among large cities of the world, the New York system is the only one to run 24 hours a day all year long. Across the U.S., 5 percent of workers use public transportation — including subways — to get to their jobs. More than three-quarters of us drive to work alone. About 10 percent ride in car pools. Profile America is in its17th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.