New York metropolitan area passed through ports in New York or in one of the surrounding towns. The five boroughs of New York City — The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island — were consolidated into a single city in 1898. The newly unified New York City encouraged both more physical connections between the boroughs and the growth of bedroom communities. The New York City Subway began operating in 1904 as the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, one of three systems (the other two being the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and the Independent Subway System) that were later taken over by the city. Railroad stations
5 (New York City Subway service) 5 (New York City Subway service) The 5 Lexington Avenue Express is a rapid transit service in the A Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored apple green since it uses the IRT Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan. The 5 operates at all times. Weekday rush hour and midday service operates between Dyre Avenue in Eastchester, Bronx and Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College in Midwood, Brooklyn, making local stops in the Bronx and express stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn; during rush hours in the peak direction, 5 trains operate express in the Bronx between East