There’s a new geeky duo that claim the title of being the fastest to ride the entire New York City Subway system.  Back in December of 2006, some guys broke the old record by an hour.

The new record holders claim to have beaten the record by a couple of hours.  How did they do it? Math.

Chris Solarz and Matt Ferrisi are a pair of computer/financial geeks that used computer models to calculate the best plan of attack.  They entered in all of the relevant data, including number of stops, lines, train schedules, distances, etc.  Their program then did the trillions of riding combinations to produce the one that would yeild the fastest ride.

Apparently it all worked, because they smashed the old record without really breaking a sweat.  From the beginning, they started gaining time, finding themselves ahead of schedule.

This time, they are going to have to report their record to the Guinness Book with documentation.  The last record breaking caught a lot of media attention, and the attention of Guinness officials.  So when the previous record was broken, it was certified very quickly.

Along the way, the men had to get witness signatures and take plenty of photos to document the trip.  All of the documentation then gets turned in.  So as of now, they are the unofficial record holders.

The previous team did a far better job of publicizing their record breaking attempt (including sending info to SUBWAYblogger).  This crew flew under the radar for the most part.  Their attempt did get some mainstream coverge though.

Ok here’s the profile of the people I generally speak of:

Female
18-34 Years Old
Usually White
Skinny
iPod Wearing
Attitude

The skinny aspect is critical to the scenario because these women jump at even the smallest seat. There could be a sliver of seat showing between two fairly large people, and these women will knock people over to get it.

Anyway, I generally don’t sit. I stand for the whole ride unless it happens to be a really slow transit day. Even when I am literally standing in front of an open seat, and I wont take it because there’s going to be someone that either needs it more or wants it more than me. So I generally move out of the way.

So if you want the empty seat in front of me, all you gotta do is ask me to move so you can get by me. There’s no need to duck under my arm and slam me in the ribs with your hug purse.

Side note, when the shit you are carrying is bigger than your lap, you can’t hold it on your lap or attempt to navigate a crowded train. Just stand where you’re at, and don’t move. Above all else, don’t get pissed when people bump into you because you have a 50 cubic foot purse.

They made it!  The guys that set out yesterday to beat the Guinness Book of World Record’s New York City subway riding record.

24 Hours, 54 Minutes and 3 Seconds puts them ahead of the old record by about an hour and a half.   Their website:  www.rapidtransitchallenge.com.

*****UPDATE*****
THEY MADE IT

******************

…for real this time. Allow me to clarify.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Hey, didn’t a couple guys already break that record this summer?” Well, sort of. Yes, they broke a record, but it wasn’t the real record. They broke the amateur record.

They’ve caught a bunch of flack in the media for claiming to break the record, even though it wasn’t the official record. However, to their credit, they’ve never claimed to be official. Their website clearly states that they were just doing it for fun, and going after the amateur record. Click the read more link to see their route plan.

This group of dudes are attempting to break the…professional (?)…uhh…official subway riding record.

Let me break it down. There are two main subway riding record classes.

1. Full-system ride that requires you to stop at each station. (Class B)
2. Skip-stop ride that only requires you to pass through each station. (Class C)

The guys this summer broke the Class C record. They main distinction is that the riders can ride the express lines. In the Class C record, riders simply need to ride through a station for it to count. Therefore, they can ride the express trains for it to still count. With the Class B record, you basically need to take all local trains because you need to stop at each station, not simply pass through it.

Kevin Foster currently owns the Class B record, which he set back in October of 1989 with a time of 26 hours 11 minutes, and it is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records.

So who are these guys? Well, they are pictured above. Stefan Karpinski, Andrew Weir, Bill Amaosa, Jason Laska, Michael Boyle and Brian Brockmeyer. They have a live blog and website for their attempt.

At this point, you are probably thinking, “Holy shit, this stuff is a bit too official sounding.” Well, it gets freakier. There’s actually an official group that keeps track of the subway riding record, the rules, rider logs, etc. I know…WOW.

This summer’s record breaking event attracted the world wide media. That’s right…world wide. AMNY, The Daily News, CBS, CNN, NBC, ABC, BBC, etc all covered their ride. Must have been a slow news day. So SUBWAYblogger is left wondering if this more official attempt will get any where near the amount of coverage that these guys got.

They did make the 11pm news on CBS2, but not their website. Looking at their site, it seems that the Daily News and HBO have caught up with them mid-ride too, so we will look for that story in the morning. AMNY did a preview story too.

This was the plan used by the guys that broke the record this summer.

Start: Rockaway Park
S to Broad Channel
A to Far Rockaway
A to Rockaway Blvd
A to Lefferts Blvd
A to High St
A to Broadway Junction
L to Canarsie
L to 14th St/8th Ave
A to Inwood
A to 168th St
1 to Van Cortlandt Park
1 to Times Square
7 to Queensboro Plaza
N to Ditmars Blvd
N to Queensboro Plaza
7 to Flushing
7 to 74th St/Broadway
V to 23rd St/Ely Ave
G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn
C to Franklin Ave
S to Botanic Garden
3 to New Lots Ave
3 to Franklin Ave
2 to Flatbush Ave
2 to Fulton St
J to Broad St
J to Fulton St
4/5 to Bowling Green
4/5 to Fulton St
2/3 to Chambers St
1 to South Ferry
1 to Chambers St
3 to 148th St
3 to 110th St
2 to Wakefield
2 to E 180th St
5 to Dyre Ave
5 to 125th St
4 to Woodlawn
4 to Yankee Stadium
D to Norwood
D to Grand St
D to Rockefeller Ctr
F to Jamaica
F to Kew Gardens
E to Jamaica Ctr
J to Myrtle Ave
M to Middle Village
M to Myrtle Ave
J to Chambers St
4/6 to 59th St/Lexington Ave
N to 59th St Brooklyn
R to 95th St
R to 36th St
D to Coney Island
N to Pacific St
Q to West 8th St
F to West 4th St
A/E to Canal St
E to 51st St
6 to Pelham Bay Park

The record for riding the entire NYC Subway system was just over 25 hours or something. These guys made it in just over 24. So I guess that means that they have officially earned the title of “Wow, I have nothing to do this summer.”

Hey, I gotta hand it to them though, it was a cool idea. I wish I had thought of something like that.

The most comical part of the whole thing is how much media coverage they got. BBC World, AP, Reuters, CBS News, CNN, NBC, Daily News, AMNY, etc. They got media EVERYWHERE.

Think about if they got a sponsor!! They could have worn some sponsored t-shirts or something and made a killing with all of the free media they earned.

656 miles.468 stations.

All in 24 hours. At the cost of $2.

Two self-proclaimed infrastructure nerds are currently riding the subway rails this morning, in an attempt to break the world record for hitting every stop.

Hear the interview here.

Ohh, and as you would expect, they set up a Myspace site.