The Subway Challenge entails navigating the entire New York City Subway system in the shortest time possible. This ride is also known as the Rapid Transit Challenge and the Ultimate Ride. The challenge requires competitors to stop at all 472 stations; as of 2023, this record is held by Kate Jones of Switzerland. One competitor held the record for 469 stations, as he had competed before the January 2017 opening of the Second Avenue Subway. Three teams held the Guinness record for 468 stations, as they had competed prior to both the opening of the Second Avenue Subway and the September 2015 opening of the 7 Subway Extension, but after Dean Street station was closed in 1995. Records set before 1995 had a varying number of stations.

There are three primary variations of this challenge:

1. Ride that requires a rider to traverse every line, but not necessarily the entire line. (Class A)
2. Full-system ride that requires a rider to stop at each station. (Class B)
3. Skip-stop ride that only requires a rider to pass through each station. (Class C)

The three classes of rides (A, B and C) are defined by the Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee (ANYSRC), created by Peter Samson in 1966. In Class A, "the contestants making the run must traverse completely at least once each segment of right-of-way of the Transit Authority system. Each segment may be traversed either in one continuous transit or in any number of partial transits between stations on the segment." Guinness World Records recognizes what is essentially the Class B rules as the official world record. The only difference between the rides defined by Guinness and the ANYSRC is that per the ANYSRC, rides must be completed on a single fare, while the Guinness rules allow for transfers provided that they "be made by scheduled public transport or on foot."^[1]

On May 30, 1940, two days before the separate subway systems of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, and Independent Subway System were unified,^[2] Herman Rinke, an electric-railroad buff, became the first person to tour the entire system on a single 5-cent fare, doing it purely as a "sentimental gesture".^[2][3] Rinke rode the system for some 25 hours. Since then, more than 70 others – supposedly recorded in an unofficial file in the MTA Public Relations Department – rode the entire system. Kevin Foster held the Guinness World Record for the full-system ride for over 17 years. He set the mark of 26 hours, 21 minutes on October 25, 1989. Searching for a diversion while training to become the first person to bicycle the entire length of The Great Wall in China, Foster opened up the Guinness Book of World Records to find another challenge. He decided that to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the New York subway system he would spend 85 consecutive hours on the subway, during which time he broke the record for stopping at every station.

There are 472 stations in the system (which must all be visited for the Class B record) and 423 multi-station complexes (necessary for the Class C record), on 28 routes.^[22] Challengers cover 662 miles of track in passenger service, while only being able to go to the toilet at 80 of the stations. Only the current record-holder, Kate Jones, has held the record with all 472 stations, as all previous official records are from before January 2017, when the Second Avenue Subway opened. One record holder has the record for the 469 stations, with all prior records back to 1973 being set with 468 or fewer stations.^[19]

The Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee mandates that rides must be completed on a single fare. The Guinness record rules allow a rider to exit and re-enter the system during the course of the run, and contestants may walk or take "scheduled public transport" between stations. According to the Guinness rules, "the use of private motor vehicles, taxis or any other form of privately arranged transport (bicycles, skateboards, etc.) is not allowed."^[23] Matthew Ahn's attempts, for instance, use the out-of-system transfers allowed under the Guinness rules.^[18] The complete Guinness rules can be found on the Rapid Transit Challenge website and are similar to the rules for the London Underground's Tube Challenge.^[24]

The Amateur New York Subway Riding Committee is not an official body and does not validate any record attempts, nor does the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

A 2004 Class B attempt to traverse the system was documented in a short film entitled New Lots.^[37]

A 2003 Class B attempt was the main topic of a Discovery Times Channel documentary on the subway.^[38]

The corresponding record for the London Underground (Tube Challenge) has had many holders since 1960. London and New York have always been the most notable systems for this record. Between 1967 and 1992, records for a few other subway networks were considered, attempted and appeared in the Guinness Books. Since 1993, only the London Underground record has been published with decreasing regularity, and Guinness only considered London and New York for this record category.^[39] However, since 2011, other systems have been considered again.

The first other network to be granted a record was the Paris Métro; Alan Paul Jenkins achieved a time of 11 hours and 13 minutes for travelling to 270 stations (with 7 closed) on August 30, 1967.^[40] The next record was set on 13 August 2011 by Adham Fisher, who visited 300 stations in 13 hours, 37 minutes and 54 seconds.^[41]

The Berlin U-Bahn had its first record set on May 2, 2014, by Michael Wurm, Henning Colsman-Freyberger, Rudolf von Grot and Oliver Ziemek. They visited the 173 stations in 7 hours, 33 minutes and 15 seconds.^[42] This was beaten by Adham Fisher on May 26, 2017, with a new time of 6 hours, 53 minutes and 24 seconds.^[43]

The first official record set and recognized by Guinness on the Delhi Metro was on August 29, 2021, by Prafull Singh, a Revenue Inspector for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, covering 254 stations in 16 hours, 2 minutes and 17 seconds.^[44] Although, this record was beaten earlier by Delhiite Shashank Manu on April 14, 2021 with a time of 15 hours, 22 minutes 49 seconds covering all 286 stations, it was not recognized by Guniness as a result of a mix up until June 25, 2023.^[45][46]

• New York City Subway stations
• History of the New York City Subway
• Tube Challenge, a similar challenge in London
• Travelling salesman problem, a computational problem where the goal is to find the shortest route that runs through all points in a collection