You may know that taking public transportation is good for the environment, but you may find it – well, frankly, a bit boring. People sit around, doing their own thing, with their heads stuck in newspapers or iPods stuck in their ears. But, every cold January in New York City, the subway gets a bit spicy.
For the past eight years, Improv Everywhere, a group that specialized in creating “scenes of chaos and joy in public places,” has hosted No Pants! Subway Ride Day.
The first annual No Pants! Subway Ride Day started back in 2002, with only seven participants. As you can gather from the title of the day, the seven guys boarded the subway in their underwear. The seven pretended not to notice the other pantsless riders and when asked, claimed they just “forgot” their pants that day.
The next year, 2003, thirty people, including a few ladies, participated in No Pants! Day. They got the attention of one of the subway conductors, who got on the loudspeaker to remind the riders that “This train is not a playground.”
The number of participants continued to grow each year. In 2005, here were 40 and in 2006, about 50 people participated. ABC News show “20/20” followed some of the riders in 2005, but the segment was never aired. In 2006, “This American Life” filmed the day for its pilot episode, but most of the footage was cut out.
The police put a damper on No Pants! Subway Day 2006 by forcing all the passengers, even those wearing pants, off the subway. Eight of the 150 people with no pants were handcuffed and taken into custody. The judge later ruled it was not illegal to wear your underwear in public in New York City. Even David Letterman joked about it on his show.
By 2007, almost 300 people were participating in the one day event. The police showed up again, but only to make sure everyone had a good time. In 2008, the day was up to an all time high of 900 participants. In addition, almost another thousand people in nine cities, including Washington, D.C., Adelaide, Australia, and Toronto, Canada, participated. More than 1,200 people in New York City and over 1,000 around the world participated in last year’s event.
This year, No Pants! Subway Ride Day took place on January 10th. Check out the Improv Everywhere web page for more information.