Bridge and tunnel


Bridge and Tunnel is a term – often used pejoratively – to describe people who live in communities surrounding the island of Manhattan in New York City, and commute to it for work or entertainment. It refers to the fact that vehicular travel to the island of Manhattan requires passing over a bridge or through a tunnel. Some use it to describe residents of the other four boroughs of New York City - Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island - but it typically refers to those who travel into the city from outside the area served by the New York City Subway, including the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut, or the eastern portion of Long Island.

Etymology

Though the term originates from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, it has come to encompass all people who commute from outside of New York City proper, including Connecticut, Long Island, New Jersey, and the Hudson Valley. The Oxford Dictionaries explains that a bridge-and-tunnel person is one who lives in the suburbs and is perceived as unsophisticated. However, this is sometimes also used as allusion to New York City's vast transportation system.

Origin

The earliest known instance of this phrase in print is the December 13, 1977, edition of The New York Times:

Comparisons

"Bridge and tunnel" was later adopted in San Francisco in reference to party-goers who live outside San Francisco, as a reference to this original usage. Residents of the Peninsula and South Bay take commuter trains and freeways to visit city hot-spots but do not actually live in San Francisco. Residents from the East Bay typically drive or take a bus across the Bay Bridge to reach San Francisco, or take BART through the Transbay Tube. The commute into San Francisco from Marin County also involves a bridge and the Robin Williams Tunnel.
In Southern California, the term "909er" has come to have a similar, derogatory meaning for people coming from areas inland of Los Angeles, Orange County, and Riverside County, which has the 909 area code.
The term has been adopted in Boston to refer to young people who reside outside of Boston's core neighborhoods of Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Leather District, South End, North End, and the West End. Given Boston's natural and manmade geography, individuals from other neighborhoods in Boston must access the city's social center via one of the various bridges or tunnels that lead into central Boston.
In Southern Ontario, the term "905er" has come to have a similar meaning for the suburb area surrounding Toronto-proper, including areas such as York Region, Pickering, and Oshawa.

In popular culture

Book publishing