This article is about a term referring to a type of person who commutes for work or recreation. For other uses, see
Bridge and tunnel (disambiguation).
Bridge and Tunnel (often abbreviated B&T or BNT) 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 (thus by car), including the
Hudson Valley,
New Jersey,
Connecticut and
Long Island.
The earliest known instance of this phrase in print is the December 13, 1977, edition of The New York Times:[3]
"On the weekends, we get all the bridge and tunnel people who try to get in," he said.
Elizabeth Fondaras, a pillar of the city's conservative social scene, who has just told
Steve Rubell she had never tried to get into
Studio 54 for fear of being rejected, asked who the bridge and tunnel people were.
“The people from Queens and Staten Island and those places,” he said.
Comparisons
"Bridge and tunnel" was later adopted in
San Francisco in reference to party-goers who live outside San Francisco,[4] as a reference to this original usage. Residents of the
Peninsula and
South Bay take commuter trains (
Caltrain or
BART, each of which has several tunnels) and freeways (
I-280 and
US 101, which do not) 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 (and
Yerba Buena Tunnel) to reach San Francisco, or take BART through the
Transbay Tube. The commute into San Francisco from
Marin County also involves a bridge (the
Golden Gate) and the
Robin Williams Tunnel.
In
Southern Ontario, the term "
905er" (a reference to
Area Code 905) has come to have a similar meaning for the suburb area surrounding Toronto-proper, including areas such as York Region, Pickering, and Oshawa.[citation needed]
In Boiler Room (2000) reference is made to a group, while celebrating Seth's Series 7 in New York, about trying to impress the "bridge and tunnel crowd."
The movie Loser (2000) makes a reference to bridge and tunnel girls when one of Jason Biggs's character's ex-roommates calls his girlfriend by that term.
In Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008), Norah makes a reference to Nick's being "bridge and tunnel", to which Caroline replies, "If he's bridge and tunnel, what does that make us?"
In The Dark Knight (2008), the
Joker tricks Gotham into escaping via ferry by having his hostage declare on the news that "...the bridge and tunnel crowd are sure in for a surprise."
In Greenberg (2010), Roger Greenberg, who resides in New York City, doesn't want to go to a bar in Los Angeles on a Friday night because it's "probably full of bridge and tunnel people. Or whatever the L.A. version of bridge and tunnel is."[6]
In Paranoia (2013), Emma makes a reference to Adam's being "bridge and tunnel", after her attempt to lose Adam after their one night stand.
Bridge and Tunnel are a New York City-based punk/post-hardcore band, with a number of releases on the
No Idea Records label.
The Honorary Title, a New York City-based rock band, released a song called "Bridge and Tunnel" as a single from their 2004 album Anything Else but the Truth.
Holy Ghost!, a Brooklyn synthpop duo, have a song called "Bridge and Tunnel" on their 2013 album Dynamics.
Sun Kil Moon's
Mark Kozelek refers to fans of the band
The War on Drugs as being bridge and tunnel people in a 2014 rhetoric song surrounding an on-stage festival incident between the two bands, titled "War on Drugs: Suck My Cock."[7]
The 2018 single
Four Out of Five by
Arctic Monkeys also features the term in the song's lyrics: "Mr. Bridge and Tunnel on the Starlight Express".[8]
Television
In the first season of the television comedy 30 Rock,Liz Lemon's boyfriend is referred to as being "a little bridge and tunnel."
In the episode "The War at Home" of Law and Order: Criminal Intent,
Detective Goren refers to two types that attend the particular night club that the victim did as "Bridge and Tunnel" and Military.
In the pilot episode ("Flowers for Your Grave") of the television show Castle, Rick Castle tells Beckett that she's "not bridge and tunnel [because there is] no trace of the boroughs when you talk."
In the opening episode of season 4 of You, the main character Joe makes reference to the ‘bridge & tunnel crowd’ via his internal monologue whilst walking through London.