The No Pants Subway Ride was held for the 13th year on Sunday. Thousands of passengers from New York to Sydney dropped their pants and went bare legged and in underwear for the annual comedic event.
People in roughly 60 cities participated in the silly event. It was first started by US group Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002 but has since become a global sensation.
The idea of the event is for people to meet at a set route on a designated day and a specific time and to ride the train without wearing pants for the sake of getting other people to laugh.
"It is just about fun, and providing a laugh and a smile," Charlie Todd, who created the event with seven other people told AFP. Participants are told to act normal and keep a straight face in order to pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary, even though they have pants on.
About 3,000 to 4,000 people, ranging from age three to 71, participated in this year's event in New York.
"If somebody tells you you have no pants, just say you forgot, and yes it's cold, yes it's unfortunate," Todd told participants.
All participants have to wear underpants. Flashy designs are permitted but organizers prefer if participants go about the event as if nothing was out of the ordinary. To make the stunt more effective, some participants are encouraged to wear suits or uniforms to leave even more of an impact. Props like bikes, shopping bags, brief cases and other items are also encouraged, so that it looks as if a person was going about their day normally without pants on. They're supposed to act like it is a coincidence that some others also seem to have forgotten to wear pants. Participants can't speak to one another.
In this year's New York City event, there were seven designated subway stops where participants were told to start and they all met up at Union Square at the end. In the Paris event, participants met at Charles de Gaulle-Etoile metro stop. There were more than 1,200 participants in that event.
Other cities had smaller participation, such as in Buenos Aires in Argentine. Some also gathered in Sydney, Australia and in Hong Kong.
Here are some photos from the event:
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
