[1] It was created in 1924 to control city-owned and operated public transportation service within the New York City Transit System.

[2][3] This commission mapped out elevated railway routes that would be built by private companies, but did not plan any underground lines.

[1] In spite of this, the initial subway lines to be operated in the city − the "first subway" opened in 1904, and the initial portion of the Centre Street Loop to Essex Street opened in 1908 − were privately operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) respectively.

This agency would oversee the Dual Contracts subway expansion, which led to the construction of new lines for the IRT and BRT.

[1][2][6] Following the creation of the State Transit Commission and the reelection of Al Smith as Governor of New York in 1922, then-mayor John Francis Hylan and future mayors Jimmy Walker (then a state senator) and John P. O'Brien (the city's corporation counsel) sought to establish a city-controlled transit commission.

[6][16] The board's first chairman was John Hanlon Delaney, one of Hylan's top advisers who had been the transit construction commissioner since 1919.

[6][22] These plans would later be called the IND Second System, and would go largely unbuilt due to the Great Depression and World War II.

[1][6][7] Beginning on June 1, 1940 under the mayoral administration of Fiorello H. La Guardia, the Board of Transportation took over the assets of the IRT and BMT for municipal operations in an event referred to as unification.

The BOT also inherited the BMT's extensive surface transit network in Brooklyn and Queens, which consisted primarily of streetcar lines along with a few electric trolley coach and diesel-powered bus routes.

[1][7][11] The further motorization of surface lines, and the completion of the IND system, however, was delayed due to World War II.

[2][35] At this time, the BOT resumed motorizing trolley lines, and proceeded to construct new storage and repair facilities.

[8][11] On March 30, 1948, Governor Thomas E. Dewey signed legislation to allow the BOT to increase fares with the approval of the New York City mayor.

The nickel fare had been in place in the subway system since October 27, 1904, a period of 45 years, and was one of the main provisions of the Dual Contracts.

[6][7][11] In addition, city planner Robert Moses pushed for the fare increase to allow more city funding to go towards highway development, while Transport Workers Union of America leader Michael J. Quill supported the fare hike in order to give transit workers a 30-cent per hour wage increase.

[7] Upon the initial 1948 increases, a twelve-cent fare had been put in place for a combined trip on the subway and either bus or trolley, but this was eliminated on July 1, 1952.

[11][39][40] The 14-story office building was designed by architects William Haugaard and Andrew J. Thomas in post-war modernist style.

[11][47] The ground level of the building at Jay and Wiloughby Streets is designed with numerous columns forming an arcade.

[11][42][47][50] Following the dissolution of the BOT, the building was used by the Transit Authority as its headquarters, and later used by the MTA with some space rented out to other organizations including the New York City Police Department.