New York is the only city in the United States where most households do not own a car, and the transport system reflects that. It is old, extensive, occasionally grim, and it works. Here is what each part of it is for.
The subway
472 stations, 24 stations open around the clock, and the fastest way to cover distance in Manhattan for most of the day.
Paying: tap a contactless card, phone or watch at the turnstile. There is nothing to buy. The fare is capped automatically — after twelve paid rides in a Monday-to-Sunday week on the same card, the rest of the week is free.
Uptown means north, downtown means south. At many older stations the two directions have separate street entrances that do not connect underground, so read the sign before you go down.
Local and express are different trains. Express trains skip most stations. On the map, express stops are white circles. The 4 and 5 are express on the east side and the 6 is local; the 2 and 3 are express on the west side and the 1 is local.
One platform can serve several lines that diverge. Look at the letter or number on the front of the train, not at the platform sign.
Weekend service is a different railway. Planned maintenance reroutes lines from Friday night to Monday morning. Check an app before every weekend journey.
There is more detail in the subway guide.
Buses
Slower than the subway and better for crosstown journeys, which the subway handles badly. Every bus kneels and has a ramp, which makes them the better option with a pushchair or a wheelchair.
Same fare, same tap, and free transfers between bus and subway within two hours.
Select Bus Service routes require you to pay at a machine on the pavement before boarding and to keep the receipt.
The M50, M42, M14 and other crosstown routes are genuinely useful. The M60 goes to LaGuardia; the Q70 connects LaGuardia to the subway for free.
Ferries
The most pleasant transport in the city and increasingly practical.
Staten Island Ferry — free, 24 hours, every 30 minutes, past the Statue of Liberty.
NYC Ferry — a network of routes along the East River, to the Rockaways, to Governors Island and up the Hudson, at slightly more than a subway fare. It does not accept OMNY; buy on the app. The East River route between Wall Street, DUMBO, Williamsburg and Midtown is the best-value sightseeing in New York.
Roosevelt Island Tramway — a cable car over the East River from 59th and Second for a standard subway fare, and it does accept OMNY.
Taxis and rideshares
Yellow cabs can be hailed on the street in Manhattan below about 110th Street and are metered. The roof light is on when the cab is free. They take cards.
Green cabs serve the outer boroughs and upper Manhattan, where yellow cabs rarely go.
Uber and Lyft work everywhere and are often more expensive than a yellow cab in Manhattan, though not always.
Tip 15 to 20 per cent in all cases.
Between about 8am and 7pm on a weekday, a taxi crossing Manhattan is slower than the subway and roughly ten times the price. Cabs are worth it late at night, with luggage, or in bad weather.
Congestion pricing applies to vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street and adds a surcharge to for-hire trips into that zone.
Cycling
New York has over 1,500 miles of bike lanes and a large bike-share system, Citi Bike, with day and multi-day passes bought in the app. The classic protected routes are the Hudson River Greenway down the west side of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Greenway, and the loop road in Central Park, which is closed to cars.
Riding in Midtown traffic is not for the inexperienced. E-bikes and delivery riders move fast and do not always follow the direction of travel.
Helmets are not legally required for adults and are a good idea anyway.
Walking
The default. Twenty north–south blocks make a mile; crosstown blocks are about three times as long. Ten to twelve miles a day is a normal sightseeing total.
Most streets and avenues are one way, so traffic comes from a single direction — often not the one your instinct expects if you are used to driving on the left.
The regional railways
Metro-North from Grand Central goes north up the Hudson and into Connecticut. Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station and Grand Central Madison goes east across Long Island. NJ Transit and PATH cross into New Jersey; PATH runs 24 hours to the World Trade Center and 33rd Street. Amtrak runs the Northeast Corridor from Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall.
None of these accept OMNY. Buy on the relevant app before boarding — on-board fares carry a penalty.
Accessibility
Roughly a quarter of subway stations are step-free and lifts are frequently out of service. Check the MTA’s accessible station map before relying on one. All buses are accessible. All yellow cabs are not, but a wheelchair-accessible dispatch service exists.