New York City Transportation Tips by davequ

Comparisons NYC subway Subway Review

After years of holiday-riding the Paris metro I was curious what I would think of MTA NYC subway.

Due to shape of Manhattan and the geographic location of Central Park the subway (in Manhattan) is imo a total 'no-brainer'
even I couldn't screw it up.

Seems like no matter what your destination, you're only going uptown or downtown on either the east or west side of Central Park; or crosstown on the L or 7 / Shuttle.

3 lines running north / south:
(the 1-2-3; the A-B-C on the westside of Central Park;
and the 4-5-6 on the eastside) seem to do most of the work:
nothing like all the options you have in Paris.

The fun & challenging part is to figure out the express schedules vs the 'locals' to save stops, time & steps, and the quickest & dirtiest way to get from point A to point B using the Shuttle, V or L for crosstown / Brooklyn combinations, etc.
but even that gets easy after only a day or two.

Here's an interactive manhattan subway systems map

Subway seems to run all night on the island
(as opposed to the Paris shutdown @ 12:30 / 1 am)

On the con side, Paris metro seems to run more ontime with less delays, especially on the NYC expresses.

Biggest & most pleasant difference (imo) in NYC:
the NY subway cars are air-conditioned. Platforms are just as hot & humid as Paris, but the cars are cool and I had better luck finding seats.

One of the best things Paris Metro and NYC subway had in common was the wealth of talented musicians in all the different stations.

Buy a 7-day unlimited MetroCard from any one of the machines with your credit card for $25, pick up a real MTA map at one of the booths in any station to carry with you,
and you're done.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Subway/Metro

Website: http://www.mta.info/nyct/index.html

A great "taxi-town" Taxis Review

As opposed to some other cities, NY is an excellent "taxi-town."

And you can actually GET a taxi anytime you want
as it seems there are millions of industrious cab drivers all over town who instead of being in a hurry to blow by you on their way home, actually look for fares and make it a snap to get a ride when you are sick of the subway or if some of the stops are closed late at night.

A quick wave of the hand (no need for a "YO! / TAXI!!" or movie-cliche whistle most of the time) and you get one immediately, and the taxi stands actually have more than enough taxis waiting late at night
(ahem, again Paris... just for fun sometime, with your watch, time/see how long it takes a taxi line at a stand near quai St. Michel to move after 2am on a Saturday night .. as opposed to getting a cab in Manhattan ... ok enough whining)

Fares:
about $30 from (e.g.) Grand Central to LaGuardia; about $50 to JFK; and fares are cheap when you shuttle around different parts of Manhattan. Good stories & conversation too as always, although due to gentrification the days of the friendly native "hack" appear to be long gone.

If you want to know what's really going on in the city, from topics like economic recovery after 9/11 to how money & gentrification have changed the city, it is always good to get the real dirt ( if he speaks enough "street-english" ) from a NYC cab driver.

NYC and San Francisco are my personal alltime-favorite taxi-towns.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Other

Website: http://www.nyc.com/visitor_guide/Taxis/editorial.aspx