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How the NYC Subway Works
Mar 27, 2025
New York City can be confusing. On one hand you have the neat grid like streets of mid-town Manhattan and above. Go south and all of that order gets thrown out the window. If you think that's bad, have you ever taken a closer look at the city's subway? Daniel explains the history behind the Big Apple's iconic transit system and shows you how it works.
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The New York City subway is wild
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Stand clear of the closing doors, please. This system is the lifeblood of New York City
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It's big and a little complicated. But in this video, I want to give you a few pieces of key information that will make things a lot clearer
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First, let's find out how the subway got to where it is. They started building the subway around 1900
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and it was actually three separate systems at first that was later unified in the 40s
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It took several more decades to develop fully into what it is today, which is now 472 stations throughout the boroughs
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and more than 665 miles of track. It's a pretty old and imperfect system
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but if you go to New York, you'll probably find yourself among the 5.5 million daily riders
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The system can be pretty complicated, but with some basic, not-so-obvious rules, it can make it a lot easier to get around
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First, a note on the map. Mapping the subway and listing out all of the available options at every single station is a really difficult task that's been taken on many different times
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The current prevailing map was made in 1979. Let that also stand as a testament as how slow and difficult it is to get anything changed and any construction done in the subway system
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Okay, so let's go over three useful tips for when you're using the subway. First of all, express versus local
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So take a look at this map. What you'll probably see first is that different lines have different colors
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Each color has several different trains on it. The train names will be a number or a letter
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So for example, this yellow one right here is the NQR. And this red one over here is the 123
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Okay, I see how that could be kind of confusing. But this is a remnant of the old subway systems
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The numbered ones was one subway system and the lettered ones was another
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And they actually had different width and length of trains, and so they weren't able to combine them, and so they still have those dimensions today
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Anyway if you look at the ends of these lines you notice that they branch off in different directions So for the main trunk of line the only real difference between these trains is which stops they stop at
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But don't worry, this isn't as complicated as it sounds. There are express trains and there are local trains
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So let's keep looking at the one two three if the stop on the map is a black dot that is a local stop
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If it is a white dot with a black circle like this, that's an express stop when you're in the station
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everything is super clearly marked. Just pay attention to the signs around you
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You'll often wonder if the train coming is a local or express train
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and there will actually be an announcement that will say this. This is a Bronx Bound, A, local train
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But what's gonna happen is it's actually gonna sound like this. This is Bronx Bound, A, local train
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So here's a little tip. The express train is skipping the local stops, right
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So it's doing that by taking the middle track that's between the two platforms at those local stops
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That means when you go to an express stop, the local train is almost always the one
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up against one of the walls. If the train is in the middle track
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it's likely an express train. Okay, here's my next tip. Number two, uptown versus downtown
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When looking for a station, you'll want to look for this. The green railing, the round light bulb
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the black and white subway sign, and it should say uptown or downtown
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When you see these at express stops, you can just go down any of them and then figure it out when you're down there
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because the platform is so big and you can cross over wherever you want. But at local stops, be careful
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because you can't always switch underground. So you might need to know which one is downtown
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and which one is uptown before even going underground. Let's just say you're right here on 50th
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and you're trying to get on the one train and you wanna go to the World Trade Center
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You know that the World Trade Center is downtown. So if you turn and face downtown
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then you'll know you'll need to go into one of the subway stations on the right hand of the road
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This is because the trains, just like cars, stay to the right hand side of the road
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And this is important at the local stops where you can switch the platform underground If you do mess up and go into the wrong turnstile either you paid the fare for that ride and you have to get out and now walk across and pay another fare
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or if you have the unlimited card, which I'll talk about in a second, you'll swipe and then you'll have to wait 15 minutes
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until you can swipe that same card again. Often, the train will be designated
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by its final location and direction. So you'll hear something like this
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This is a Bronx-bound 9 train. And you'll know that it's a Bronx-bound train
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So having some idea of where the boroughs generally are will help you understand which direction the trains are going
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If that means it's uptown or downtown or out to Brooklyn or Queens or wherever
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Just kind of study a map beforehand maybe and see if you can remember where each borough is in relation to the others
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Once you are on the train, double check when you get to the next stop or two to make sure that those are the stops you were expecting
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Because if they are, you're going in the right direction. And I'll add one quick note this map may look like the trains will take you anywhere
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But in manhattan right here There are actually very few stops going east to west with the exception of this one right here
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Which is this s which stands for shuttle and this shuttle simply just goes back and forth between times square and grand central station
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If you want to go left to right just like this, but further north like across central park or something
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Your best option is probably going to be the bus. I'm just going to say quickly
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it is okay to study the map. It's a confusing system. Don't feel dumb for standing in front of the map
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finding out where you are, following the trains. Don't even be afraid to ask people
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People are super nice and everyone gets lost at some point and someone will point you in the right direction
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Okay, on to my last point. Number three, price and practicality. There are two main types of passes you can buy
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There is an unlimited one and there is one that you pay per ride where you load up the card
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and you pay $2.75 per trip. The unlimited one can either be for a week or for a month
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If you're just visiting for a few days, it's probably going to be most cost effective
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to get the week unlimited pass And if you really concerned about being cost effective know that this is much cheaper than taking a taxi If you want to prove to someone that New York has it all just show them your MetroCard goal There a fee for each card So if you are getting the
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pay per ride pass, you should just get one and share it with the people that you're with because
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you can go through the turnstile, pass it back, and then they can swipe and charge the same card
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However, if you're getting an unlimited pass, you can only get one per person because as soon as
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swipe the card there's a 15-minute delay before the person behind you would be
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able to use it and it's intended just for you anyway. The Metro cards that
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you'll be using for the subway also work for the buses and they also work for the
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tram that goes out to Roosevelt Island which has a beautiful view. If you are
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interested in going to Staten Island, there is a ferry that goes out there
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which is totally free. You don't need your Metro card and I hate that I have
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to say it but you have to watch out for scammers because there are people that
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will try to charge you and you don't have to pay anything to get on that. And lastly, let me
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recommend to you this website. You can find it by searching the MTA's website and looking for their
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newest map. It will let you see how the system works and it will let you zoom around to see
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trains moving in real time. It's really nice because it takes into account construction and
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route exceptions, which often happen at night or on the weekends. Also, Google Maps is getting much
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better real-time tracking and will tell you where you need to go if you just you know google where
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you're going ladies and gentlemen thank you for riding with mta new york city transit getting
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around smoothly in a new city can make all of the difference when you have a super limited amount of
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time there we know this and so we do similar breakdowns like this in all of the courses that
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we make for different places tokyo for example we have a whole lesson just on how to get around
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Tokyo. We also have an entire course on how to get around London and we break down the maps of
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Iceland and South Africa. So if you want to check those out, head over to brighttrip.com
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and we will see you over there
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