New York- Is it easy to get around?

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FamousNYLover

When you get used to mass transit in NY, and NJ, it will be easy, however mass trainsit has many construction works on subways, especially weekends.
New York City Transit operates both subways, buses, Staten Island Railway, while MTA Bus Company operates on former seven private bus line companies under contract with MTA.
Long Island Bus is MTA, however it is owned by Nassau County.
Two routes, X23/X24 Staten Island division of Atlantic Express is partner with MTA under contract with NYCDOT.

MTA Bus, NYCT and Westchester County Bee-Line accept MetroCard.
1-Day Pass $7 ($7.50 March 2nd) expires 3am next day.
7-Day Pass $24 ($25 March 2nd) expires midnight on 8th day.
New 14-Day Pass will begin $47 on March 2nd- expire midnight on 15th day.
30-Day Pass $76/$81 March 2nd)- expire on midnight of 31st day.
They're accepted on buses operated by MTA Bus, NYCT, subways, Staten Island Railway, and Roosevelt Island Tramway, including local buses operated by Bee-Line Bus in Westchester County.

7-Day Express Bus Plus $41 is accepted on any express buses in NYC, X23/X24, and Bee-Line BxM4C.

Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard give you bonus (March 2nd, bonus is unknown.)
It give you free transfer between regular local buses in NYC and Westchester, well as subways within 2-hours.
Transfering from local bus/subway to express bus in two hours will give you free transfer with $3 deduced to equal $5 express bus fares.

Local buses are $2 (Bee-Line on March 2nd), express buses are $5.

Also, if you get on Bee-Line Bus toward White Plains TransCenter, and if you wish to travel to Rockland County via Tappan Zee Express or CT Transit, ask bus driver for transfer even if you paid with MetroCard. Same reason for Bee-Line bus toward Port Chester. Bus transfers are good for within 2-hour.
Bee-Line fare is $1.75 ($2 March 2nd), transfer 25 cent will be elimated on March 2nd due to MetroCard fare hike.

Just remember, Long Island Bus, NYC bus and Westchester County bus does not accept US Dollar Bills.

Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad is based on fare zone and new fare will be in effect on March 1st.

New Jersey Transit trains/buses are also based on fare zone, along with Coach USA, Decamp, Laketan Bus, Academy Bus and New Red & Tan in Hudson County.

ON MNRR and LIRR, buy from ticket window or Ticket Vending Machine because purchasing onboard train is expensive.

On NJT Commuter rail, make sure you buy your ticket from Window or Ticket Vending Machine to AVOID $5 Surcharge.

RiverLine, Hudson-Bergen Lightrail and Newark City Subway are under contract with New Jersey Transit, and one way, ten trip ticket must be validaded because if ticket is not validaded, you'll be kick out of train or receive $100 fine.
This policy is now in effect for New York Waterway commuter service due to someone selling fake New York Waterway ticket.

SEPTA Regional Rail is also same and must purchase ticket from vendining machine or Ticket Window for SEPTA, (Trenton Station, NJT Window replace Vending Machine to avoid $2 surchage.
SEPTA connects NJ and Philadelphia.

New Jersey Transit also connects to SEPTA and PATCO, well as PATH.
PATCO connects between Atlantic City Line of NJTransit and Center City, Philadelphia.

PATH is owned by Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
Fare is $1.50 ($1.75 March 2nd)
On March 2nd, new Smartlink Pass will be introduce.
1-Day Smartlink: $6
7-Day Smartlink: $24
30-Day Smartlin: $54.
This card will be accepted on PATH Stations which connects between New Jersey and Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan.
This card will be able to use without taking out from your wallet.

There are MetroCard readers at NYCT Subway, St. George Station, Eltingivlle Transit Center in NYC, Hempstead Transit Center in Nassau County, Long Island and Westchester County Center in NY.

Memo Q

use the subway

tofffees

We had a pleasant guided tour of the city....................three years ago .................i love shopping there

vinster82

The city itself is very easy to get around in but for the burbs you really need a car.

lingua06437

Kind of hard to answer this question. You have to understand just how big New York City IS. It is made up of 5 boroughs, the main one being Manhattan. With Manhattan you'd be fine by just using the subway. You could take subways out to 3 of the other boroughs and then either switch to busses or cabs to get to out of the way areas. But most places you could get to with the subway. The fifth boro (Staten Island) you'd have to either drive to over a long bridge or take a ferryboat. There is one subway, but mostly you'd need a car.

I'm not sure if you would be considering the outer boroughs as suburbs or not.

Outside the New York City limits you would definately need a car. You could take a train from NYC to a lot of these places, but once you were there you'd have to deal with limited public transportation.

farfel

generally speaking, yes. it's that it may take a while to get from one place to another.

here's a possible scenario of how far you can travel from one NYC suburb to another:

with just one MetroCard (and enough $ on it), you can take the Long Island Bus into Queens, hop on the Subway all the way to the Bronx, then get on the Westchester Bee-Line as far north as you can go. it would take forever to do, but it can be done. i made up this example to show that if you can go from the western edge of Suffolk County all the way to Westchester County, then almost everywhere in between is pretty accessible as well. even Staten Island is easy to get to and around on...

It depends on what you mean by "suburbs". That term may mean something completely different to those of us who live here in NYC.

In NYC, the subway covers most of the City, including rather distant parts of the "outer boroughs" which, while very residential, are still - politically - part of the City.

We tend to refer to the "suburbs" as places OUTSIDE the City, and those places will indeed need a car.

But to a New Yorker, those "suburban" places are not really NYC. There is a big differences in people's minds between places in and out of the City, more than in many places in the U.S. and even in Europe.

If you want to go to places people really live in NYC, and not just stay in the central part of the City, I would suggest several outer borough places, all easily reached by subway:

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn

Park Slope, Brooklyn

Flushing, Queens

Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn (right around the Bay)

These are all places outside of Manhattan, where people really live, but also would be of interest to a tourist.

There are, of course, several other great neighborhoods in NYC that are outside of Manhattan, but these are just a few that I think are really interesting.

Whipper Snapper!

Its very easy to get around as long as you are not driving. Take the train and walk, and you can get anywhere fairly quickly. Enjoy.

SIUX

As long as you move by public transportation, it's easy depending in the hours, but if you take either a train or a bus during the rush hours it might turn into a nightmare.
I wouldn't recommend to take cabs, unless it's only for short rides, other wise you'll pay a fortune.

Mr;Degoy or Duckee

depends on transit choices/yes/no.

thunder2sys

you can walk all over manhattan and get into every area. More than likely you will see tourists everywhere you go. Even in the most obscure areas.

Pattyboy

you can just about any place in NYC with a metro card and a subway map.....the burbs are a different story you need a car

Darjeeling Snow

There is nothing that would keep you from strolling around .... but it is a large area, just the 5 boroughs cover quite a territory, and the suburbs.... wow ! You must really like to walk !!

bookish

In the Long Island suburbs, it's very hard to get around without a car. The Long Island Railroad is great for getting to and from the city, but not for getting from one place on LI to another. Buses run once an hour in most places, if they run at all. In Manhattan and the boroughs--well, maybe except Staten Island--you can get around better with public transportation than with a car, especially in Manhattan.

Native New Yorker

It very easy to get around the five borough of New York City by subway, but when it comes to the suburbs, such as Long Island, the northern and northeastern suburbs, and New Jersey, you will have three choices. The suburban trains, the bus or the taxi.

Good luck and happy travels

johnston1

Every way of transport available, you could try walking which most new yorkons don't do, so try not to bash into them they might sit on you.

snickybugg

I was in NYC about 3 years ago and it was SOOO hard. So many people and things going on! If you want something SIMPLE go to Boston, it's the easiest city ever.

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