It’s one of the primary reasons I moved to New York. It is definitely one of the things that makes New York City the greatest city in the world. Having the G train less than a block away a great advantage. It’s far and away better than having to pay car insurance, even if it cannot always be trusted, kind of like Snidely Whiplash.
Reasons to love the subway.
- Free information: A paper copy of the map is available for free at any station with a booth. This is a necessity to be able to navigate a system as big as the New York City subway. Not only that, the MTA website will calculate directions utilizing the entire NYC public transit system.
- Consistency: I know what you’re thinking, consistent? Well consider this, in every hour during the week not considered ‘late night’ the trains run as stated on the map. I’m impressed that such a large system can be run in such a predictable manner.
- Night Construction: I’ve mentioned this before, but this is especially important on the subway. The subway is a high capacity people moving system, and in a city of 8 million, no matter when you put it out of commission, people are going to be inconvenienced. But by working at night and on weekends, this inconvenience is limited to as few people as possible.
- Highly connected: No subway ride needs to take more than two line changes (that is, color to color, not local to express). This is because the A line touches every other line including both shuttles. The L line also touches all but two (the 7 and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden shuttle) which are both accessible from the L by the A.
- MTA employees: Every MTA employee I’ve talked to on a platform has always been very nice and knowledgeable, particularly about service changes. The only times I have ever felt affronted by an MTA employee is when they are in the booths or driving busses.
- Almost free transit: Unlimited Metro Cards allows for the freedom to move anywhere in the city at any time with the lowest cost per mile possible. For a month, $76 is cheaper than any other form of motorized transportation.
What’s not to love?
New York City subway, you’re my Valentine.
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