How to Make the MTA Your Bitch

Ella Fern
Mar 17, 2017
2 min read

For those of you who live in NYC, or are planning to visit, here are a few tricks of the trade that I have learned from subway hopping all over the city.

Download A New york Transit App

If you want to find out where the nearest subway stations are to you, what time your train is coming, and if it's running with a few delays or not running at all, transit apps are a must.

Before I discovered Citymapper, I would always find myself showing up to the station only to find out that my train wasn't running; imagine cutting it short for time and running all the way to the station only to find out that your train was never on it's way (I've definitely gotten into deep s**t because of that). It's also super useful for planning your walk to the station ahead of time so you know what times your train(s) will be arriving. The app also uses your location settings to show you a list of nearby subway stations; so if you're not good on locating yourself or just don't regularly take public transportation, not to worry Citymapper will guide the way.

Give Yourself a head start

If you know you need to be somewhere by a certain time, because it's NYC and it takes about 25-30 minutes to get from point A to point B, give yourself plenty of time to reach your destination. The MTA is always unpredictable and although not specified at times, might be running with delays or having work done. It's always better to arrive a bit early, than to show up late; there's no worse feeling than knowing you're going to be late and not being able to do anything about it.

Have a Back up plan

When the occasional service change occurs, it's always smart to have a backup route in mind. This is mainly applicable to those who actually live in the city and are familiar with the subway lines (1,2,3,A,C,E, etc.), because if you've lived here long enough you'll know the MTA like the back of your hands; if you're a tourist however, it would also benefit you to map out different routes in order to plan ahead in case of service changes.

Choose Time over Amount

When purchasing your MTA ticket, you might want to skip adding value to your card and go straight for a time balance, AKA buying a weekly or monthly ticket. Again, this may not apply to you if you're only visiting for a short time period and are not planning on riding the subway often, but if you know you'll be staying for a while and using the subway as your main mode of transportation, then this is definitely your best bet. I've learned the hard way that paying for swipes is much more costly than paying a one time fee for an unlimited amount of swipes, whether it be for the week, or a whole month.

If you follow these tips you'll master the subway in no time, and be sure to save time and money in the process.