How to Survive the NYC ‘rabak’ Subway
An extended guide of the New York City Subway.
Although some may say that public buses are handy, but there is no better way to get around the Big Apple than to ride the Subway. The New York City subway has 469 stations serving 24 subway lines — more than any other system in the world. Routes are identified by letters or numbers and these routes serve the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
1. Subway NYC mobile App
Before we go any further, install one of the many mobile applications of the NYC Subway if you do not want just a .pdf map of the subway. This app will be useful in times when there are no service along the underground tunnels (Google maps can be inaccurate at times). I personally use Subway:NYC (android). Yes, there are no network services along underground tunnels, but hey, my Spotify still works fine so I am not really complaining.
2. The Local and Express Train
Express train? Similaieh? Well, they are my best friends in NYC because they help me to travel to school in Brooklyn from Manhattan with the 4 or 5 train in half an hour. Express trains skip certain stations and only stop at main stations. If you look closely at the subway map, express stops are indicated by a white circle or bar. All trains on that line stop at express stops. Local stops are basically all stops. One tip: You can tell a local or express train apart by the LED lights on the subway itself. A diamond shaped LED represents express trains, while a circle one represents the local.
Oh yes, most express trains don’t operate on weekends. So be mindful to tweak your schedule for the weekends!
3. Transferring of Trains
The ability to transfer between lines is one of the things that makes using the subway so quick and easy. As I mentioned above, the black or white “bars” indicate that there are multiple lines at that station — similar to an interchange in SMRT context.
Another way the map indicates that more than one train line runs on a particular route is that several letters or numbers are listed along the route. For an example, find Central Park on your map. If you look immediately to the left you’ll see that the A, C, B and D trains all run along Central Park on the west side and you can transfer between those 4 train lines at any of those stations along the way.
4. Manhattan vs Brooklyn
Ah, the million-dollar question (or should I say the $200 difference in rent question?). How are the train routes in Brooklyn like compared to Manhattan itself? Very, very much different. Manhattan are much more flexible to transfer trains and to get to where you want easily. Brooklyn has trains that do not go pass certain areas, where you need to either take a public bus or transfer a few trains (sometimes to Manhattan and back to Brooklyn). Thus, depending on your budget constrains, you might want to consider staying in Manhattan if you can.
5. Train Delays
Everyone complaints and make a big hooha if the trains in Singapore experienced some sort of a delay. However, I believe that I would be much more appreciative of SMRT, because train delays here are very normal. Should the express tracks close for god knows what reason, the trains will all converge onto the local tracks and cause a huge delay at every station. So be thankful that Singapore has a smooth running train system that at least takes you to your destination safe and on time! Also note that after midnight, train intervals are usually 15–20 minutes.
Just so you know, there will be homeless people asking for donations in the train cabin. Give at your own discretion. There are also buskers that will perform dances or magic tricks. Again, feel free to tip them if you want to. In case you want to find out more, here is the first subway guide posted on our medium!
