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Riding the subway

Updated Mar 11, 2022

Find out about fares, maps, transfers, how to go on the right train, how to get help, and more.

Tips for riding

Masks are withal required on lath trains and inside of subway stations. If yous need one, ask at a subway station berth or look for mask dispensers on buses.

Download the app before you ride. Employ the MYmta app (on iPhone and Android) for trip planning, maps, inflow times, real-time service status, station data, and more than.

Waiting for your train

Stand back from the platform border, specially when trains are entering and leaving the station.

Don't become onto the tracks for any reason. If you drop something on the tracks, leave it and let an MTA employee know. We'll do our best to help retrieve it.

Board at the center of the railroad train if you're using a personal mobility device or traveling with a stroller. The conductor is unremarkably at the center of the train, making it easier to get attention in case of problem.

Boarding and riding

Let others get out the railroad train earlier y'all lath. Stand up to the side of the doors before you board, not in front of them.

Move to the centre of the auto (even when it's crowded). It makes service faster for everyone.

Hold on when the train is moving.

Keep bags and personal items where yous can see them.

Brand room for others. Be aware of the space around you, especially during decorated travel times.

Exiting trains and navigating stations

Don't hold train doors open. It delays service for anybody.

Fold strollers and comport children on stairs and escalators. Strap children in snugly at all other times.

Enquire whatsoever MTA employee for help when you need information technology. You tin likewise utilize the Help Point intercom on station platforms.

A man leans against a column on a subway station platform as two women walk down the stairs to his left. Several signs are visible, including one for trains on the current platform, one for a wheelchair boarding area, and one for an exit and other train lines.

About subway fares and costless transfers

Riding the subway costs $2.75 for near riders. If you lot're going to be riding frequently, an unlimited card might save y'all money.

We take reduced-fare options for people 65 and older, people with disabilities, and low-income New Yorkers.

How to pay the subway fare

Using a MetroCard

Concord the card and then the blackness magnetic strip is facing you and on the lesser of the card. (The clipped corner should be on the upper correct.) Swipe your card through the reader at a medium speed, like to how you would swipe a credit card in a credit menu reader. When the turnstile screen says GO, go on through the turnstile.

  • Pay for multiple people: Swipe your pay-per-ride card upwards to iv times at the turnstile to pay the fare for each person

Note: You cannot use an unlimited MetroCard within xviii minutes of swiping it.

Using a digital wallet or contactless card

OMNY, our contactless fare payment system, is available at every subway station.

Tap your contactless card or smart device at the OMNY reader on the turnstile. It doesn't affair which fashion the bill of fare or device is facing. When the reader shows Get, proceed through the turnstile.

You need to ready your device for contactless payment before you can use it with OMNY.

Acquire more nearly OMNY.

A closeup of someone swiping a MetroCard at a turnstile. The blue and gold MetroCard logo is facing toward the camera and the person swiping it, with the black barcode visible at the bottom.

Swipe your MetroCard with the logo and the black barcode facing you and the clipped corner on the upper right.

A person holds an iPhone up to a small display on a subway turnstile. The display is flashing green and saying Go.

Tap a contactless bill of fare or a digital wallet at OMNY readers to pay the fare.

Finding stations and trains

Stations

  • Subway stations are usually on corners of streets. Look for green metal railings near entrances and exits. Many also take green globe lamps.
  • Some stations are in the middle of blocks, near business entrances, incorporated inside buildings, forth parks, or otherwise tucked away, so look closely.
  • Blackness and white signs at the entrance tell you what lines the stop serves and which direction trains go. Some stations accept trains that go in both directions. Some just have trains going in one direction.
  • Once you lot're within the station, signs direct you to the platform. All of these signs accept arrows showing which way to go.
  • Many stations have booths well-nigh the turnstiles. You lot tin ask the station agent for help if you need information technology.

Trains

  • Each train has a bullet — a colored circle or diamond with a white letter or number inside — that indicates what road the railroad train runs. These are on the front and side of trains.
  • To see what direction a train is going, await for black and white signs on the platform, parallel to the tracks. These have direction indicators, like "uptown," "downtown," "Brooklyn-bound," "Bronx-bound," etc. Mind for announcements equally the train doors open also.
  • Local trains terminate at every cease. Express trains skip stops. Maps bear witness local and express stops, and railroad train announcements volition say whether the train is local or limited.
  • Ask the train conductor if you accept questions. They sit down in the centre of the train. To easily discover where the usher will be when the train stops, wait for a diagonally striped black and white sign on the platform, parallel to the tracks.

A woman with long, dark hair and a backpack walks down the stairs of a subway entrance. "Metropolitan Avenue" and the bullets for the G and the L trains are visible on a sign above the stairway.

A subway station entrance in Brooklyn.

People walk down the stairs in a subway station. A sign reading "Downtown" is visible on the wall on the left, and a sign reading "Downtown & Brooklyn," with bullets for the B and C trains, is visible overhead.

Direction for downtown trains in a Manhattan subway station.

What to do if...

...you encounter a criminal offense in progress

Tell an MTA employee or police force officer or call 911 immediately.

If you're in a station, you tin also use a Help Betoken intercom.

Read more than about what to practise if you encounter a hate criminal offence.

...yous demand assistance planning a trip

Talk to an MTA employee, dial 511, utilize our trip planner, or download the MYmta app.

Stay on the train until you achieve a station where y'all tin can transfer to a train going in the opposite direction. Take that railroad train dorsum to the terminate you lot missed.

If you demand help, enquire an MTA employee.

Things y'all can and can't bring on the subway

Don't travel with more than y'all can carry on your own, and avoid rush hr if you lot're transporting something big. Brand infinite for other riders and don't block doors, stairs, or passageways.

This is not a comprehensive list of what y'all are and are non allowed to bring on the subway. Discover all details in our Rules of Conduct.

You can bring...

Personal mobility devices. Wheelchairs, canes, walkers, scooters and the similar are immune at all times.

Dogs and other animals. They must be in a bag or other container and carried in a mode that doesn't annoy other riders. Service animals and working animals with law enforcement agencies are allowed at all times.

Bikes. Avert rush 60 minutes.

Strollers. Strollers are allowed as long as you're using them to transport children.

Boxes, packages, and small article of furniture. Don't transport large items during rush 60 minutes.

You tin't bring...

Motorcycles and other motorized vehicles. Personal mobility devices like motorized scooters are immune, however.

Large wheeled carts. Carts that are larger than 30 inches in length or width are non allowed.

Anything that is so long it sticks out of a subway window or door.

Items that could be a take a chance, interfere with MTA operations, or cake traffic. Your rubber is our biggest priority.

A sign with diagonal black and white stripes hangs above a subway station platform, indicating where the conductor will be when the train stops.

Zebra signs in the eye of platforms indicate where the train conductor will exist when the train stops.

A blue sign with the words "Boarding area" and an icon showing a person in a wheelchair. On a different sign on the left is the same icon and an arrow pointing toward elevators.

Riders who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids tin can follow signs to elevators and boarding areas where they're most visible to train crews.

Accessible travel

On the subway

Read our guide to navigating trains and stations with mobility aids and other assistive tools.

With Access-A-Ride, our paratransit service

If you accept a inability that prevents you from using the subway or bus, you might be eligible for our paratransit service.

More accessibility resources

More than tips for traveling

Subway maps