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Riding the subway

Updated Mar eleven, 2022

Observe out about fares, maps, transfers, how to get on the correct train, how to become assist, and more.

Tips for riding

Masks are still required on board trains and within of subway stations. If you need 1, enquire at a subway station booth or await for mask dispensers on buses.

Download the app earlier you ride. Use the MYmta app (on iPhone and Android) for trip planning, maps, arrival times, existent-time service status, station information, and more.

Waiting for your train

Stand up back from the platform edge, especially when trains are entering and leaving the station.

Don't go onto the tracks for any reason. If you drib something on the tracks, leave it and allow an MTA employee know. We'll practice our best to help retrieve it.

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

Boarding and riding

Allow others go out the train before you board. Stand to the side of the doors before you lot board, non in forepart of them.

Movement to the middle of the car (even when it's crowded). It makes service faster for everyone.

Concord on when the train is moving.

Keep bags and personal items where you can encounter them.

Make room for others. Be aware of the space around yous, especially during busy travel times.

Exiting trains and navigating stations

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

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

Ask any MTA employee for assistance when y'all need it. Yous can too utilise the Assist Bespeak 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.

Near subway fares and gratis transfers

Riding the subway costs $2.75 for nigh riders. If yous're going to be riding oftentimes, an unlimited card might salvage you money.

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

How to pay the subway fare

Using a MetroCard

Hold the card then the black magnetic strip is facing you and on the bottom of the carte. (The clipped corner should be on the upper correct.) Swipe your card through the reader at a medium speed, similar to how you would swipe a credit menu in a credit carte reader. When the turnstile screen says Become, proceed through the turnstile.

  • Pay for multiple people: Swipe your pay-per-ride carte du jour up to iv times at the turnstile to pay the fare for each person

Note: Y'all cannot use an unlimited MetroCard within eighteen minutes of swiping it.

Using a digital wallet or contactless card

OMNY, our contactless fare payment arrangement, 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 manner the card or device is facing. When the reader shows GO, go on through the turnstile.

You need to set up your device for contactless payment before you tin use it with OMNY.

Learn more than about 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 yous 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 menu or a digital wallet at OMNY readers to pay the fare.

Finding stations and trains

Stations

  • Subway stations are normally on corners of streets. Look for greenish metal railings near entrances and exits. Many also have dark-green globe lamps.
  • Some stations are in the eye of blocks, near business entrances, incorporated inside buildings, along parks, or otherwise tucked away, and then look closely.
  • Black and white signs at the archway tell you what lines the stop serves and which direction trains go. Some stations have trains that go in both directions. Some only have trains going in one direction.
  • One time you're inside the station, signs straight you to the platform. All of these signs have arrows showing which way to go.
  • Many stations take booths most the turnstiles. You can inquire the station amanuensis for help if you need it.

Trains

  • Each train has a bullet — a colored circumvolve or diamond with a white letter or number inside — that indicates what route the railroad train runs. These are on the front and side of trains.
  • To see what management a train is going, look for black and white signs on the platform, parallel to the tracks. These have direction indicators, similar "uptown," "downtown," "Brooklyn-bound," "Bronx-bound," etc. Mind for announcements as the train doors open also.
  • Local trains terminate at every stop. Express trains skip stops. Maps show local and limited stops, and railroad train announcements will say whether the train is local or express.
  • Ask the railroad train conductor if yous take questions. They sit down in the middle of the train. To easily detect where the conductor will be when the train stops, look 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 exercise if...

...y'all see a criminal offense in progress

Tell an MTA employee or constabulary officer or telephone call 911 immediately.

If you're in a station, you tin also apply a Assist Bespeak intercom.

Read more near what to exercise if y'all encounter a hate criminal offence.

...you need help planning a trip

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

Stay on the train until you reach a station where you can transfer to a train going in the opposite direction. Have that railroad train back to the terminate yous missed.

If you lot demand help, ask an MTA employee.

Things you can and can't bring on the subway

Don't travel with more than you can comport on your ain, and avoid blitz hr if you're transporting something big. Make space for other riders and don't cake doors, stairs, or passageways.

This is non a comprehensive listing of what you lot are and are not allowed to bring on the subway. Find all details in our Rules of Conduct.

You tin bring...

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

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

Bikes. Avoid rush hour.

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

Boxes, packages, and small furniture. Don't send big items during blitz 60 minutes.

You tin't bring...

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

Large wheeled carts. Carts that are larger than xxx inches in length or width are not allowed.

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

Items that could exist a hazard, interfere with MTA operations, or block traffic. Your condom 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 centre of platforms indicate where the train conductor volition be 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 utilize wheelchairs or other mobility aids can follow signs to elevators and boarding areas where they're nigh 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 disability that prevents you lot from using the subway or double-decker, yous might be eligible for our paratransit service.

More accessibility resources

More tips for traveling

Subway maps