Mass transit in New York City

The transportation system of New York City is a network of complex infrastructural systems. New York City, being the most populous city in the United States, has a transportation system which includes one of the largest subway systems in the world; the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel; and an aerial tramway. New York City is also home to an extensive bus system in each of the five boroughs; citywide and Staten Island ferry systems; and numerous yellow taxis and boro taxis throughout the city. Private cars are less used compared to other cities in the rest of the United States.

Within the New York City metropolitan area, the airport system—which includes John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport (located in New Jersey), Stewart Airport and a few smaller facilities—is one of the largest in the world. The Port of New York and New Jersey, which includes the waterways around New York City and its metropolitan area, is one of the busiest seaports in the United States. There are also three commuter rail systems, the PATH rapid transit system to New Jersey, and various ferries between Manhattan and New Jersey. Numerous separate bus systems also operate to Westchester County, Nassau County, and New Jersey. For private vehicles, a system of expressways and parkways connects New York City with its suburbs.

Background

History

The history of New York City's transportation system began with the Dutch port of New Amsterdam. The port had maintained several roads; some were built atop former Lenape trails, others as "commuter" links to surrounding cities, and one was even paved by 1658 from orders of Petrus Stuyvesant, according to Burrow, et al. The 19th century brought changes to the format of the system's transport: the establishment of a Manhattan street grid through the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, as well as an unprecedented link between the then-separate cities of New York and Brooklyn via the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1883.

The Second Industrial Revolution fundamentally changed the city – the port infrastructure grew at such a rapid pace after the 1825 completion of the Erie Canal that New York became the most important connection between all of Europe and the interior of the United States. Elevated trains and subterranean transportation ('El trains' and 'subways') were introduced between 1867 and 1904. In 1904, the first subway line became operational. Practical private automobiles brought an additional change for the city by around 1930, notably 1927 Holland Tunnel. With automobiles gaining importance, the later rise of Robert Moses was essential to creating New York's modern road infrastructure. Moses was the architect of all of the parkway, many other important roads, and seven great bridges.

Mass transit use and car ownership

New York City is distinguished from other U.S. cities for its low personal automobile ownership and its significant use of public transportation. New York City has, by far, the highest rate of public transportation use of any American city, with 67.2% of workers commuting to work by this means in 2006.U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006, Table S0802 About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York City or its suburbs. However, New York City also has the longest mean travel time for commuters (39 minutes) among major U.S. cities.

New York is the only city in the United States where over half of all households do not own a car (Manhattan's non-ownership is even higher, around 75%; nationally, the rate is 8%). However, absolute figures for car ownership are still high when compared to other cities: in 2019, 55% of households were not car owners, indicating that 45% of households did own a car.

Environmental and social issues

New York City's uniquely high rate of public transit use makes it one of the most energy-efficient cities in the United States. Gasoline consumption in the city today is at the rate of the national average in the 1920s. New York City's high rate of transit use saved of oil in 2006 and $4.6 billion in gasoline costs. New York saves half of all the oil saved by transit nationwide.

The reduction in oil consumption meant 11.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide was kept out of the air. The New York City metro area was ranked by the Brookings Institution as the U.S. metro area with the lowest per-capita transportation-related carbon footprint and as the fourth lowest overall per-capita carbon footprint in 2005 among the 100 largest metro areas of the United States, outranked only by Honolulu, Los Angeles and Portland.

The city's transportation system, and the population density it makes possible, also have other effects. Scientists at Columbia University examined data from 13,102 adults in the city's five boroughs and identified correlations between New York's built environment and public health. New Yorkers residing in densely populated, pedestrian-friendly areas have significantly lower body mass index (BMI) levels compared to other New Yorkers. Three characteristics of the city environment—living in areas with mixed residential and commercial uses, living near bus and subway stops and living in population-dense areas—were found to be inversely associated with BMI levels.

Despite the energy efficiency that results from high transit use, the city's streets are generally seen as being dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists. , there are on average 225,000 crashes, 61,000 injuries, and 200+ deaths due to automobiles every year in New York City. Approximately 75% of city street space is devoted to moving cars and trucks at speed and parking these vehicles, while the other 25% of the street is left for pedestrians, bikes, and store fronts.

Commuting/modal split

Of all people who commute to work in New York City, 39% use the subway, 23% drive alone, 11% take the bus, 9% walk to work, 7% travel by commuter rail, 4% carpool, 1.6% use a taxi, 1.1% ride their bicycle to work, and 0.4% travel by ferry. 54% of households in New York City do not own a car, and rely on public transportation.

While the so-called car culture dominates in most American cities, mass transit has a defining influence on New York life. The subway is a popular location for politicians to meet voters during elections and is also a major venue for musicians. Each week, more than 100 musicians and ensembles – ranging in genre from classical to Cajun, bluegrass, African, South American and jazz – give over 150 performances sanctioned by New York City Transit, under the Music Under New York program, at a few dozen locations throughout the subway system.

3.7 million people were employed in New York City; Manhattan is the main employment center with 56% of all jobs. Of those working in Manhattan, 30% commute from within Manhattan, while 17% come from Queens, 16% from Brooklyn, 8% from the Bronx, and 2.5% from Staten Island. Another 4.5% commute to Manhattan from Nassau County and 2% from Suffolk County on Long Island, while 4% commute from Westchester County. 5% commute from Bergen and Hudson counties in New Jersey. Some commuters come from Fairfield County in Connecticut. Some New Yorkers reverse commute to the suburbs: 3% travel to Nassau County, 1.5% to Westchester County, 0.7% to Hudson County, 0.6% to Bergen County, 0.5% to Suffolk County, and smaller percentages to other places in the metropolitan area.

On average, New Yorkers spend 1 hour and 27 minutes per weekday commuting with public transit. Of these, 31% ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 15 minutes, but 23% of riders wait for an average of over 20 minutes. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is .

Ridership

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) operates most of New York City's transit systems. Using census data, the MTA reported in August 2006 that ridership on its buses, subways and commuter trains in recent years has grown faster than population growth, indicating that more New Yorkers are choosing to use mass transit, despite the poor service in some areas of New York City by mass transit. The MTA attributed the ridership gains to the introduction of the MetroCard in 1993, and the replacement of more than 2,800 rolling stock since 2000.

From 1995 to 2005, the authority said, ridership on city buses and subways grew by 36%, compared with a population gain in the city of 7%. In the suburbs, it said, a 14% increase in ridership on Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road outpaced a suburban population gain of 6%. With dramatic increases in fuel prices in 2008, as well as increased tourism and residential growth, ridership on buses and subways grew 3.1% up to about 2.37 billion trips a year compared to 2007. This is the highest ridership since 1965.

In 2013, ridership on the New York City Subway was 1.7 billion, the highest ridership since 1946, despite Hurricane Sandy-related subway closures. Ridership in city buses was 803 million.

Transit culture

Over 5 million people ride the transit network each weekday, and the system is a major venue for commerce, entertainment, and political activism. Much of the city, excluding Staten Island, relies on the subway, which is open 24 hours a day, as its main source of transportation. Campaigning at subway stations is a staple of New York elections akin to candidate appearances at small town diners during presidential campaigns in the rest of the country. Each week, more than 100 musicians and ensembles – ranging in genre from classical to Cajun, bluegrass, African, South American, and jazz – give over 150 performances sanctioned by New York City Transit at 25 locations throughout the subway system, many under the Music Under New York program. There are many more who are unauthorized performers called buskers, who range from professionals putting on an impromptu show to panhandlers seeking donations by way of performance.

One outcome of the city's extensive mass transit use is a robust local newspaper industry. The readership of many New York dailies consists in large part by transit riders who read during their commutes. The three-day transit strike in December 2005 briefly depressed circulation figures, underscoring the relationship between the city's commuting culture and newspaper readership.

The subways of New York have been venues for beauty pageants and guerrilla theater. The MTA's annual Miss Subways contest ran from 1941 to 1976 and again in 2004 (under the revised name "Ms. Subways").

The subways and commuter rail systems also have some artworks in their stations, commissioned under the MTA Arts & Design umbrella.

Transit systems

Rail

The dominant mode of transportation in New York City is rail. Only 6% of shopping trips in Manhattan's Central Business District involve the use of a car. The city's public transportation network is the most extensive and among the oldest in North America. Responsibility for managing the various components of the system falls to several government agencies. The largest and most important is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public benefit corporation in the state of New York, which runs two of the city's three rapid transit systems, most of its buses, and two of its three commuter rail networks. Ridership in the city increased 36% to 2.2 billion annual riders from 1995 to 2005, far outpacing population growth.
Average weekday subway ridership was 5.076 million in September 2006, while combined subway and bus ridership on an average weekday that month was 7.61 million.

Rapid transit systems

= MTA

=

The New York City Subway is the largest subway system in the world when measured by number of stations (), and the eighth-largest when measured by annual ridership (1.76 billion passenger trips in 2015). It is the second-oldest subway system in the United States after the rapid transit system in Boston. In 2002, an average 4.8 million passengers used the subway each weekday. During one day in September 2005, 7.5 million daily riders set a record for ridership. In 2013, the subway delivered over 1.71 billion rides, averaging approximately 5.5 million rides on weekdays, about 3.2 million rides on Saturdays, and about 2.6 million rides on Sundays. Ridership consistently increased in the early 21st century, partly because of the subway's energy efficiency. Life in New York City is so dependent on the subway that the city is home to one of only five 24-hour subway systems in the world. The city's subway services run through all boroughs except Staten Island, which is served 24/7 by the Staten Island Railway.

Subway riders pay with the MetroCard, which is also valid on all other rapid transit systems and buses in the city, as well as the Roosevelt Island tramway. The MetroCard has completely replaced tokens, which were used in the past, to pay fares. Fares are loaded electronically on the card. Since 2019, riders have had the option to use OMNY, a contactless system compatible with smart wallets and credit cards. System rollout of OMNY to all buses and subway stations was complete in 2020, and OMNY will replace the MetroCard by 2023.

= PATH

=

The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system that links Manhattan to Jersey City, Harrison and Newark, in New Jersey. A primary transit link between Manhattan and New Jersey, PATH carries 240,000 passengers each weekday on four lines.

While some PATH stations are adjacent to subway stations in New York City and Newark as well as Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stations in Hudson County, there are no free transfers. The PATH system spans 13.8 miles (22.2 km) of route mileage, not including track overlap. Like the New York City Subway, PATH operates 24 hours a day. Opened in 1908 as the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, a privately owned corporation, PATH since 1962 has been operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Airport services

John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports are served by intermodal rail systems. AirTrain JFK is an 8.1 mi (13 km) rapid transit system that connects Kennedy to New York's subway and commuter rail network in Queens 24 hours a day. It also provides free transit between airport terminals. For trips beyond the airport, the train costs $7.75. Roughly 4 million people rode the AirTrain to and from Kennedy in 2006, an increase of about 15% over 2005. AirTrain Newark is a 1.9-mile (3 km) monorail system connecting Newark's three terminals to commuter and intercity trains running on the Northeast Corridor rail line.

Commuter rail

New York City's commuter rail system is the most extensive in the United States, with about 250 stations and 20 rail lines serving more than 150 million commuters annually in the tri-state region. Commuter rail service from the suburbs is operated by two agencies. The MTA operates the Long Island Rail Road on Long Island and the Metro-North Railroad in the Hudson Valley and Connecticut. New Jersey Transit operates the rail network west of the Hudson River. These rail systems converge at the two busiest train stations in the United States, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, both in Manhattan.

In addition, connections are available to nearby commuter rail systems: Southeast Connecticut's Shore Line East and Central Connecticut and Southern Massachusetts' Hartford Line in New Haven, and Southeast Pennsylvania's SEPTA in Trenton, New Jersey. Service is being considered to Northeast Pennsylvania as far as Scranton, Pennsylvania via the Lackawanna Cut-Off.

Intercity rail

While rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island has atrophied (most freight activity takes place in northern New Jersey), the city has more frequent passenger rail service (intercity and commuter) than anywhere else in the nation. Intercity service is provided by Amtrak. Fifty-four trains run each day on the busiest route—the Northeast Corridor from New York to Philadelphia. For trips of less than to other Northeastern cities, Amtrak is often cheaper and faster than air travel. Amtrak accounts for 47% of all non-automobile intercity trips between New York and Washington, D.C. and about 14% of all intercity trips (including those by automobile) between those cities. Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains run from New York to Boston and Washington, D.C., via the Northeast Corridor, using tilting technology and fast electric locomotives. New York City's Penn Station is the busiest Amtrak station in the United States by annual boardings. In 2004 it saw 4.4 million passenger boardings, more than double the next busiest station, Union Station in Washington, D.C. It was expanded with a new concourse in 2017, and waiting hall in 2021.

Overnight trains connect New York City with Chicago (where numerous connections are available to the west coast services), Atlanta, New Orleans, and Miami. There are two daily trains to Miami, one daily train to Charlotte, and one daily train to Savannah. Chicago is connected with New York City by two trains: one runs daily via Upstate New York and Cleveland, while another runs three times a week on a longer route via Cincinnati. Major destinations with frequent service include Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Providence, and Washington, D.C. There are also international daily trains to Toronto and Montreal in Canada, via the Empire Corridor to Albany and points west.

Buses

, over 5,710 MTA Regional Bus Operations-operated buses carried about 2.5 million daily passengers 24/7 on more than 238 local routes, 62 express routes, and 7 Select Bus Service routes, amounting to 793 million annual bus trips. Buses owned by MTA account for 80% of the city's surface mass transit. New York City has the largest clean-air diesel-hybrid and compressed natural gas bus fleet in the United States. Local bus routes are labeled with a number and a prefix identifying the primary borough (B for Brooklyn, Bx for the Bronx, M for Manhattan, Q for Queens, and S for Staten Island). Express bus routes operated under MTA New York City Bus use the letter X rather than a borough label. Express bus routes operated under MTA Bus (formerly controlled by the NYC Department of Transportation) use a two-borough system with an M at the end (i.e., BM, BxM, SIM, or QM). Additionally, MTA offers precise bus arrival time using QR code located at each stop. Some stops also have digital panels indicating arrival times.

New York Waterway operates connecting bus routes to/from the West Midtown Ferry Terminal and East 34th Street Ferry Landing.

Private bus companies Hampton Jitney and Hampton Luxury Liner operate daily, year-round service from points on the east side of Manhattan to the villages and hamlets of Long Island's east end, including the Hamptons, Montauk, and the North Fork. Hampton Jitney also runs limited service to and from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Several Chinatown bus lines, which began operating in 1997, offer curbside intercity coach service, mainly to Chinatown and Midtown Manhattan. Two discount intercity bus services, BoltBus and Megabus, have provided bus service between New York City and several other U.S. cities since 2008. In addition, Tripper Bus and Vamoose Bus provide bus service between New York City and the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Arlington, Virginia, and Bethesda, Maryland. BestBus provides daily service from a stop along West 34th Street near 9th Avenue to Washington, D.C., Silver Spring, Maryland, and Manassas, Vienna, and Springfield in Virginia and summer weekend service to Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach in Delaware.

Other transit

Other transit in the city includes:
* The Roosevelt Island Tramway, an aerial commuter tram connecting Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. Connecting "Red Bus" service is available on the Island.
* The Bee-Line Bus System, connecting the Bronx and Westchester County.
* Nassau Inter-County Express, a bus system operated by Transdev that connects Queens and Nassau County. Until 2012, it was operated by the MTA under the brand Long Island Bus.
* The Downtown Connection, a free shuttle bus service in Lower Manhattan operated by the Downtown Alliance.
* Private Transportation operates a bus route (labeled B110) between Borough Park and Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
* Dollar vans operate in the boroughs outside Manhattan and in New Jersey.

Major transit hubs

There are several major transit terminals in the New York metropolitan area. They include train stations, bus terminals, and ferry landings.

Major rail stations include:
* Pennsylvania Station (New York City) (New York Penn Station), which is served by Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, and the New York City Subway
* Grand Central Terminal, which is served by Metro-North Railroad and the New York City Subway
* Jamaica station, which is served by Long Island Rail Road, New York City Subway, and AirTrain JFK
* Atlantic Terminal, which is served by the New York City Subway and Long Island Rail Road
* Pennsylvania Station (Newark) (Newark Penn Station), which is served by Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, PATH and Newark Light Rail
* Hoboken Terminal, which is served by New Jersey Transit, Metro-North Railroad, PATH, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and NY Waterway

Major bus hubs include:
* Port Authority Bus Terminal, served by commuter and intercity buses. The busiest bus station in the United States, the terminal serves both commuter routes, mainly operated by New Jersey Transit, and national routes operated by private companies, such as Greyhound and Peter Pan.
* George Washington Bridge Bus Station, also served by commuter and some intercity buses. Most commuter buses are from New Jersey and Rockland County.
* Penn Station is used by Megabus, Tripper Bus and Vamoose Bus.
* Chinatown, including the corner of East Broadway and Forsyth Street, where several intercity Chinatown buses have a common terminus.

Ferries

The busiest ferry in the United States is the Staten Island Ferry, which annually carries over 19 million passengers on the 5.2 mile (8.4 km) run between St. George Ferry Terminal and South Ferry. Service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and takes approximately 25 minutes each way. Each day eight boats transport almost 65,000 passengers during 104 boat trips. Over 33,000 trips are made annually. The Ferry has remained free of charge since 1997. Vehicles have not been allowed on the Ferry since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, though bicycles are permitted on the lower level at no cost. The ferry ride is a favorite of tourists as it provides excellent views of the Lower Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

Since the 1980s ferry service on the Hudson River and East River has been restored and significantly expanded providing regular service to points in Manhattan, mostly below 42nd Street. Pier 11 at Wall Street, East 34th Street Ferry Landing, West Midtown Ferry Terminal and Battery Park City Ferry Terminal are major embarkation points. The terminals are run in public-private partnership with privately owned carriers.

In February 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would begin NYC Ferry to extend ferry transportation to traditionally underserved communities in the city. The first routes of NYC Ferry opened in 2017. All of the system's routes have termini in Manhattan, with routes reaching to Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, as well as a future Staten Island route.

Under the NY Waterway logo, routes are run to Hoboken Terminal, Weehawken Port Imperial, Edgewater Landing, and Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal as well as other ferry slips along the west bank of the Hudson in New Jersey. Its East River shuttles between Wall Street and East 34th Street call at four slips in Brooklyn and Queens. It also operates routes to the Raritan Bayshore.

SeaStreak runs to the Raritan Bayshore, supplementing the unaffiliated NY Waterway service. However, from 2012 to 2014, it also ran weekday morning and afternoon/evening service between East 34th Street and Pier 11 in Manhattan and Rockaway Park, Queens, with a stop at Brooklyn Army Terminal. The service began in late 2012 in the wake of massive subway infrastructure damage and service disruptions in Queens and Brooklyn from Hurricane Sandy, and was originally intended only as a temporary transportation alternative until subway service was restored, but it proved to be popular and was extended several times after that. However, it was ultimately discontinued in October 2014, despite vigorous efforts by local transportation advocates, civic leaders and elected officials to convince the city government to continue funding the subsidized service.

New York Water Taxi makes an East River crossing to Red Hook. Liberty Water Taxi travels between BPC Ferry Terminal and Liberty State Park in Jersey City