The transportation system of New York City is a network of complex infrastructural systems.

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, 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 An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

. New York City is also home to an extensive

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

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 John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

, Newark Liberty International Airport (located in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

), 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 Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

systems, the

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

rapid transit system to New Jersey, and various ferries between Manhattan and New Jersey. Numerous separate bus systems also operate to

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

, 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 The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march uptown ...

, 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 The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Fi ...

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 The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects the New York City neighborhood of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Author ...

. 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 transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

ation. 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 The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

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 Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and Portland. R160 interor crowds

The city's transportation system, and the population density it makes possible, also have other effects. Scientists at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

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 Carpooling (also car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing) is the sharing of Automobile, car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves. By having more ...

, 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 The New York City Transit Authority (also known as NYCTA, the TA, or simply Transit, and branded as MTA New York City Transit) is a public-benefit corporation in the U.S. state of New York that operates public transportation in New York City. P ...

, 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

. 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

Times Square – 42nd Street NYC Subway Station entrance

The

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

(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 The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and M ...

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 Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

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 Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

-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 South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

– 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 Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pra ...

, 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

(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

Broadway-Lafayette station by David Shankbone

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

, 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 OMNY ( , short for One Metro New York) is a contactless fare payment system, currently being implemented for use on public transit in the New York metropolitan area. When OMNY is completely rolled out, it will replace the MetroCard on the Ne ...

, 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,

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...

and Newark, in

. 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 Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

, 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 John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and Newark Liberty airports are served by intermodal rail systems.

AirTrain JFK AirTrain JFK is an elevated people mover system and airport rail link serving John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) in New York City. The driverless system operates 24/7 and consists of three lines and nine stations within the ...

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

Image-Grand central Station Outside Night 2

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 New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

operates the rail network west of the Hudson River. These rail systems converge at the two busiest

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing s ...

s 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 Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and i ...

and Central Connecticut and Southern Massachusetts'

Hartford Line The Hartford Line is a commuter rail service between New Haven, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, using the Amtrak-owned New Haven–Springfield Line. The project is a joint venture between the states of Connecticut and Massachuset ...

in New Haven, and Southeast Pennsylvania's SEPTA in Trenton, New Jersey. Service is being considered to Northeast Pennsylvania as far as

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

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 The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

. 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 Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

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 A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

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 (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(where numerous connections are available to the west coast services),

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. 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 Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

and

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, while another runs three times a week on a longer route via Cincinnati. Major destinations with frequent service include Albany,

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Providence, and Washington, D.C. There are also international daily trains to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, via the Empire Corridor to Albany and points west.

Buses

, over 5,710

MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...

-operated buses carried about 2.5 million daily passengers

24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...

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 The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one of ...

, Montauk, and the North Fork. Hampton Jitney also runs limited service to and from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Megabus waiting area 10th Av jeh

Several

Chinatown bus lines Chinatown bus lines are discount intercity bus services, often operated by Chinese Americans. They have been established primarily in the Chinatown communities of the East Coast of the United States since 1998, and similar services operate on ...

, 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 Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, and

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

BestBus BestBus (formerly DC2NY) is a company that operates low-cost intercity bus service in the Mid-Atlantic states of the United States. The primary service operated by BestBus runs from various stops in the Washington, D.C. area to New York City. Best ...

provides daily service from a stop along West 34th Street near 9th Avenue to Washington, D.C., Silver Spring, Maryland, and Manassas,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and Springfield in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and summer weekend service to

Rehoboth Beach Rehoboth Beach ( ) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the population was 1,327, reflecting a decline of 161 (11.2%) from the 1,488 counted in the 2000 ce ...

and Dewey Beach in Delaware.

Other transit

Other transit in the city includes: * The Roosevelt Island Tramway, an aerial commuter

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

connecting Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. Connecting "Red Bus" service is available on the Island. * The Bee-Line Bus System, connecting the Bronx and

. * 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 Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. * 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

, Long Island Rail Road,

, and the New York City Subway * Grand Central Terminal, which is served by Metro-North Railroad and the New York City Subway *

Jamaica station Jamaica station is a major train station of the Long Island Rail Road located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. With weekday ridership exceeding 200,000 passengers, it is the largest transit hub on Long Island, the fourth-busiest rail station ...

, which is served by Long Island Rail Road, New York City Subway, and

Atlantic Terminal Atlantic Terminal (formerly Flatbush Avenue) is the westernmost stop on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is the primary terminal for th ...

, which is served by the New York City Subway and Long Island Rail Road *

Pennsylvania Station (Newark) Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...

(Newark Penn Station), which is served by Amtrak, New Jersey Transit,

and

Newark Light Rail The Newark Light Rail (NLR) is a light rail system serving Newark, New Jersey and surrounding areas, operated by New Jersey Transit Bus Operations. The service consists of two segments, the original Newark City Subway (NCS), and the extension t ...

Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...

, which is served by New Jersey Transit, Metro-North Railroad, PATH, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and

NY Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port ...

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

, and national routes operated by private companies, such as

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...

and

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

. *

George Washington Bridge Bus Station The George Washington Bridge Bus Station is a commuter bus terminal located at the east end of the George Washington Bridge in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in New York City. The bus station is owned and operated by the Port Authori ...

, 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

NYC Downtown Manhattan Skyline seen from Paulus Hook 2019-12-20 IMG 7347 FRD

The busiest ferry in the United States is the

Staten Island Ferry The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with 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 The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

and East River has been restored and significantly expanded providing regular service to points in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, 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 NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. , there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet ...

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

logo, routes are run to

, Weehawken Port Imperial, Edgewater Landing, and Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal as well as other

ferry slip A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat or train ferry. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water. Often a ferry intend ...

s along the west bank of the Hudson in

. 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 The Raritan Bayshore region of New Jersey is a subregion of the larger Jersey Shore. It is the area around Raritan Bay from The Amboys to Sandy Hook, in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, including the towns of Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, South Amboy, ...

. 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 Rockaway Park is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area is on the Rockaway Peninsula, nestled between Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The neighborhood of Rockaway Beach lies on its eastern b ...

, with a stop at

Brooklyn Army Terminal The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than between 58th and 63rd Streets west of Second Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally u ...

. The service began in late 2012 in the wake of massive subway infrastructure damage and service disruptions in Queens and Brooklyn from

, 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 New York Water Taxi (NYWT) is a water taxi service based in New York City. It offers sightseeing, charter and commuter services mainly to points along the East River and Hudson River. It is one of several private operators of ferries, sightseei ...

makes an East River crossing to Red Hook. Liberty Water Taxi travels between BPC Ferry Terminal and

Liberty State Park Liberty State Park (LSP) is a park in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City opposite Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations and is operated a ...

in Jersey City stopping at

Paulus Hook Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Yankee Stadium and

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bir ...

beaches. Additionally, there is year-round ferry service to

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

and

Liberty Island Liberty Island is a federally owned island in Upper New York Bay in the United States. Its most notable feature is the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), a large statue by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi that was dedicated i ...

and seasonal service to Governor's Island. Circle Line Downtown and

Circle Line Sightseeing Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is a boat-based sightseeing and entertainment company in Manhattan, New York. Its principal business is operating guided tours of New York City from its base at Pier 83 in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. History Ci ...

operate tourist routes into the

Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

or circumnavigate Manhattan. Ferry landings include: * East 34th Street Ferry Landing, served by

and SeaStreak *

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...

, served by

* St. George Ferry Terminal, served by the

Pier 11/Wall Street Pier 11/Wall Street is a pier providing slips to ferries and excursion boats on the East River in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located east of South Street and FDR Drive just south of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City ...

, served by

, and SeaStreak * West Midtown Ferry Terminal, served

Whitehall Terminal The Whitehall Terminal is a ferry terminal in the South Ferry section of Lower Manhattan, New York City, at the corner of South Street and Whitehall Street. It is used by the Staten Island Ferry, which connects the island boroughs of Manhatta ...

( South Ferry), served by the

* Battery Park City Ferry Terminal, near the World Financial Center, served by

, Liberty Water Taxi,

* Fulton Slip * Red Hook

Roads and expressways

Despite New York's reliance on public transit, roads are a defining feature of the city. Manhattan's street grid plan greatly influenced the city's physical development. Several of the city's streets and avenues, like

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, Wall Street and Madison Avenue are also used as shorthand or metonym in American vernacular for national industries located there: theater, finance, and advertising, respectively. In Manhattan, there are twelve numbered avenues that run parallel to the

, and 220 numbered streets that run perpendicular to the river. An advanced convergence indexing road traffic monitoring system was installed in New York City for testing purposes in May 2008. To keep roadways, tunnels, and bridges safe for pedestrians and drivers, New York City has made efficient use of timers to regulate traffic lighting and help conserve energy.

Bridges and tunnels

With its Gothic-revival double-arched stone towers and diagonal suspension wires, the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the city's most recognized architectural structures, depicted by artists such as Hart Crane and

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

. The Brooklyn Bridge's main span is , and was the longest in the world when it was completed. The

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

and Manhattan Bridge are the two others in the trio of architecturally notable East River crossings. The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, which links Manhattan and Queens, is an important piece of cantilever bridge design. The borough of Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn through the

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and t ...

. The

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United S ...

, spanning the

between New York City and

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, t ...

, is the world's busiest bridge in terms of vehicular traffic. New York has historically been a pioneer in tunnel construction. Most carry rail lines, but there are four exceptions. The

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and unsigned Ne ...

, which carries 120,000 vehicles per day under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan, is the world's busiest vehicular tunnel. The

, also under the Hudson River, was the first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel in the world and is considered a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Two other notable tunnels connect Manhattan to other places; one is the Queens Midtown Tunnel, and the other is the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel. At 9,117 feet (2,779 m), the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (formerly the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) is the longest underwater tunnel in North America.

Expressways

Brooklyn Queens Expressway looking toward Lower Manhattan 4 May 2013

A less favored alternative to commuting by rail and boat is the New York region's expressway network, designed by Robert Moses. The city's extensive network of expressways includes four primary Interstate Highways: Interstate 78, Interstate 80, Interstate 87 and Interstate 95. Interstate 78 and Interstate 87, which have, respectively, their eastern and southern termini in the city, as well as Interstate 95 enter the city limits, while Interstate 80's eastern terminus is in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...

. I-278 and I-287 each serve as a partial

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

around the city; Interstate 278 in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and Interstate 287 in Westchester County, Rockland County, and Northern New Jersey. I-495 begins at the Queens Midtown Tunnel as the Queens-Midtown Expressway, becomes the Horace Harding Expressway between Queens Blvd and the Nassau County limits and finally becomes the Long Island Expressway into the Long Island suburbs. The 'LIE' moniker is commonly used by denizens of the city to describe the entire length of highway. New York's limited-access parkways, another Moses Project, are frequently congested as well, despite being designed from the outset to only carry cars, as opposed to commercial trucks or buses. The FDR Drive (originally known as the East River Drive) and

Harlem River Drive The Harlem River Drive is a 4.20-mile (6.76 km) long north–south limited-access parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in East Harlem to 10th Avenue ...

are two such routes that run along the eastern edge of Manhattan. The Henry Hudson Parkway, the Bronx River Parkway and the

Hutchinson River Parkway The Hutchinson River Parkway (known colloquially as The Hutch) is a north–south parkway in southern New York in the United States. It extends for from the massive Bruckner Interchange in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx to the New York ...

link the Bronx to nearby Westchester County and its parkways; the Grand Central Parkway and Belt Parkway provide similar functions for Long Island's parkway system.

Private automobiles

The city's traffic lights are controlled from a Department of Transportation center in Long Island City, with frequent adjustments to alleviate the city's chronic congestion. Around 48% of New Yorkers own cars, yet fewer than 30% use them to commute to work, most finding public transportation cheaper and more convenient for that purpose, due in large part to traffic congestion which also slows buses. To ease traffic, the Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, in 2007 proposed

congestion pricing Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, tele ...

for motor vehicles entering Manhattan's business district from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. However, this proposal was defeated when Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, announced that the bill would not come up for a vote in his chamber. The number of gas stations in Manhattan is 40 and falling, causing congestion around them. Although the rate of electric vehicle ownership in New York City is low compared to the rate of ownership of traditional gas vehicles, there were over 3,000 electric vehicles registered to New York City and Westchester residents between 2011 and 2014, out of almost 300,000 total vehicles registered during this time. There were over 200 public charging stations in New York City, including 105 charging stations in Manhattan, by the end of March 2016. Most charging stations are 208 V or 240 V "Level 2 chargers," but there are also 120 V "Level 1 chargers" in private homes and workplaces; 480 V "DC fast chargers" in some locations; and several

Tesla Supercharger A Tesla Supercharger is a 480-volt direct current fast-charging technology built by American vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Inc. for electric cars. The Supercharger network was introduced on September 24, 2012, with six Supercharger stations ...

s around the city, for use only by

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid- ...

-manufactured vehicles.

Congestion pricing

Congestion pricing in New York City was a proposed traffic congestion fee for vehicles traveling into or within lower and midtown Manhattan. The congestion pricing charge was one component of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to improve the city's future environmental sustainability while planning for population growth, entitled '' PlaNYC 2030: A Greener, Greater New York.'' However, it was not approved as it was never put to a vote on the Assembly.

Delivery trucks

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the growth of e-commerce companies such as Amazon has resulted in an increase in delivery trucks within New York City, with 1.5 million packages being delivered per day by 2019. Several logistics hubs and warehouses have been built within the city to more quickly distribute packages in the New York City area. In 2016, NYCDOT commissioner Polly Trottenberg said that 90% of goods transported into New York City arrived via truck. The influx of large motor vehicles on the already constricted city streets has had a considerable effect on the flow of traffic. In the most congested areas of Manhattan traffic vehicle traffic moves 23% slower than it has from 2010 to 2019, and for the bridges and tunnels funneling traffic to and from the city, traffic has slowed down even more considerably. As a result, traffic-related pollution increased around 9% from 1990 to 2019, even when adjusted for population growth. Though it is legal for delivery trucks to double park in most locations while making deliveries during off-peak hours, this often leads to congestion on the surrounding streets when double parking occurs during peak hours. There are often complaints that delivery trucks take up bike lanes and parking spaces. In 2018 alone, four delivery companies ( UPS, FedEx, FreshDirect, and Peapod) were fined a combined $27 million due to parking and traffic violations. However, some delivery companies continued to double-park, incorporating any double-parking fines into the delivery fee. Further, the city's Stipulated Parking Fine Program allows drivers to eliminate their previous double-parking violations by paying a predetermined fine without challenging it in court. As a result, in 2019, the NYCDOT started enforcing rules to restrict deliveries in the midtown zone during peak hours, impose a time limit on deliveries, and ban commercial double-parking on streets with one lane of traffic. To reduce peak-hour traffic and truck emissions, the NYCDOT also operates the Off-Hour Deliveries Program in Manhattan's midtown zone, which requires deliveries in that zone to be made between 7 pm to 6 am.

Taxis

There are 13,237 taxis operating in New York City, not including over 40,000 other for-hire vehicles. Their distinctive yellow paint has made them New York icons. Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. "Medallion taxis", the familiar yellow cabs, are historically the only vehicles in the city permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail. In 2013, a new type of street hailed livery vehicles called " boro taxis" in "apple green" color are permitted to pick up passengers in the

outer boroughs New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City the largest U.S. municipality situated in mult ...

and the northern part of

. A cab's availability is indicated by the light on the top of the car. When the light is lit, the cab is empty and available; when it is not lit, the cab is unavailable. Fares begin at US$3.00 and increase based on the distance traveled and time spent in slow traffic. The passenger also must pay for tolls incurred during the ride. The average cab fare in 2000 was US$6.00; over US$1 billion in fares were paid that year in total. Since 1999, 241 million passengers have ridden in taxis in New York City. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, of the 42,000 cabbies in New York, 82% are foreign born: 23% from the Caribbean (the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

and Haiti), and 20% from South Asia (India,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

). Additionally, a large number of American citizen taxi drivers in New York are Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent. In 2014, 23.1% of taxi drivers were from Bangladesh, 13.2% from Pakistan, 9.3% from India, 6.5% from Haiti, 5.9% from the U.S., and 4.4% from Egypt. In 2005, New York introduced incentives to replace its current yellow cabs with electric hybrid vehicles then in May 2007, New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, proposed a five-year plan to switch New York City's taxicabs to more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles as part of an agenda for New York City to reduce

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...

as well as surging fuel costs. In 2010, Nissan won a contract to provide the New York with a design based on their NV200 minivan model.

Pedicabs, pedestrians, and bicycles

Cycling in New York City Cycling in New York City is associated with mixed cycling conditions that include dense urban proximities, relatively flat terrain, congested roadways with stop-and-go traffic, and streets with heavy pedestrian activity. The city's large cycling ...

is a rapidly growing mode of transport. In 2009, an estimated 200,000 city residents bicycle on a typical day, and make 655,000 trips each day, greater than the number of the ten most popular bus routes in the city. The city annually hosts the largest recreational cycling event in the United States, the

Five Boro Bike Tour The TD Five Boro Bike Tour is an annual recreational cycling event in New York City. It is produced by Bike New York. Conducted on the first Sunday of May, the ride includes over 30,000 riders. The route takes riders through all five of New Yo ...

, in which 30,000 cyclists ride through the city's boroughs. More than 500 people annually work as bicycle rickshaw, or pedicab, drivers, who in 2005 handled one million passengers. The City Council voted twice, including an override of Mayor Bloomberg's veto due to the market cap, in 2007 to license pedicab owners and drivers and allow only 325 pedicab licenses. Neither the limit on pedicabs nor the law itself went into effect due to a successful New York City Pedicab Owners' Association lawsuit over permit issuance. Ultimately, 943 pedicab business owners permits were issued in November 2009 after a second law was passed to address shortcomings of the 2007 law. Today, pedicabs meet market demand in midtown for both ecological transport as well as quick trips within the central business district during afternoon rush hours when motor traffic moves cross town at an average speed of 4.5 miles per hour. Walk and bicycle modes of travel account for 21% of all modes for trips in the city; nationally the rate for metro regions is about 8%. In 2000 New York had the largest number of walking commuters among large American cities in both total number and as a proportion of all commuters: 517,290, or 5.6%. Note that the U.S. Census reports different figures. See List of U.S. cities with most pedestrian commuters By way of comparison, the next city with the largest proportion of walking commuters,

, had 119,294 commuter pedestrians, amounting to 4.1% of that city's commuters. Citibank sponsored the introduction of 6,000 public bicycles for the city's bike-share project,

Citi Bike Citi Bike is a privately owned public bicycle sharing system serving the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, as well as Jersey City, New Jersey, and Hoboken, New Jersey. Named after lead sponsor Citigroup ...

, in mid-2013. Research conducted by Quinnipiac University showed that a majority of New Yorkers supported the initiative. Throughout the first year operations, there were more than 100,000 registered members who rode over , including 70,000 members in the first three months alone. In 2014, Citi Bike announced that it would expand its operations by 6,000 bikes and add 375 new docking stations by 2017. In November 2018, a further, five-year expansion was announced, which would double the bike-share system's service area to . In addition, the number of bicycles would more than triple, from 12,000 to 40,000. Stalls would be installed in the remainder of Manhattan, as well as parts of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. A "

green wave A green wave occurs when a series of traffic lights (usually three or more) are coordinated to allow continuous traffic flow over several intersections in one main direction. Any vehicle traveling along with the green wave (at an approximate spee ...

" refers to the programming of traffic lights to allow for continuous traffic flow (a series of green lights) over a number of intersections in one direction. In New York City, this “green wave” prioritizes bikers by timing traffic lights around the average biking speed, in addition to mitigating the negative effects of heavy automotive congestion. After a series of bicyclist deaths in 2019, the highest death toll for cyclists in two decades, the city decided to retime traffic lights, so that vehicles would have to travel an average of between consecutive green lights. Transportation commissioner Polly Trottenberg has pushed for increasing bike lanes to demonstrate the city's progress and commitment to transportation safety. However, with the expansion of cycling in New York City, there has been pushback from motorists. For example, in 2019, motorists and Upper West Side residents objected after two hundred parking spaces along Central Park West were eliminated to allow bike lane expansion.

Dollar vans

New York City has many forms of semi-formal and informal public transportation. Dollar vans in the New York metropolitan area serve major areas in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx that lack adequate subway service. They pick up and drop off anywhere along a route, and payment is made at the end of a trip. Similar to dollar vans, Chinese vans serve predominantly Chinese communities in Chinatown;

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

; Sunset Park, and Elmhurst. Jitney buses also provide transport to parts of

and Bergen County in New Jersey. Of particular note is the frequent Interstate express service offered along New Jersey Route 4 between the

George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal The George Washington Bridge Bus Station is a commuter bus terminal located at the east end of the George Washington Bridge in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in New York City. The bus station is owned and operated by the Port Authori ...

and Paterson, New Jersey, provided by

Spanish Transportation Spanish Transportation, officially Spanish Transportation Service Corporation, and operating under the name Express Service, is a privately operated bus company, which leases minibuses to individual operators, who provide service in and between var ...

. Highly competitive

operate routes from New York City's Chinatowns to other Chinatowns in the Northeast, with frequent service to major cities like Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. These companies use full-size coaches and offer fares much lower than traditional carriers like Greyhound and

Coach USA Coach USA, LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service across the ...

, who in turn have gone after the Chinatown carriers by offering online fares as low as $1 on BoltBus, NeOn, and Megabus services.

Aerial tramway

Built in 1976 to shuttle island residents to Midtown, the Roosevelt Island Tramway was originally intended to be a temporary commuter link for use until a subway station was established for the island. However, when the subway finally connected to Roosevelt Island in 1989, the tram was too popular to discontinue use. The Tramway is operated by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC). Each cable car has a capacity of 125 passengers. Travel time from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan is just under five minutes and the fare is the same as a subway ride. In 2006, service was suspended on the tramway for six months after a service malfunction that required all passengers to be evacuated.

Airports

New York City is the top international air passenger gateway to the United States. New York is the busiest air gateway in the nation. In 2011 more than 104 million passengers used the major airports serving the city, John F. Kennedy International (also known as JFK), Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia. Teterboro serves as a primary general aviation airport. JFK and Newark both connect to regional rail systems by a light rail service. JFK and Newark serve long-haul domestic and international flights. The two airports' outbound international travel accounted for about a quarter of all U.S. travelers who went overseas in 2004. LaGuardia caters to short-haul and domestic destinations. JFK is the major entry point for international arrivals in the United States and is the largest international air freight gateway in the nation by value of shipments. About 100 airlines from more than 50 countries operate direct flights to JFK. The JFK- London Heathrow route is the leading U.S. international airport pair. The airport is located along Jamaica Bay near

Howard Beach, Queens Howard Beach is a neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, to the south by Jamaica Bay in Broad Channel, to the east by ...

, about east of downtown Manhattan. Newark was the first major airport serving New York City and is the fifth busiest international air gateway to the United States. Amelia Earhart dedicated the Newark Airport Administration Building in 1935, which was North America's first commercial airline terminal. In 2003, Newark became the terminus of the world's longest non-stop scheduled airline route, Continental's service to Hong Kong. In 2004, Singapore Airlines broke Continental's record by starting direct 18-hour flights from Newark to Singapore. The airport is located in Newark, New Jersey, about west of downtown Manhattan. LaGuardia, the smallest of New York's primary airports, handles domestic flights. It is named for Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the city's great Depression-era mayor known as a reformist and strong supporter of the New Deal. A perimeter rule prohibits incoming and outgoing flights that exceed 1,500 miles (2,400 km) except on Saturdays, when the ban is lifted, and to Denver, which has a grandfathered exemption. As a result, most transcontinental and international flights use JFK and Newark. The airport is located in northern Queens about from downtown Manhattan. Plans were announced in July 2015 to entirely rebuild LaGuardia Airport in a multibillion-dollar project to replace its aging facilities. Manhattan has three public heliports, used mostly by business travelers. A regularly scheduled helicopter service operates flights to JFK Airport from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, located at the eastern end of Wall Street. There are also the East 34th Street Heliport and the

West 30th Street Heliport The West 30th Street Heliport is a heliport on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The original heliport opened with two landing pads on September 26, 1956, and that December New York Airways began scheduled passenger flights, the first ...

Seaport

The Port of New York and New Jersey, with its natural advantages of deep water channels and protection from the Atlantic Ocean, has historically been one of the most important ports in the United States, and is now the third busiest in the United States behind South Louisiana and Houston, Texas in volume of cargo. In 2011, more than 34 million tons of oceanborne general cargo moved through the port. Bulk cargo represented another 52 million tons per year. Some 367,000 vehicles were imported and 284,000 were exported. In 2005 more than 5,300 ships delivered to the port goods that went to 35% of the U.S. population. The port is experiencing rapid growth. Shipments increased 5.2% in 2011. There are three cargo terminals on the New York City side of the harbor, including the

Howland Hook Marine Terminal The Howland Hook Marine Terminal, operating as ‘’’GCT New York,’’’ is a container port facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey located at Howland Hook in northwestern Staten Island, New York City. It is situated on the east ...

on Staten Island, and the combined

Red Hook Container Terminal The Red Hook Marine Terminal is an intermodal freight transport facility that includes a container terminal located on the Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The maritime facility in Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York ...

/Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Several additional larger cargo terminals and a passenger terminal are on the New Jersey side. Originally focused on Brooklyn's waterfront, especially at the

in Sunset Park, most container ship cargo operations have shifted to the

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

on Newark Bay. The terminal, operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the largest port complex on the East Coast, with 4.3 million TEUs ( twenty-foot equivalent units) of containerized cargo, which accounts for 61% of the North Atlantic container market. $208 billion of cargo passed through the Port of New York and New Jersey in 2011. The top five trading partners at the port are China, India, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. The New York Harbor is also a major hub for passenger ships. More than half a million people depart annually from Manhattan's New York Passenger Ship Terminal on the Hudson River, accounting for five percent of the worldwide cruise industry and employing 21,000 residents in the city. The ''

Queen Mary 2 RMS ''Queen Mary 2'' (also referred to as the ''QM2'') is a British transatlantic ocean liner. She has served as the flagship of Cunard Line since succeeding ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' in 2004. As of 2022, ''Queen Mary 2'' is the only ocean liner ...

'', the world's second largest passenger ship and one of the few traditional ocean liners still in service, was designed specifically to fit under the Verrazano Bridge, itself the longest suspension bridge in the United States. The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is her regular port of call for transatlantic runs from

Southampton, England Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Por ...

Cape Liberty Cruise Port The Cape Liberty Cruise Port is one of three trans-Atlantic passenger terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located in Bayonne, New Jersey at the north side of the long pier of the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, a former military ...

in Bayonne is the third passenger terminal servicing the city. Water quality in the New York Harbor improved dramatically in the late 20th century. New Yorkers regularly kayak and sail in the harbor, which has become a major recreational site for the city.

Current and proposed expansion projects

D TBM Moved into Launch Block, Queens, New York (7303073570)

Several proposals for expanding the New York City transit system are in various stages of discussion, planning, initial funding, or construction. Some proposals will compete with others for available funding: *The

Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...

, a north–south line first proposed in 1919, will run from 125th Street in East Harlem to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan when completed. The first phase, from 63rd Street to 96th Street opened for passenger service on January 1, 2017. *The East Side Access project will route some Long Island Rail Road trains to Grand Central Terminal instead of Penn Station. Since many LIRR commuters work on the east side of Manhattan, many in walking distance of Grand Central, this project will save travel time and reduce congestion at Penn Station and on subway routes connecting it with the east side. It will also greatly expand the hourly capacity of the LIRR system. Completion is scheduled for 2022. *The

Penn Station Access Penn Station Access is a public works project underway by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The goal of the project is to allow Metro-North Railroad commuter trains to access Penn Station on Manhattan's West Side, usi ...

project will allow some Metro-North trains on the

New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...

, and eventually the Hudson Line, to reach Penn Station. The first phase, which involves four new stops for the New Haven Line, has an expected opening of 2023. *The

Gateway Project The Gateway Program (originally Gateway Project) is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey and New York City, New York. The right-of-way runs between Newark Penn Station ...

will add a second pair of railroad tracks under the

, connecting an expanded Penn Station to

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

and

lines. This project is a successor to a similar one called Access to the Region's Core, which was canceled in October 2010 by New Jersey Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

. The project has been delayed due to a lack of funding. *Although New York City does not have light rail, a few proposals exist: ** There is a proposal to convert 42nd Street into a light rail transit mall that would be closed to all vehicles except emergency vehicles. The original 1988 plan on which it is based included a loop east to Penn Station along 34th Street. Although a truncated 42nd Street light rail line was approved by the City Council in 1994, it stalled due to lack of funding and opposition from local communities worried about increased traffic. Once the city government proposed the 7 Subway Extension/

IRT Flushing Line The IRT Flushing Line is a rapid transit route of the New York City Subway system, named for its eastern terminal in Flushing, Queens. It is operated as part of the A Division. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator, ...

(), it lost interest in any light rail on 42nd Street. **

Staten Island light rail Staten Island light rail proposals refer to two projects in the New York City borough of Staten Island. These proposals are among the several light rail projects that have been floated in New York City in recent years. Neither proposal was funded ...

proposals have found political support from Senator Charles Schumer and local political and business leaders. **

Brooklyn Historic Railway Association The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (BHRA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a shop, trolley barn and offices located in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, on the historic Beard Street Piers (c. 1870). BHRA had a fleet of 16 trolleys (1 ...

has also proposed a light rail in Red Hook, Brooklyn, but that was judged to be infeasible and is largely made redundant by the Brooklyn Queens Connector. **The Brooklyn Queens Connector streetcar connecting Astoria, Queens and Sunset Park, Brooklyn was proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in February 2016, with construction planned to begin in 2019 and service around 2029. *

is undergoing a redevelopment, one of the largest airport reconstruction projects in the world. In recent years, Terminals 1, 4, 5, and 8 have been reconstructed. * Santiago Calatrava proposed an aerial

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull, ...

system, linking Manhattan, Governors Island, and Brooklyn, as part of the city's plans to develop the island. *As part of a long-term plan to manage New York City's environmental sustainability, Mayor Michael Bloomberg released several proposals to increase mass transit usage and improve overall transportation infrastructure.
Apart from support of the above capital projects, these proposals include the implementation of bus rapid transit, the reopening of closed LIRR and Metro-North stations, new ferry routes, better access for cyclists, pedestrians and intermodal transfers, and a congestion pricing zone for Manhattan south of 86th Street.

References

External links

MTA official websitePANYNJ official websiteNYC area transit mapRegional Plan AssociationNew York Metropolitan Transportation Council
an association of urban and suburban agencies {{navboxes, list= {{New York City {{NYC terminals {{New York metro area rail {{NYC surface transit Transportation planning Transportation in the New York metropolitan area

Air pollution in New York City de:New York City#Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur es:Nueva York#Transporte

Background

History

Mass transit use and car ownership

Environmental and social issues

Commuting/modal split

Ridership

Transit culture

Transit systems

Rail

Rapid transit systems

= MTA

= PATH

Airport services

Commuter rail

Intercity rail

Buses

Other transit

Major transit hubs

Ferries

Roads and expressways

Bridges and tunnels

Expressways

Private automobiles

Congestion pricing

Delivery trucks

Taxis

Pedicabs, pedestrians, and bicycles

Dollar vans

Aerial tramway

Airports

Seaport

Current and proposed expansion projects

See also

References

Further reading

External links