[Music] it's been two years since this channel published this video on how to use the subway
system in New York City in detail it talks about things like how to read signs how to
find entrances and where to stand and when this video has been the best performing video of this
channel followed by these videos on how to pay for transit in New York City however a lot of you
still have questions on how to use public transit specifically the subway system in New York city
so I've gathered all the commonly asked questions so that today we can talk about things like Fair
capping paying for multiple people paying for kids and the confusion between the air train the path
and the subway welcome to Urban caffeine my name is Thea and you're watching a channel that talks
about anything and everything public transit in New York City as always if you like videos like
these make sure to hit the like button and share it with others whether you're using a smartphone
credit card or metro card you you can pay up to four people at a time however if you're using a
metro card and it has Unlimited on it like 7 Day or 30 day unlimited you can only use this card
for yourself so if you want everybody with you to have unlimited everyone needs to have their
own metro card and if you just have many value on the Metro card and not unlimited then just
like a credit card you can pay up to four people at a time so a lot of people ask this how do you
pay for more than one person with a single metro card or a credit card so if you have four people
with you you don't tap your credit card four times and let four people go through to pay for
multiple people in your group you pay once then one person goes through then pay again then the
second person goes through Etc and you might be familiar with Fair copying that's when you get
the rides for the week free after you paid for 12 rides so how does that work when you're paying for
more than one person at a time only the first tab will count towards the weekly fare cap so
if you took two trips and paid for four people you only get two rights credited towards your cap once
you reach the cap of 12 rides and you're still paying for others only the first tap will be free
the air train at JFK the New York City subway and the path to New Jersey are different systems but
they all accept the metro card however only the New York City subway accepts the unlimited rides
along with the local buses and only these will accept a credit or debit card directly the air
train and the path will not but word is out that the path is looking to get its own contactless
payment system so maybe in the near future we can use a credit card directly on the path let's hope
a MetroCard can hold both unlimited and dollar value so in coming from JFK you can put unlimited
plus eight dollars and 25 cents on the same metro card the air train will charge 8.25 and the subway
will recognize the unlimited value but this only works for one person if there are two of you you
will both need your own metro card but if you don't need unlimited you can put any dollar amount
on the Metro card and it can be used by both you or even four of you on the air train subway and
even the path if you opt to directly use a credit card on the subway you will still need a MetroCard
for the air train and the path needs either a metro card or a paper ticket there's news that
they're going to try out Omni readers or credit card readers at the JFK Airport hopefully this
becomes a full-blown rollout so people no longer have to buy a metro card just to use the air train
they can use a credit card for the air train and credit card for the subway and no need to be using
machines to figure out what kind of car to get and just being confused wouldn't that be today
to be not confused here are more videos to guide you on these transit systems a lot of people have
been asking about the metro card if it's still available or has it been phased out there's a lot
of confusion on this because the MTA has been announcing that the metro card will be phased
out in 2023 but the date kept getting pushed later and later until now it's TVD the MetroCard is used
by other transit systems not just the subway and buses however today only the subway and buses have
these credit card readers or Omni readers and not only is the installation of readers the only issue
there's also the special Affairs to consider special discount cards like seniors students
low income and those with disabilities and it sounds like they haven't figured out how to roll
out these special Fair cards if you want a full breakdown on the Metro card check out this video
I also often get asked what my favorite Transit apps are what do I recommend I
usually use Google Maps City mapper and the transit app is another one that's good but
I don't always use it because I've been using Google Maps and citymapper for so long I really
haven't switched to any other app or tried any other app out so if there's another app that
you want to recommend comment down below what's great about Google Maps is that you can use it in
most places around the world I love it because when I travel I don't need to download another
map of the city I could just use Google Maps and it does show me the transit that's available in
that area so there's no relearning a new app or downloading something that you might only
use once it's the same for city mapper citymapper is available in a lot of cities around the world
what I like about City mapper it shows you all the options you have for Transit and provides
offline maps if they're available in that City so if you lose signal for some reason you still have
the maps to guide you however when it comes to buses apps are not always reliable I was
introduced to pantograph when I was in Seattle because the bus system there is pretty robust
pantograph gives you a live update on all the buses and sometimes even other transit systems
in the area with some really good information but what's important is you can see the bus coming or
not coming if pantograph was available in New York I would recommend it but unfortunately it's not if
this is available in your city comment down below and let me know how accurate or not accurate it is
but of all the apps and methods I use to see if a bus is on the way or how long the bus is going to
take to get to me I find the most accurate are these signs on the bus stops so the bus stands
will have these signs or you can text a number the code to the specific bus stand and you can
get the time of the next bus arriving this is a great way to double check if the app has lied to
you or not if that bus is going to get there in three to five minutes and a lot of people travel
to New York with kids and so they're always asking what about kids fair or how do I pay for my kids
if your kid can duck under the turnstile they are free to enter but the official height is 44 inches
but for parents with taller kids I've been asked if they should just set up a digital wallet for
each of their kids if you don't care about Fair capping because maybe you think you won't use the
subway that much or you just don't want to deal with the hassle then by all means it's easier to
just pay for everyone with one credit card however you won't be able to get the fair capping benefits
for everyone just for one person the other option is to get everybody their own metro card or set
up a digital wallet for everyone the problem with giving everybody their own MetroCard is if
you have to refill it you're gonna have to refill everybody's metro card and it's a hassle an omni
card does exist but I wouldn't recommend it for anybody visiting just because one they don't have
at the station you have to go to a convenience store to buy one and two they cost five dollars
versus a metro card is only one dollar as long as the metro card is still available
I do recommend it for tourists versus getting an omni card or directly using just the credit card
depending on your bank maybe your bank will only allow for two transactions on a machine maybe four
I get different feedback on this it's a fraud prevention thing so if you have a big family I
recommend bringing at least a couple credit cards or debit cards and some people say their debit
card did not work these card readers accept Visa Mastercard American Express discover and other
cards but for debit cards if yours requires a pin for purchase it will not work on these readers
so those are the answers to questions I often get if you have more questions comment below and if
you know the answer to these questions also comment below and together we form a Transit
Community yay the metro card trips up a lot of people mostly because it can have both unlimited
and cash value on it and there are different types of metro card but it's hard to know the
distinction like the 25 ride at the JFK air train is a metro card but you can't put unlimited value
on it and you can't put money on it's just for those 25 rides at the airport but they look just
the same on the front and the student cards I talked about this last week the student cards
have nine different types at least the student cards look different from the metro card but
the ideal future I dream of is that Transit cards are only optional and you can pay everything with
a credit or debit card because we all know how to use a debit credit card it's simple and eliminates
the need to use these machines to figure out fair to figure out what kind of fare to buy and to be
able to use a credit or debit card regardless of whether you're transferring from the subway
to the path to the Long Island Railroad even if you have to pay for each of these systems
individually at least the hassle of figuring out how to get a ticket is eliminated you can just
use your credit card what bothers me a lot is there's only one way to pay for the air train
and that's to use a metro card so if you are planning to use a credit card once you get to
New York to pay for the subway and buses and not have to deal with refilling a MetroCard you still
have to get one at the JFK airport and it's an extra dollar on top of that 825 that you have to
pay and like I said earlier they're looking into getting OMNY readers and credit card readers at
the airport and I think that would be amazing and awesome for everybody because it's just this one
something that you have to pay to exit wouldn't it be nice to just pay it straight up with a credit
card or debit card anyway that's all I got thank you all for watching and if you want to support
this channel I have a patreon page supporters get access to my Creator and activities Vlog
here I share what it's like being a Creator and things I do in New York City check that out at
patreon.com Urban caffeine until the next video have a great week ahead and happy new yorking