maybe you've been riding the subway for a while now you understand uptown and downtown
you know the difference between local and express trains you know how to read these subway alerts
and maybe you might even have a favorite train the subway is no longer daunting to you and
you ride it with confidence so maybe it's time to advance to the next level and upgrade your subway
skills so in this video i have five tips on how to upgrade your subway powers so you could be an
advanced subway rider in new york city hi and welcome to urban caffeine my name is thea and
you're watching a channel that talks about urban culture transit and history if you're a fan of
the new york city subway hit that like button and if you're not and you're just forced to ride it
because there's no other option also hit that like button if you're new to new york and have
not ridden the new york city subway or you have but you're not that comfortable with it you need
to pause this video and watch my subway beginner guide which is linked in the description below
and then come back to this video because you might be confused with some of the things i'll
talk about in this advanced subway guide but once you're done with the beginner guide come back to
this video don't worry it's not going anywhere but if the new york city subway is not your
first rodeo and you've been riding it for a while then this video is for you so keep on watching
pre-walking is an actual term and it can save you some time pre-walking is when you are waiting for
your train you save time by walking a spot on the platform that preps you for your destination
meaning when you board the train by the time you get to the next station you are at the
best position to access your exit stairs or next transfer so instead of waiting for train then
walking when you get to your destination you save time by doing the walking while waiting for your
train thus the term pre-walking but pre-walking can create crowding there was this article i read
a while back where a group of people wanted to help out passengers pre-walk so they put
up these stickers to let them know the optimum spot to stand at but the mta said in that same
article that they plan to take down those stickers to prevent overcrowding i don't know what happened
to that project and i never kept up with the story but i think that was a good concept there are apps
out there that help with pre-walking and the ones that i like are city mapper and transit
i feel that citymapper has an overall better interface when it comes to all transportation
in new york city whereas transit has a better visual representation of showing your options when
you're traveling from point a to point b but with pre-walking there is a critical element to know
and that is what direction the train is going to be coming from is it going to be coming from your
left or is it going to be coming from your right and that brings us to tip number two
the new york city subway has signal lights in the tunnels the way cars have traffic lights
above ground you know where the train is coming from if you pay attention to these signal lights
because logically the signal lights will be facing the train as it approaches the station
but this is not a universal tip not all stations will have signal lights that can be spotted
so if you are at a station that does use them to your advantage
knowing where the train is coming from is your key to pre-walking
believe it or not for the most part this gaggle of lines conform to the manhattan grid
especially around midtown the 4, 5, 6 runs along park avenue the F and M runs along 6th avenue
123 is on 7th ave A, C, E is on 8th ave and the N, R, W, Q has broadway for cross streets
you have stations on all these lines on 42nd 34th 23rd and 14th you're probably asking why is this
important to know mastering the midtown grid and how it relates to the new york city subway is your
key to gaining independence from your phone once you learn how to orient yourself and know where
the trains are on this grid you will be free from the shackles of gps you're gonna be one of those
savvy new yorkers that instead of asking for the address of the restaurant you're gonna be asking
for the cross section oh yes i know that shop it's near the corner of 36th and 6th. once you know an
intersection you'll know the subway lines that are closest to it and which is the most optimum
route to take even though i pretty much mastered the midtown grid and how it relates to the subway
lines i still use the gps just to make sure that there are no service changes even when i run into
a service alert and i'm too lazy to look for my phone i already have a good idea of how to alter
my course to get to where i'm going and i also have a vague idea of how late i'm going to be you
can even take it a step further and learn how to read the address of an establishment so you have a
vague idea of where this is on the grid but that's a topic for another day we're not going to dig
deep into how to interpret a new york city address but there is a formula plus mastering the street
grid layout makes it easier to write a taxi taxi drivers know the grid like the back of their
hands so if you just spout out intersection you don't have to worry on how they're going to get
you there they're just going to get you there lower manhattan is not as simple as midtown
and it does not have a clean grid but if you look closely key streets to know are canal and chambers
so this tip might not be applicable if you have an unlimited metro card this tip only applies
to those that pay per ride which i feel a lot more people are doing because they're working from home
if you are paying per ride whether it's via metrocard or your credit card or debit card
once you swipe you are charged $2.75 and you have two hours to make a transfer if you're patient you
could use this two hour window to your advantage and potentially get a free ride for example
there's a trader joe's in court square if you live in green point you can take the g to trader joe's
to do your grocery shopping if you time it right from the moment you swipe to the time you walk
into trader joe's that will take you about 15 to 20 minutes say a grocery shop for one hour which
is totally doable in new york city even when the lines are long don't be afraid if the lines are
really long they go really fast here in new york i feel like a lot of places manage lines really well
at least at trader joe's after grocery shopping you have about 40 minutes left to make a transfer
which means you can take the B32 bus back to greenpoint if you use the same metrocard or
credit card you won't be charged on your way back because it's still considered a transfer
because you are still within the two hour window i'm using a train and bus combo to demo this point
but someone could also take the same bus going and returning depending on how far they live from
the stations this free transfer is good between subway to bus bus to subway or bus to bus so if
you include at least one bus ride in your mission you could potentially get one of the legs for free
in some situations it's not really practical because sometimes the bus and subway are delayed
and they take forever to get to you especially on the weekends but when the stars align and
you get two rides within that two hour window it's like you won something it's like finding
$2.75 in your planner that you weren't expecting i mean do people use planners not all transfers
are created equal sometimes you'll get off a train and then your next train is on the same platform
so you don't have to walk and you just wait for your next train but other times you get these
deceptive connections like the one at times square and 42nd street the times square station claims to
have transfers among these trains but in reality the ace trains are an avenue away you'll have to
walk through this long tunnel with depressing poetry written on its ceiling one day we're
going to talk about this poem right in the ceiling of this tunnel but that's not today so make sure
you're subscribed and hit that notification bell historically new york had three independent subway
lines the bmt and ind lines had larger trains and larger tunnels the irt had smaller trains and
smaller tunnels so when the city wanted to unify all the subway lines the large trains couldn't
fit in the smaller tunnels and using smaller trains would be hazardous in large tunnels so the
tracks stayed where they were and to connect these lines together the city built tunnels so computers
can transfer in between trains with this in mind you'll notice that more often a numbered train to
another number train will be an easier connection than a numbered trained to a letter train
while this is usually the case especially in manhattan it's not universal for example the
7 to the N in queensborough is an extremely easy transfer so when you're looking at your
transportation app and you're seeing that you have multiple options to get to where you're going
consider what the transfers look like is the transfer gonna be easy or is the transfer gonna
make you walk an avenue or two the thing with these transit apps is sometimes what they consider
the best option is the fastest route although the fastest route might not necessarily mean you
walk less comment down below i would love to know your thoughts on this would you rather a slightly
longer commute but you don't have to walk very far or you don't have to do any transfers or would you
want a faster commute even though you have to walk further or you have to have one or two transfers
also i think the most notorious transfers are the one from times square and you have to transfer to
the A, C, E and then there's that transfer between the E and the 6 on lexington which requires you to
go on an adventure on these deep escalators that are rickety and kind of scary i actually know
someone who fell on these escalators so be careful always hold on to the handrails even if it's gross
because you don't want to break your neck just carry some hand sanitizer so those are my five
advanced subway tips for you but really ride the subway often enough get lost a few times and soon
riding the subway will be instinctual and you'll be able to navigate it with confidence and ease
believe me navigating will become second nature and oh yes those that have been following my
channel you'll notice that i have a new backdrop here it's a new year new backdrop let me know what
you think in the comments below i hope you found this video useful if you learned something new and
different comment down below or if you want to share a tip to help other people be an advanced
subway writer as well don't forget to like this video subscribe and hit that notification bell so
you won't miss future videos until next time thank you so much for watching and happy new yorking