Sorry but the NYC is a third world subway. This NYC subway does not come close ar all at being beautiful, clean, civilized, fast, efficient and no nasty smells. Even the Moscow subway network looks better and has way more riders than NYC. Even Moscow trains are decorated with Christmas lights and Christmas decorations and no one vandalize the decorations.
@@blue9multimediagroup that's the problem it can't even get people from A to B. Delayed or late trains are not acceptable service. You clearly have not seen the first world class metros of Moscow or Japan, the NYC metro is an embarrassment and a joke. It's no wonder the NYC metro sucks people willingly accept the bare minimum. Then you also have mass fare evasion and it's no wonder the MTA is in debt.
@@richardalvarez2390 architecture & mosaics along the West End D line, that seabreeze air from Bay Parkway Bensonhurst (D), Brighton Beach (B,Q) or Rockaway Park B. 116th St (A,S). Clean outdoor stations, quite civilized. Intervals of 8,10 or 12 minutes (Rockaways 15/20 prevent logjams with the A from Lefferts & Rockaway Blvd). Just have to know where to look.
New York based rail fan here. The best description of a subway is a great system that’s constantly plagued with problems This makes people think that it’s terrible and shouldn’t be fixed
They need to clean up all the crime and homeless, rehab the stations, and bring the system to a state of good repair. The last two can't happen when you run 24/7.
Hi, NYC based railfan and advocate here. This was such an amazing video that perfectly summarizes the complexities of the NYC Subway. However, I did notice a few errors. 0:55 This is actually the BMT Fulton St elevated. The BMT Lexington Ave elevated is actually north of the line presented here and is partially torn down. 1:32 The first subway, or the IRT Main Line, ran on the East Side, then turned west on 42nd St, and then turned north on Broadway to run on the west side. It formed a Z shape, and was nicknamed the "Z" system. 1:40 The subways were actually owned by the city but leased to private operators, according to the Rapid Transit Act of 1894. 4:06 We never really use colors. We use letters or numbers. For example, the "red line" we call the 1, 2, or 3 trains, or the IRT 7th Ave Line. Even still, this is a great video. Keep up the good work!
Hey! Thanks for the comment and the support. I am obviously not from New York, so I had to just do my best to do my research and make an informative video. I apologize for any mistakes, just know I did the best I could!
Hey, Tech Transit, I disagree with you on not referring to colors as lines. They are used collectively when it doesn't matter what train is which. When the superstorm happened the other month, in the Upper East Side, MTA agents told people to "take the yellow line" (their words) instead of Lexington because it wouldn't matter N/Q/R/W, no one would get confused on those instructions.
@@Jonathan-f6x3q To be fair, if MTA agents were telling people to take the "yellow" line, it doesn't necessarily mean that we as New Yorkers (or as employees) use that terminology in the system. It just makes it easier to help tourists to navigate the system. Not doing so would illicit the "How do I know which line is which" expressions on their faces.
As someone who lived in NYC as a kid and a college student then moved to the south. I can appreciate the system more because I lived in areas where having a car is a must.
I live in NYC. I liked your fair, balanced and accurate portrayal of this system. I don’t recall you mentioning the fact that it is also a 24 hour system, unlike most others in the world. (Just used it today to get back from Coney Island and the Brooklyn Half Marathon)
@@richardalvarez2390 It was also built 50 years after the oldest sections of the NYC subway, and it doesn't have either express service or 24-hour operations. Cleanliness and station design are important, but not everything.
@@braedonallen4291 How does Japan and Moscow do it. Moscow has museum like marble stations and much more quite trains, no rats or trash being thrown. The floors are spotless clean. No miscellaneous or nasty liquids. In fact 40 of the stations are protected world heritage sites. They are so beautiful that they have plenty of selfie spots. Now that is truly a world class metro
@@richardalvarez2390 It's quite simple really. The central governments of Japan and Russia invest heavily into the construction and upkeep of such systems, Japan because it is a dense country that depends heavily on such a method of transit for day-to-day life (and its legislature doesn't have an inbuilt advantage for suburban and rural constituencies), and Russia because most of the state's money goes to Moscow and St. Petersburg, so they can easily afford such a thing. The US federal government couldn't possibly care less about public transit, because the Senate gives rural and suburban states disproportionate power to set policy, so it doesn't really try. That being said, there are many systems in the US that have a much more pleasant ridership experience than the New York City subway, including better station design and far better cleanliness. Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and especially Washington DC all come to mind.
@@braedonallen4291 it's not governments role to meddle with state Publix transport. The NYC MTA is corrupt and many scandals have occurred. Also NYC has a culture problem of mass fare evasion. Russian metros are very affordable to ride and the experience is way better. Their metros are decorated with Christmas lights and Christmas decorations and there is no vandalization. There is no mass fare evasion. NYC is a city full of amoral, materialistic that it's no wonder riders abuse the system by not paying their fare
As a New Yorker, this is a pretty good introduction to the NYC subway system. Although there are a few errors in detail (at least, for at this time), they should not affect the video by too much, as most people won’t be that affected by the information. Note 1: At 4:00, like how some people mentioned, is locals don’t really refer the lines by their color. Instead, we typically call them by the groups of lines together. For example, we call the light grey line “the L train” (we call them “trains” here, not “line”), or the green line “4 5 6 train”, or the yellow line “N Q R W train”, and so on. Also, at the time of this recording, the turquoise line (T train) does not exist yet, it is still under construction. Note 2: at 4:15, you used an outdated version of the subway map. The key sign for me is that 34 st Hudson yards station has not been built yet, in 2016. However, this doesn’t really affect anything, since you were talking about the 1 2 3 B D F M trains, in which I’m not aware has any changes. Note 3: A missed opportunity you could have mentioned was the express trains. The express trains, personally, feel really well done in this system, though very complex for a system as well. Because of that, I feel it’s ok to leave that out as well. Overall, I agree with everything, and it’s unbiased. This is a great video for someone who wants to visit the city. PS: If you ever come back to NYC next time, you must see the new r211 subway trains. At the current time, they are only seen on the A, C and SIR trains (by SIR trains, they will be available soon, but the others are already operational). Unlike ANY of the other NYC subway models, these has a whole load of new cutting edge technology-blue led, HD information screens, color lighting on doors, which side the doors will open, etc.
Yep, there are certain inaccuracies in his narrative. But he did a great job nonetheless. For an out-of-towner with limited knowledge of the system, it’s an amazing piece.
@@BeaverGeography As a cheapskate non-New Yorker who intentionally stays in hotels outside of Manhattan within walking distance of NJT, LIRR, or NYCS stations, I'll respectfully point out that you didn't ride the "Red Line," you rode "The One," "The Two," or "The Three." Unlike DC and other cities with newer metro systems, the colors are used ONLY to enhance clarity in wayfinding. The routes are identified by numbers, letters, or major destination serviced (for the two shuttle routes). 🎵The More You Know 🎵
@@colormedubious4747 I thought they were designated by color before my daughter and I visited NYC the first time. We realized that wasn't the case from looking at the arrival/departure boards and hearing locals refer to them by their number or letter designation soon after switching from the Air train to Jamaica station. We took the subway to midtown from there. I don't remember which train it was. I remember our hotel(The Benjamin)was across the corner from Lexington station where we exited the subway though.
I’m from Manhattan and have lived in Seoul and Kaiserslautern. I now live in Tokyo. I can say that the MTA is not even close to efficient when compared to other developed countries. For US standards it works because we don’t know better.
If those metros received as little funds as MTA, they would’ve fallen into a much worse disrepair and much sooner. The fact that NYC subway keeps running in spite of underfunding only proves it most resilient in the world. And with congestion pricing about to bring in the much needed capital funds, it will be in par with Seoul or Tokyo in a decade or so. As for the Moscow metro you’re so proud of, guess what: Pyongyang metro is even more beautiful. But I doubt any sane human being would be so eager to live there. Better to have a “third-world” subway (though it’s not really the third world if the funding variable is considered) but have freedom to disagree with the government than to ride the most beautiful metro but not dare to refer the war for what it is.
That line is beautiful to get up and down Manhattan quickly! I recall taking the 2 from lower Manhattan all the way up to my hotel room on the upper west side to drop stuff off, then zipping right back on it to go back downtown to do something else planned.
Great video. I remember my first trip to NYC I fell in love with the subway and how well it generally works. I still love taking it when I go back there every few years.
PRO TIP: If you're visiting NYC, a great place to stay is downtown Brooklyn. It's less expensive that Manhattan, quieter (not quiet though), and has a ton of lines that pass through the area. Very easy to get anywhere in the city quickly.
Great video. Glad you enjoyed your experience. One thing that a lot of non-NYC residents don't get about the subway system is that it is there primarily for residents to make routine trips. There are even a couple of NYC transit RU-vidrs who make videos knocking or questioning facets of the system, that have little to nothing to do with transporting people to work, school, shopping, and back home. Most of the systems' users are not in search of an extravagant experience. The City's streets are crowded, dirty, noisy, and sketchy. The subway system is an extension of the city in which it exists ...
My daughter and I have visited NYC twice. We live in an area where there's practically zero public transportation so the traveling on the subway was actually one of the high points of both trips.
Oh a few mistakes in this video, your map of the original underground subway is wrong. The line went uptown ro 42nd street crosssed over to 7 ave then continued uptown to Harlem. Also the lines are not called by their colors but by their names. For example the Lexington ave line and/or the number 6 train.
7:01 you showed a picture of a derailment that happened due to a homeless person throwing things in the tracks which caused the train to jump the tracks
Your experience with the NYC subway is so positive because you showed up in the touristy parts and didn't go far. For the people that live here, the subway is dysfunctional at best, and useless at worst. All of the trains center around Manhattan because that is where the work is. Even on a good day, commute is an hour to 90 minutes each way. Then the weekends come and large swaths of the line are down for "maintenance" that never seems to wrap up. The city itself has failed miserably to keep the subways up to date and lines like the A are still running on their 1920's switch boards.
It's not up to date but it's definitely functional. You have to understand that the way the systems were designed doesn't allow for it to be shut down and repaired without major delays and problems for commuters. There's not even enough railyard space to store all the trains in the system, meaning it has to be 24/7 operational. The city hasn't failed, the MTA has. It needs to allocate funds more responsibly, but understand its massive budget is definitely needed because of the age and complexity of the system.
The condition of NYC subway stations don’t necessarily reflect their geography or the status of the neighbourhoods they’re located in. You can find some recently renovated stations in southern Brooklyn that don’t even look like your stereotypical “third world” NYC subway. And you can find the most decrepit station in lower Manhattan, just below the city hall itself. That station has been a place of pilgrimage for NYC-subway-bashers on RU-vid for years, but this luxury won’t last for long: the station is scheduled to undergo renovation this or next year.
Finally a video on transit, I knew you’d eventually make your way here. I also recommend you look at the Washington DC metro system it’s super clean and has less shenanigans then pretty much any other rapid transit in the US and it’s recent CEO Randy Clarke has been able to turn it around and now it has one of the highest rates of ridership post pandemic compared to pre COVID compared to other cities metros.
I visited DC this past November and was disappointed with the quality of service on the metro in comparison to my previous visits there. The speed is lower, the dwelling time at station is longer….
I think I'd have a panic attack trying to navigate NYC subway system. Being from a rural area, it's like another world for me. However, it is amazing how the city keeps it going all day, every day. Thanks for your content 👏🙌
Honestly, nowadays apps like Google maps (and citymapper for the real pros) make it relatively simple, but I have no idea how new users would be able to get around without them!
You might also want to discuss how the regional rail in the NYC area is integrated with the subway system. How they actually feed off each other eacch other.
Metro North, New Jersey Transit, LIRR along with the new Jersey path trains are completely different systems that have stations and transfers with the subway in mainly at Penn station, Grand Central, Jamaica, Atlantic terminal, Fulton, etc
FYI, the services are designated by numbers or letters, not colors. For the services that travel through Manhattan, the color designates which line it uses through midtown Manhattan. The three shuttles all use dark grey and the G uses its own color since it doesn't go into Manhattan.
Something I preferred about the subway compared to the tube system in London, is that you pay a one time fare and you can go from bottom to top of NYC, whereas with the tube it has zone's so depending on where you start and finish will depend on how much your fare costs you!
NYC native here. Most people hate when we say this, but NYC feels like the I my true city in the United States. Most other parts of the country have small cores of tall buildings and suburban settlements. I left in my 20s to see what the rest of the country was like. I was baffled at the state of public transportation and how spread out everything was. The latest WTF the as a trip to Dallas for the eclipse.
No way!!! At 1:54 the b-roll image you used has a sign for chop suey and on it is the US flag and the old shortly lived Chinese flag from the Beiyang government! Used from 1912-1928. I bet that sign would be worth a lot if it was still around
Always makes me laugh when out of state people visit my city and think our subway runs efficiently and is safe, etc. also at @5:38 that’s not Penn Station. That’s Moynihan Train Hall.
@@dock_yard1149NYC metro is a laughing stock when compared to other developed countries. I just love how Cash Jordan reports how nasty and third world NYC metros are. 😂
When I was younger and had nothing better to do, by brother and I would get on the subway all the way from last stops in the Bronx deep into Brooklyn to the beach or neighborhoods like Bay Ridge or Bensonhurst
Penn Station is primarily a commuter rail station serving NJTransit and Long Island Railroad trains coming into Manhattan, with the added bonus of subway connections on both ends of the block that it inhabits (A,C,E subway lines on 8th Ave & 1,2,3 lines on 7th Ave). The same goes for Grand Central which serves Metro North and Long Island Railroad trains (connection with 4,5,6,7 and Times-Sq shuttle services).Riders do not need to go above ground onto the street and this makes it incredibly efficient for commuters to transfer directly to the subway once they enter the city to reach their final destination.
FunFact: The Lettered Trains are the trains with the longer and wider train cars (4 doors per side) while the Numbered Trains are the Trains with narrow short cars (Only 3 doors per side). That why they use letters AND number rather than just a full lettering system or a full numbering system. It split into the A (numbered) and B (Lettered) divisions respectfully.
And I'm sure a NYC Railfan will jump in the replies and start firing of the actual measurements of each train and will go into intrigue detail about how some railcars can't run on certain lines because of sharp curves, and R-this, R-That in reference to specific type of railcars used on the system but let me remind them, that this a channel based on Geography and not solely about trains so there is no need to bring up finer details.
I advise you to take a trip to Japan and check out their train system, as someone who's taken subway in New York a lot of times, their system is far better.
One of the genius parts of the NYC Subway is that for large portions of the system, there are additional tracks dedicated to express services so you can skip a bunch of stations. No other system (I know of) uses this layout.
@@this51man, right, in Philadelphia, too. On Broad St it’s most similar to NYC as both pairs of tracks belong the same subway line. But you also have a four-track portion along Market St, though only the express tracks are the subway while the local ones are the trolleys.
The majority of the subway was built before the 1940s, 99% of it. So all those lines and stations were there for about 100 years. Many other cities in America had Subway and rail transit like New York. But many cities demolished their systems in favor of car infrastructure. Which is quite sad because I'm another timeline, American cities across the nation would have looked like New York and have better public transit
Oh yeah, the NYC subway infrastructure is very old. Same goes for other systems like the Chicago L, Boston Subway, PATH in New Jersey, the lines in Philadelphia as well. Still there’s a few other cities with some form of rapid transit that were built more recently (post WWII). Washington DC is most notable with the Metro, BART in the Bay Area is okay. The rest are mediocre at best. I have to give LA their flowers. They’re the poster boy for car dependency, suburban sprawl and traffic, yet they built the LA Metro eventually. Ridership numbers leave much to be desired and its coverage is limited, and the light rail lines are slow, it has improved a lot. There are some huge plans for expansion and a lot of construction going down right now with current projects. The LA Metro is supposed to see many of these completed in time for the 2028 Olympics.
There are dedicated channels on RU-vid from transit advocates such as RM Transit, Classy Whale, Miles in Transit and Stormy Kara that do deep dives into public and intercity transport.
The New York Subway is genius - it also service multiple functions as an open sewer, a homeless shelter, a rat breeding ground, etc. I can think of no other system in the world that serve so many functions.
I like your videos, but NO ONE calls the subway lines by color. This isn't Boston or Chicago. You call it by the letter/number designation. The colors simply indicate which lines share trackage.
I've always heard people in New York trash on the subway, but when they move from the city, they miss it. It's unfortunate the main reason why people take the subway is because they don't have another choice, because that's really unfair to what a truly excellent rail rapid transit network could provide to a city. But, even with the subway the way it is, at least the city has a subway. Without it, the city would cease to function.
Correction: the subway systems were not owned by the companies. They were owned by the city and the companies lease them out. the people wanted it to be run by the municipal government, but back then trains were a money making venture.
The IRT (Interbourough Rapid Transit) was the first system built, and it was privately owned. The BRT (Brooklyn Rapid Transit) became the BMT (Brooklyn Manhattan Transit), and was as well owned by a company and not the city. Only the IND (Independent) was build by the city. However in the 40s, the city purchased the other two systems and integrated everything together.
1:31 the line you drew is an incorrect silhouette of this first subway line. 1: the line started at city hall like you said, then went up Park Avenue. 2: it made a left onto 42nd Street. 3: took a right onto Broadway and ended at 145 St BROADWAY. the line you drew is only the Lexington Ave line and ends at the incorrect station, 145 St - Lenox Ave. that wasnt the first subway line. to sum it all up, the first subway line is a mix of the (1), (6), and 42nd Street (S) trains.
1:44 In _1940_ . London's subway system is older, of course. How could you have just jumped from 1946 to the 1970s as if the intervening years never happened?
I’m from Tennessee and everybody here growing up said never visit New York even one of my teachers said they hated it because of the trash and the smell later on in life I understood the city learned it’s history and I want to visit one day it’s the most interesting city in the modern world and at one point it was the most prospering city for opportunity families crossed the great Atlantic and thousands lost their lives trying to make it there the city is unique and that’s why I like it
In the 1960’s-1970’s the train lines had double lettered trains. For example AA, CC, EE, GG, HH, JJ, KK, LL, MJ, QJ, RJ, RR, TT, & (SS Shuttles which had different colors: [Orange 🟠 for the culver shuttle, Yellow 🟡 for the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, Green 🟢 for the Dyre Shuttle (Now the Late-Night 5 train shuttle), Cyan 🩵 for the 42nd street shuttle, Blue 🔵 for the Bowling Green Shuttle, and Black ⚫️ for the 145 St Shuttle (Running from Harlem-148 St to 145 St. A little later all changed to a Green Color). They also had the 8 train, the color for the 8 was cyan. The 8 train ran on the 3 Av El, Ran from 3 Av-149 St to Gun Hill Rd, the 8 was later changed from cyan to green which they are purposing for the 8 to come back but as a red bullet to run on the 7th Avenue line.
If anyone would like to watch, I have a series. I Am making subway announcements from nyc but it’s 1960-1970’s subway announcements. (they didn’t have subway announcements back then before 2000 but if they did it would sound like my announcements!😊
Thrid Avenue Elevated line still has a chance in the south Bronx Tremont Webster Boston road Bronx. Never rebuild another elevated line in the on Thrid Avenue. In Manhattan they will definitely dig under ground on Thrid Avenue to Battery park place or south Ferry.
So there was used to be JFK Express where they take you directly to Howard Beach and then you transfer to the airport shuttle bus and it takes you directly to JFK Airport, and that’s part of airport connection but it soon got discounted by April 1990 due to Low Ridership and was replaced by current A, later in 2003, they build for AirTrain where the AirTrain take you directly to any airport connection
Young sir the colors designates the "Trunk lines" but New Yorkers present and past do not say Red, Orange etc for the lines. They're called by either the letter or number assigned to the trains on those "Trunk lines".
You should get around the world a bit. I try the subway in every city I go, now up to 35, from Mexico City to Beijing. The problem is the huge MTA budget, described as "the great black hole", does not get much of the money into the system. Everything was state of the art 120 years ago but with little upgrade since then. Handicap access is terrible. Signals are pre-war. The same narrow stairways built 120 years ago are still there. Paris, same age, constantly modernizes with escalators and elevators - for efficiency of people moving. They have installed barriers at platform edge to prevent people from falling on the tracks. Of course newer/Asian systems are better. What the MTA does with all the money they extort is a mystery.
I’m from Manhattan and have lived in Seoul and Europe. Moved to Tokyo 9 months ago. I was impressed with S Korea, but Japan is on a different level. I believe that it’s not a money issue, but more of a civil society issue. The civilized behavior of people in Europe, Korea in Japan allows for the train system to be efficient and clean.
NYC subway is fine if you are traveling less than 10 stops, and ideally if you're just going around Manhattan. It's practically useless for going from the BX to BK or the BX to Queens.
You can walk from Penn Station to the 34th St-Penn Station subway station without going aboveground. For all intents and purposes, they function as one facility.
I live in Chicagoland and the NYC system is more functional except for the lack of airport connections. Payments were super easy and with google maps navigation was easy. I encountered a few sketchy situations but less than I feared. Paris OTOH puts it to shame as a much better system
There used to be JFK Express where they take you directly to Howard Beach and then you transfer to the airport shuttle bus and it takes you directly to JFK Airport
@@MichaelMitchRailfan2009 For Chicago you can get both both O'Hare and Midway by the train. Hell, you can even train to Milwaukee's airport easier than the Milwaukee residents can. You can also get within long walking distance to South Bend's airport via train although I'm not sure why would want to do that.
It would be nice if the MTA actually called their subway lines by their colors as well as by their main stems, i.e., "Seventh Avenue Red Line", "Eighth Avenue Blue Line", etc., which would make it easier for out of towners to know which subway line goes where.
Try the Moscow metro it is in on an entire different league. Clean, safe, efficient, punctual, beautiful anything that the ugly dingy NYC metros are not
Law Enforcement is there _because_ the situation is so bad. It is very dangerous compared to other systems. You got lucky. Go to Tokyo, then remake this video.
This still hasn’t shown the Genius of the Undergr… I mean the subway. Also, there’s a lot more Cons than Pros with corruption & Jano Lieber. Needs a follow up for more in depth of the pros of MTA NYCTS. Also, what does this have to do with filling machines?
Genious? Beaver should visit Moscow and see what is real geniosity. In NYC you spend 1.5 hour to go from Central Manhattan to Southern Brooklyn due to frequent stops at the stations and just in between them. The same distance in Moscow will take you 30 min. While NYC subway route length is bigger than Moscow one, Moscow metro serves in much bigger city in terms of square miles. That makes it way more efficient than in New York. The gap between the trains in Moscow is less than a minute in rush hours, the trains are much faster. Yeah, you can charge your phone or use free wi-fi in Moscow. The anti-sanitary conditions of NY subway are known by everybody which is definitely not present in Moscow. Basically, only thing which is better in NYC, is that the Subway works 24hr. In every other aspect NYC Subway sucks. What a shame America, your biggest city transportation system blows in comparison to much more poor Russia that does not have even a half of US resources
I can tell you are an out-of-towner, NO NYer calls the trains by their color. It's the number or letter. The old timers (Boomers and Silent Generation) still call it by the IRT, BMT, IND with their primary street. e.g. the 4-5-6 (green to you) line would be called the IRT Lexington Ave Line.
DC metros has less lines, worse frequency, and worse transit connections. It's basically one main line with a bunch of branches into the suburbs that were poorly designed around carparks. It's almost impossible to be car-free in Northern Virginia or Montgomery County.
They'll be likely to convert the whole thing into an underground shopping center or massive pedestrian walkway as soon as *driverless cars* render it obsolete.
@@nadie8093 Girlfriend, spend some time on Earth! 🌎 Anybody who can afford NYC's exorbitant tolls and vehicle taxes-not to mention its ridiculously expensive *garages* at both home and work-drives a car everywhere! (Seriously, have you ever seen a Wall Street CEO or Manhattan billionaire ride the subway?) 💰 And not just the super rich, but even the lower-middle-class types will typically only ride the LIRR or Metro North as far as Grand Central Terminal and then take a taxi *the rest of the way* to their office buildings. (See for yourself how quickly you can hop on one of the hundreds of cabs parked outside the train station-and just how long those "90 seconds" to get on the 4-5-6 *really* take!) 🚕 Robotaxis will one day soon be cheaper than taking the bus, will eliminate the need for parking spaces, will spread out the costs of congestion pricing, etc., among millions of customers, will be whisper quiet, safe, and enclosed, won't always be breaking down, and won't smell of vomit and urine. The exact same thing already happened 100 years ago with mail delivery. As soon as postal-service trucks became a thing, New York stopped using its pneumatic mail tubes.
I give you DISLIKE because your title says genius but I don't find much genius in the video which is more of general introduction. And I don't like your cheap accent which sounds surprised when you're not surprised.
