Update To NYC Subway Is Great For Both Visitors & Locals

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Joe and I visit New York City a lot – usually between 3 and 6 times per year. Besides the fact that we both grew up in the area and still have family and friends up there, we’re also big fans of Broadway shows.

Of course, shows only take up part of our trips (most often in the evenings). So we’ve found lots of other things to do during the day. In the past we’ve written about:

• 15 cool places in NYC that are perfect for geeks & nerds
• Sleep No More (it’s open again and as weird as ever)
• The Museum of Sex
• The Harry Potter flagship store (I hope they’ve fixed their hot mess of an entry system by now)
• Coney Island (we went on The Cyclone and The Wonder Wheel!)
• Any of the 700+ cool, hidden & unusual things to do in NYC

We don’t consider ourselves to be tourists when we visit NYC. We know how to get around, so we tend to avoid taking the bus (too slow with NYC traffic) or the tourist-centric “Hop On, Hop Off Bus,” and either take this cheap transportation that not many people know about or the NYC subway.

Y’all, we love taking the subway. And since NYC recently made it cheaper to ride, we love it even more. It’s convenient. It’s fast. And did you hear? They just made them even faster!

Starting July 4th, service on the 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines got sped up (here’s a map of the subway to see where all four lines run). It’s not for the greatest of reasons – ridership still isn’t what it was before COVID, so they don’t have to “wait” (they call it “dwell time”) at each station for as long to allow everyone off and on the trains.

The agency’s “Speed Team” has also been looking at where they can raise the speed limit on the tracks. They’re also retraining operators, so they know where and when they can go, say, 20mph instead of the 10mph they’ve been driving for their entire careers.

All told, you can expect to save up to 10 minutes on each line.

The A, D, N, Q, R and W lines, as well as the 1 and 6 trains also got speed updates, but they were smaller and probably not as noticeable. The L line is next on their list.

Whether you’re on your way to work or to visit Central Park, getting there faster is going to be beneficial for all involved.

Oh, and for anyone who says what they “really” need to focus on are the crime and homelessness situations, apparently, they’re doing that, too.

“We also have talked recently about adding cameras into our subway cars. We have 65 cars now with cameras, we’ll get to 100 in the next few weeks,” said NYC Transit President Rich Davey.

Feature Photo: Marcin Wichary / Wikipedia / CC BY 2.0

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