How to Ride the Bus in New York City (MTA Bus)

one of my favorite routes is the m103 i like  to take it from the upper east side but you can   start up in harlem this route will show you the  upper east side midtown murray hill gramercy east   village noho nolita little italy chinatown and  the civic center then from there if you still have   time you can take the ferry on wall street and  travel up the river when it's not rush hour and   i'm not in a hurry i actually prefer riding a bus  it's above ground so i get a chance to view the   city and observe the neighborhood if you are new  to new york and want to get familiar with the city   i highly recommend taking some bus rides during  off-peak times like early on a weekend morning   or if you can the middle of a weekday welcome to  urban caffeine where we caffeinate ourselves on   urban knowledge my name is thea and today we  are going to talk about a topic that some of   you have asked for new york city buses one thing  to realize about new york is that it's massive   to give you some perspective the area of new york  city is larger than singapore bahrain or st lucia   and mind you these are all countries having said  that not all parts of new york are accessible by   the subway which is the most popular form of  public transportation most of new york city's   subway system sits on manhattan and extends to  parts of queens brooklyn and the bronx leaving   the rest of new york to be bridged by using the  buses buses are not just useful for reaching the   extremities of nyc but also the in-betweens of  the subway lines as well crosstown transportation   in manhattan is very limited with the subway so  buses are very useful in traversing the east-west   directions of the island if you don't want to walk  as a tip most crosstown buses are named after the   street they run on and we will soon talk about  how these buses are labeled if you want to learn   more about manhattan street grid layout i made  a video with the link in the description below   in this video we are going to cover the types  of new york city buses that are available   the cost of fare and how to pay for these  because some of them you pay when you get   on and others you pay beforehand then we are  going to talk about bus stops and how to board   we will also go over how transfers work and to  finish off we are going to talk a little bit   about accessing the bus map so let's get started  there are four types of buses out in the wild   i wish i could say they are color coded or that  one looks significantly different than the other   but unfortunately that's not the case although  in general some buses are distinct enough to   really differentiate each bus you would have  to look at the designators at the top and   pedestrian side of the bus which we will go  over one by one starting with the local buses   this is your typical run-of-the-mill new york  city bus they can be blue and white or dark blue   a bus typically runs a route within just  one burrow or cross into a second one the   letter at the front of its sign signifies  the primary burrow the bus is operating in   m signifies manhattan b for brooklyn q for  queens bx for the bronx and s for staten island limited buses are just like local buses but  they make fewer stops they stop only at busier   stops or popular transfer points to identify the  limited buses they will have the same designators   as the local buses but with the addition of  something like ltd or limited or limited stops   before you get on you can always ask the driver  if they are stopping at the stop that you want select bus service buses are usually these blue  and gold buses and their signs a little more   glitzy compared to the local buses you find  these on routes with high commuter traffic   they cost just as much as the local bus but they  operate a little differently in terms of how you   pay and how you board the bus that's because the  select bus service are meant to be subway like in   nature where you just get on and get off without  the hold up of having to pay right when you get on   it's supposed to make for a faster operation and  we will talk about payment and boarding in the   following chapters of this video to identify  these buses they will have the addition of   sbs plus or plus select bus or something similar  under sign i say something similar because if you   have seen my subway videos you already know by  now that inconsistent signage is a common thing   express buses have a completely different fare and  i'd be careful not to get on one of these because   you might find yourself at the very outer bounds  of queens or any of the other boroughs and it's   hard to simply turn around these buses are mainly  to connect the outer portions of new york city to   midtown or lower manhattan to give you an idea for  example a line that goes from queens to manhattan   will make stops on this portion of queens then  will blaze through this portion and make several   stops in midtown manhattan as you can see there  are no stops for a good stretch through queens so   it would not be fun to accidentally get stuck and  have to travel back but it's pretty easy to know   you are on an express bus because they have coach  seating the local bus interior will look like this   while coach seats look something like this so it's  pretty unmistakable that you are on the wrong bus   if you are a tourist staying within manhattan  or near manhattan you will most likely not   need to use an express bus as for their  designators they can be marked with an m   in combination with the burrow they  are serving or simply with an x local limited and select bus service all cost  275 and the express bus costs 6.75 there are   senior and disability discounts available  and you can find out more on the mta website   children under 44 inches are free there are  three ways to pay on the bus with a metro   card with coins or tap and pay with a touch free  reader so let's break these down starting with   the metro card or single ride ticket that you  can get at a ticket machine at a subway station   i made an entire video on everything you  need to know regarding the metrocard link   is in the description below a metrocard is either  filled up with a cash amount or an unlimited ride   if you're riding a local limited or express  bus you board through the front door and there   will be a machine next to the driver  where you can insert your metro card   if you are riding a select  bus service listen carefully   at the bus stop for select bus service you  will see these machines one is if you have   a metro card and the other is if you have  cash by cash i mean coins but no pennies   everybody who uses the select bus  service whether they have an unlimited   ride or they are paying for a single ride still  needs to use these machines press the start button   then you will be asked to insert your metro card  if you have unlimited rides on your metro card   the machine will let you print out a paper ticket  that will let you board the select bus service   if you don't have unlimited rides the machine  will charge your metrocard 275 and print you   out a paper ticket according to the mta website if  the machines at the bus stop you are at don't work   or out of service you can board the bus without  paying and pay at the machines at the bus stop   that you're gonna get off of because we all  know everybody abides by the honor system   unfortunately you can't reload a metrocard or  buy a metrocard on these machines so if your   metrocard is empty or you don't have a metrocard  i suggest going to the nearest subway station not   all entrances of the subway will have a metro card  machine but all stations should have at least one   if the entrance of the subway station that you  enter doesn't have a machine try another one   you can pay with cash using exact change but  not with bills nor pennies just quarters dimes   and nickels and for non-americans these are 25  cents 10 cents and 5 cents and up to 25 coins   to pay with change on local  limited and express buses   board through the front door and there should be  a change box where you can drop your cash into   for select bus service look for the machines next  to the bus stop that has coin slots in general   it's the smaller machine follow the instructions  to print out your paper ticket for the bus you can also pay directly with your smart device  or credit card with nfc capabilities this method   is to pay for single rides only like i said in my  metrocard video which is linked in the description   below if you want to have unlimited rides you will  have to use a metrocard this might all change in   2023 when new york has revamped its whole payment  system but until then metrocard omni is short for   one metro new york and this is the reader for  local limited and express buses the omni reader   should be functional at the front of the bus so  board the bus at the front to scan your payment   for select bus service you should be able to pay  at any door to use the omni readers so you don't   have to use the machines next to the bus stops you  can just board directly on the select bus service   and scan at the door bus stops are tricky  for some areas you can easily spot the stops   they are sheltered highly visible and some are  neatly labeled and then there are some that you   kind of have to look for because they're  just a small blue lollipop looking sign   where the sign is planted is where the front of  the bus will park and this is where you wait for   the local limited and express buses you have to  board on the front because you pay as you enter   common etiquette is that you d board at the back  door so as not to run into the people on boarding   at the front door but many people exit through the  front and i have yet to see someone get tackled or   arrested for doing this for select bus service  you can board and d board at any door as long as   you have your paper ticket or pay with the omni  readers because this bus was meant to function   like a rapid rail system and speaking of getting  off the bus the buses won't automatically stop at   every stop like the subway you have to notify the  driver when the next stop is yours by pulling on   a string or pushing the request stop button if  you happen to be on the bus late at night you   can ask the driver to drop you off on any location  along the route so that you'd have a shorter walk   to your destination this goes the same for the  express bus minus the express portion of the route like i said in my metro card video if you have  unlimited rides transfers don't really apply to   you but if you pay for a single ride you have  one free transfer within a two hour time period   from when you paid the free transfer is good from  bus to bus bus to subway or subway to bus if you   are coming from a subway or bus to an express bus  you will have to pay the difference in fare to get   your free transfer just use the same metro card or  same method of payment with the omni reader if you   pay with cash tell the driver you need a transfer  and they will give you a printed transfer ticket when riding the subway you will come across  the subway map quite often because they are   posted in the stations and on the train  so the subway map is pretty accessible   with the bus maps it's a little harder to come by  because the mta publishes the bus maps according   to the boroughs so there'll be a bus map for  manhattan a different one for queens and so forth   so you can't really get a bus map that overviews  all the five boroughs the way you do with the   subway the better way to view bus routes is by  using an app and this way you can see all the   inner barrel bus lines and since there are so  many routes it's easily overwhelming when you   just look at a printed map but with an app  you can isolate routes so that it's a little   more user-friendly google maps and apple maps can  show you these bus routes but i actually prefer   using apps dedicated to just showing you the bus  routes and with apps you can see a live view of   the bus so you can make a call whether you want to  ride the bus because it's near or far from where   you are at and since you are above ground you can  easily see if traffic is moving fast or slow and   you can make that call whether you want to use the  bus or another form of public transportation for   the longest time i never took the bus the biggest  blocker for me was the inaccessibility of the maps   i had no clue where i was going and i didn't know  how to board or deboard the bus and that was quite   intimidating but after getting over this blocker i  now actually prefer using the bus over the subway   as long as it's not rush hour and that's all  i've got thank you so much for watching liking   commenting and or subscribing to my channel counts  as engagement and it's engagement that keeps   youtube channels alive and thriving until next  time thank you for watching and happy new yorking

Channel: Urban Caffeine

Views: 108,590

Keywords: new york, nyc, new york city, nyc bus, new york buses, new york new york, moving to new york, newyork, subway, transportation, bus, transit, nyc subway map, new york subway, metrocard, mta subway time, mta subway, mta map, subway train, buses new york, metrocard new york 7 days, new york city bus, new york city subway, new york city tour guide, new york city travel guide, before you travel to nyc, new york city tips, how to ride new york bus, new york guide, travel, mta bus

Id: HQ1WcRKvbP8

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 11 2021