A lot of people are hating on this but I think it's a pretty eye-opening account of what it's like for non-NYC-savvy travelers (aka most of the country) to experience the city
The subway can be intimidating for folks who have only known suburbs
https://www.businessinsider.com/first-trip-new-york-city-frequent-traveler-best-worst-parts-2024-12
The subway can be intimidating for folks who have only known suburbs
https://www.businessinsider.com/first-trip-new-york-city-frequent-traveler-best-worst-parts-2024-12
Comments
Also, we have tap to pay, as well. It hasn't been around as long as the oyster cards (also, last time I was in London, you could still buy a ticket).
I admit I live in a city with a subway system no car.
Londoners don’t play Mornington Crescent for fun.
But not everyone is as savvy as you.
Part of traveling is figuring stuff out with the help of guidebooks and now the internet and apps.
It was a lot harder 30 years ago.
I’ve never had anything stolen on a subway or a bus or a train including NYC.
I’ve never had anything stolen while traveling.
...do basic research on where you are going. That's definitely a thing.
Not that hard.
If you're travelling you're probably already making hotel, flight, activity, and restaurant bookings. Doing just a little research on how to get around is part of that. You shouldn't need someone to hold your hand.
But don’t try to buy for one adult and three teenagers on a bus! One person per debit or credit card.
As another weird example, in Bangalore, they do not accept credit cards for the train. There's some local payment method that all residents seem to have, which visitors can't really get.
Is that different from not knowing how the subway works?
And it came out that none of the three hosts drive (all in Manhattan) 🙃
One DID have a license though
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy Apple Maps made our subway experience, though. After a couple of days, it became second nature.
HOWEVER, i do have to comment about how virtually unreadable that website was. My god is that a real publication? Even reader didn’t work. 🤯
https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Subway_FAQ:_Which_Lines_Were_Former_IRT,_IND,_BMT
I went there in like 95 or so
I don't think this is common knowledge outside NYC, people with relationships to NYC. But a copy editor should have caught that.
I do judge her for letting her intimidation stop her from even trying. Why even travel if you don’t want to try new things?
I mean things like, telling us what hours constitute "late night" e.g. What to do near the transition time? Etc.
Her: Well, in addition to Times Square, there's a place called Bryant Park.
Me: Cool! Is that nearby to Times Square?
Her: idk
Me: ...
"I live in a part of Florida where public transit isn't really a thing, so learning how to ride the local subway and bus lines — and figuring out which ones to take and where to get off — felt daunting."
I've navigated transit in Istanbul, various cities in India, London, Athens, Berlin, etc...even w/o a smart phone.
christ, how would these people have survived the 70s, google maps will give you perfect directions to anywhere.
clearly not enough crime and grit since the morons keep coming
It is an intimidating experience! But worthwhile too.
This is how the article ends? No conclusions, no wrap up, no “tell ‘em what you told ‘em?” What else can we take away from this, other than she didn’t Google how to use the subway?
GPS can be annoying to calibrate, sure, but GMaps is terrific in most cities (just used it in Dublin 2 weeks ago) at getting you the right route on transit and giving stop-by-stop directions in realtime.
Besides, she is not well-travelled. She goes on package holidays.
😑
Unless it's a furry convention.
If I can’t just show up to a city and wander I will not be happy
I'm hating on her from vomiting up effectively the same article 4892334 times
Now I know I’m biased because I stopped being into Disney around age 13 or so, and I have friends who love it, but…I feel like she and I aren’t interested in the same things when we travel.
Go to pretty much any BI author's profile and you will see the same thing. It is WILD.
*I drive from Kissimmee to Disney World about a month a year and I take cruises.”
Kiddo, that’s not travel. You’re being imprisoned.
Yeah, you still really haven't been to NYC, sister
#1: learn to ride the subway
#2: avoid Bryant Park, Union Square and Time Square, Williamsburg like herpes
#3: bundle up and walk every hood you visit by subway!
#4: go to the far west village and see
*Whitney
*High Line
*Little Park
*Chelsea Market for lunch
* walk south in Hudson River Park
* circle EVERY pier from 14th street to the Battery
* walk back up to Spring St and drink a beer at #The EarInn
Google Maps helps, but it’s overwhelming.
They used the formal "vous" because "tu" would have been impolite.
But you may end up with a card for each City.
(Half the pay stations are broken in the Houston system, so it's always touch and go for even the seasoned rail travelers.)
While I agree with the consensus that she should have given the subway a go, the signage and layout of the NYC subway is inferior to many other cities across the world. There’s a genuine usability problem here!
And then the folks I'd also see: Blue windbreaker folks getting off a Grey 1/
I'd be option one, and go see some off Broadway thing or take my chances at TKTS.
I'm not judging the two groups, but they're quite different. And can be location-specific. I'm a fish in water in London, but intimidated to ever consider going to Japan. 🤔
Just ask Google Maps or Apple Maps, and do what the app says. Or use the official MTA app.
(17 years)
most people who visit a place do not rely on guided tours, they just go there
my personal experience with NYC was quite different
I leave my car in Jersey and ferry over. I've had no problem navigating MTA, save for one instance where track work had me waiting in the wrong station for an hour before I figured out I had to go down a block.
I can understand that it might take more than one visit to get comfortable, but I sure don’t want to hear these people being judgmental about the city.
Literally the ENTIRE REST OF THE SUBWSY SYSTEM is nicer, safer, better, easier... that that stop (series of old crumbling yuck infested tunnels)
Those tunnels actually looked a little better then...
The news stands and little stores & stuff, many were still open, and there were less repairs and broken tiles, and everything was a little cleaner ....
Fuck, how do you travel 100 days in a year?
How do you travel 14 days in a year?
ahem
Maybe subtle, but I feel like there is a difference.
(NYC is the one American city I feel at home in)
Other subway systems don't even have that "uptown/downtown" help. They just tell you the last stop of the line, which is even less intuitive.
just thought about the concept of the subway and went “this is too much for me to handle, I’m not going to bother”
There's no evidence she is a travel writer. This is Business Insider. They do hundreds of this type of article a year. It's more like a blog post
I'm a CEO who started a company and had a baby at the same time....
I was put on a performance improvement plan and survived....
I'm a middle-class mother of 4. I start a holiday budget early....
You also don't have bring Twitter behavior to BlueSky
/sees "1 Thessalonians 5:24"
stay in white fundieland, lady
i mean, other than some of the signs in greece having three different spellings in two different character sets
One who has never dealt with navigating transit by 2024?
With either main mapping app, the trains are totally navigable.
I’d like to see her cover Paris… or Tokyo.
Berlin, London, Barcelona (Only speaking of what I know) : another story.
Paris and London are WAY more complicated
in the smartphone era, though, there's not really an excuse. and you're never going to create a transit system that doesn't have service changes at least some of the time.
where: there's very large maps all over the place
how: electricity
connect: mildly difficult to figure out if you get a free connection or have to leave a terminal in some instances
run: on tracks
"Which way do I go?"
"Take the Queens bound A"
"But you live in Brooklyn"
"Yes" 🤦♂️
'Cause that's not what it was like for me the first time I visited from the midwest for four days at 19. We used the subway for a good 50% of trips, just like we used the subway in DC and the EL in Chicago.
There are literally touchscreen maps in all the major stations AND New Yorkers love to give directions.