By Joseph Morales
New York City has many bus routes that run beneath elevated subway lines in every borough except Staten Island. These bus routes often serve riders who do not use the trains due to disabilities, safety concerns or longer walks to train stations. They also sometimes serve places that the train doesn’t, often when the train diverges from the street the bus operates on.
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By Joseph Morales
Queens is New York City’s largest borough by land area and second largest by population. Like other parts of the city, many residents rely on public transportation to get around. According to data from the NYC Department of City Planning, 37% of Queens’ households do not have access to a vehicle. This does not reflect the thousands of teens who do not drive and also rely on mass transit to get to school and other activities.
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By Joseph Morales
Hillside Avenue travels from east to west is among the busiest streets in Southern Queens. It’s western terminus is at Myrtle Ave, which provides access to Brooklyn and some if its busiest neighborhoods. From there, Hillside Ave travels east into Nassau County, where it connects to the Jericho Turnpike in Westbury. In Queens, a whopping 21 combined MTA and NICE bus routes run on the corridor, serving 194,000 riders daily. NICE is Nassau County’s public bus system. The ridership number for Hillside Ave buses is higher than that of the G Train, which served 70,453 riders in 2023.
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By Joseph Morales
The Concourse Line(B,D) is a vital subway line running along the Grand Concourse in The Bronx. The line links many of the borough’s most densely populated communities together, such as Fordham, Mt. Eden, and parts of the South Bronx. Major Bronx destinations along the line include Montefiore Medical Center, Fordham University and Yankee Stadium. In addition, it connects these neighborhoods to Manhattan and Brooklyn along with other lines in the NYC Subway system. According to data from the NYC Department of City Planning, only 25-36% of households in the community districts along the line have access to a vehicle. Hence, the subway line is one of the primary means of travel for many residents. Based on data from the MTA, the Concourse line had over 137,000 daily riders in 2022.
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By Joseph Morales
Trolleys were once a widespread and reliable means of getting around New York City and many other cities in the United States. Trolley lines were once just as widespread as today’s bus routes across cities. Since most Americans in cities took mass transit to work, trolleys had plenty of riders and the companies that operated them often made large profits. Unfortunately for the companies, the rise of the automobile led to cars often blocking trolley tracks and creating congestion which caused delays. According to the Daily News, trolleys were also considered old-fashioned by many due to the noises they made, such as “screeching wheels and clanging bells,” along with their wheels losing traction on icy inclines during the winter. This led to many NYC companies converting their trolley services into bus services and most bus routes run by the MTA today are the semblance of a former trolley line.
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By Joseph Morales
The Nostrand Avenue Line is a busy subway line in Brooklyn. The line runs from Franklin Ave-Medgar Avenue College and Flatbush Av-Brooklyn College and is served by the 2 and 5 lines. The Nostrand Avenue Line connects several densely populated neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn, such as Midwood, Flatbush, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Additionally, the line provides connections to both local and express service on the Eastern Pkwy Line(2,3,4,5), which provides access to even more destinations across Brooklyn and Manhattan. Overall, the line served over 35,000 riders per day in 2022 according to MTA statistics.
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By Joseph Morales
Public transportation is the backbone of New York City. Due to the city’s congestion and limited parking space, many take public transportation to avoid the hassles associated with driving. Given the city’s high cost of living, many find driving to be prohibitively expensive and hence also decide to opt for transit. As a result of these factors and others, 46% of New Yorkers do not own a car and hence rely on public transit to get wherever they need to go. This tally does not include suburbanites who take mass transit in New York City in lieu of driving for the same reasons as residents.
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Transit Central 