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You can get city bus and train maps at subway stations throughout NYC and at Public Libraries, as well as online Also, visitor centers and most hotels carry these as well. Since the creation and implementation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority's (MTA's) Metrocard, you can transfer from a bus to a bus (just about any one), and from a train to a bus and from a bus to a train, all on one fare . So if you take the 34th street cross-town bus to 3rd avenue and have to walk to 37th St... To run an errand, you can take the local uptown bus at 37th St. Or walk over to Grand Central and take a subway train somewhere. So, you get up to 2 rides on one fare within the 2 hour time frame. Occasionally, the Metrocards screw up. I've had more than one fare deducted on my cross-town bus to downtown bus rides. As well as not getting a transfer at all on my last fare on the card. That has only happened about 5% of the time. And some of the other bad things is that coins and keys can screw up your Metrocard. So you need to keep your card in a different pocket. I would imagine that any magnets would screw the card up as well. If you lose your Metrocard, you could be out $15.00, or whatever fare sum is left on your card, whereas a lost token is just a token($1.50). Some people get as much as $80.00 on their Metrocard. Can you imagine losing that!? Also, when you swipe your Metrocard at a subway turnstile, sometimes it doesn't register and a beep and a message will come up reading, "swipe card again at this turnstile". If you don't, and you swipe at another turnstile, you will lose another fare. If you're in a hurry and the extra $1.50 means nothing to you, then do it. If you're on a budget, then don't. Since July 4, 1998, there's an unlimited rides Metrocard. good for one day or for an entire month of unlimited rides. I'm now hooked on the unlimited rides, as it has opened up my world. Within a week, I now always have fare to go places! The claus is that when you ride on one line, let's say the #1 and #9 train, you have to wait 18 minutes prior to getting back on that line, or on a bus going in the same direction as well. If you get on the M10 bus and go downtown on 7th Avenue a few blocks, but only spend 5 minutes riding and 5 minutes prior to getting back on an M10 bus going up 8th Avenue, your Metrocard will not work. You have to wait 18 minutes from the time you last swiped your card. Of course, you might miss a bus in the meantime, but hey, that's life in the city...missing one's bus! :-) The unlimited fares card is good if you know you are not going to be sick. Cause if you buy the unlimited ride card for one week(which is dated), and you get sick for a week and don't use the card, you lose your fares, and cannot get them back...snag! Oh, yes, be careful as there are some scalpers using their unlimited ride card, who let you ride for a dollar while swiping their card at a turnstile in a subway. This is illegal. You could get fined for going along with illegal activities. Also do not sell your cardboard transfer, this is illegal as well. The Fun Pass(tm), has been available for a little while. For $7.00, you can ride the buses and subways from the moment you buy it, till 3:00 AM. This is a great deal if you plan to spend just a day in The Big Apple and gallavant around by yourself or with your crony. I don't think you can use a Fun Pass(tm) to pay some one else's fare. You can only pay someone else's fare using the regular Metro Gold cards. So 2 people riding MTA must each have their own Fun Pass(tm) in order to ride public transportation till 3:00 AM. I hear not every subway station sells the Fun Pass(tm), but I would imagine that when you come in from a major depot, like the Port Authority Bus Terminal, Grand Central Station, or Pennsylvania Station, that the immediate subway stations nearby(Times Square - West 42nd St., Grand Central - East 42nd St. or Penn Station - West 34th St., would sell them). Look at the MTA website for details. I wish they had Fun passes when I was younger and first coming into NYC on weekends - the unlimited fare card when I was in college. But the good part about not having them was I had to walk everywhere and developed strong legs. If you are making one trip to the East Village and then back to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, that will cost you $4.00 (2.00 each way)-and the fare will be going up soon...AGAIN! You'll need a metro card in the subway and exact change on the bus. If you need to get a Transfer, get one when you first get on the bus as sometimes people try to scam the driver and ask for a transfer as they are getting off the bus. By then the driver cannot recall whether or not you got on with a transfer and he may not give you a transfer at that later point. You cannot ask for another transfer when you've just given the driver a transfer. It doesn't work like that. So always remember to ask the bus drive for a transfer upon getting on the bus and paying your fare, if you need one. If you pay with exact change on a bus, you are only entitled to a cardboard transfer good for 2 hours from bus to bus. You need to ask the bus driver for a transfer after you've paid, as she/he will not automatically give you one. You cannot use the cardboard transfer to ride a subway train. Nor do you get a cardboard transfer when you pay in the subway for ride a train. So getting on a bus will be another fare for you. Remember, if you got your cardboard transfer upon boarding the bus and the ride took 1 hour, you only have 1 hour left to use that transfer. -Wendy |
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