Using the buses in New York
Same fare and the same tap as the subway. Buses are slower but they go across town where the subway barely does, they have a view, and every one of them is step-free.
When the bus is the better choice
The subway is built to move people up and down Manhattan. It is poor at moving them across it.
So for crosstown trips — say from the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side — the bus is often genuinely faster than going down, across and back up. It's also the better option when you're tired, carrying things, or want to see the city rather than a tunnel.
Paying is the same tap
Tap your contactless card, phone or watch on the OMNY reader as you board. $3.00, the same as the subway, and local bus rides count towards the same weekly cap.
Your subway-to-bus transfer is free within two hours — just tap and the reader works it out.
Express buses cost more and sit outside the ordinary cap, under a separate higher one. They're the commuter coaches with high-backed seats; if you're sightseeing, you want a local bus.
Select Bus Service boards through every door
SBS routes are the faster limited-stop services, marked with a blue and white sign.
On most SBS routes you tap at a reader on the pavement before boarding, then get on through any door — including the middle and rear ones. Doing this right is the difference between a quick boarding and holding up fifty people at the front door.
Keep whatever you tapped with. Inspectors do check, and "I tapped" without the card you tapped is not a defence.
Signal the driver, at both ends
Buses do not stop automatically.
- To get on: stand where the driver can see you and put an arm out. A bus that sees no one waiting drives past.
- To get off: press the yellow or black strip, or the stop button, a block before you want to get off. Too late and you're at the next stop, which can be a long walk back.
Every bus is step-free
Where most subway stations are stairs-only, every city bus kneels and has a ramp, and every one has space for a wheelchair or pushchair.
If you're travelling with a buggy, a suitcase or anyone who finds stairs hard, the bus network is often the more practical way around the city — a point that rarely makes it into guidebooks.
Expect it to be slow in midtown
Buses sit in the same traffic as everything else, and midtown traffic is what it is. A crosstown bus at 5pm can be slower than walking.
Use a live arrivals app to see where your bus actually is rather than standing hopefully at the stop. If the map shows it eight blocks back and not moving, walk.