Subway safety questions (New York, York: home, neighborhoods, restaurant)
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I will be visiting New York at the end of August and me and my wife plan on using the subway to get around. How safe are the subway's at night. I know common sense is your best tool but do people ride the subway at night? is it deserted (im thinking not but i could be wrong). We both use public transportation in our home city of Minneapolis so we are not totally inexperienced when it comes to public transit. Any tips would be very helpful.
I will be visiting New York at the end of August and me and my wife plan on using the subway to get around. How safe are the subway's at night. I know common sense is your best tool but do people ride the subway at night? is it deserted (im thinking not but i could be wrong). We both use public transportation in our home city of Minneapolis so we are not totally inexperienced when it comes to public transit. Any tips would be very helpful.
As long as you're not going to any shady neighborhoods at 3am, you should be fine.
I'm assuming you're going to touristy areas in Manhattan? If so you won't have any problems.
However, be prepared that the subway platform temp is up to 20 degrees hotter than the surface temp. At the end of august, be prepared to sweat.
Don't carry your wallet in your back pocket. Tell your wife to hold her purse in front tucked under one arm with the strap across the shoulders- it makes it less easy for a pick-pocket to run off with your purse. Also don't sit right next to a subway door if you're fiddling with an iphone or tablet device.
I would say just keep your guard up. Especially in the subways, keep an eye on people. More theft and problems come from the subways. I have been in the subways many time late and drunk and never had an issue besides really needing to go to the bathroom. The key is just being aware of your surroundings and you obviously know this.
try getting in train cars that have other people in them. You dont want to be in a car alone or with one other person. If possible cars with the conductors in them are safest in my opinion.
as someone else mentioned, unless you are going to some shady areas, this is the city that never sleeps.
99.9% of the times, you wil find other ppl on that train.
The subways are very busy- seemingly at all times of the day and night. I have been on packed trains well past midnight.
When you are talking about "at night" do you mean 9 PM or 3 AM? I have friends down south that can't believe it's common here to eat dinner at 9PM in a restaurant (and many places are very busy at that time) so being out on a subway around 9 or 10 isn't really considered late. As someone said, it really is the city that never sleeps and I've been on "standing room only" subway cars at 2 and 3 AM... where it gets creepy is if you are in an empty station waiting for the train at 2AM but if you are in the touristy areas, you are unlikely to encounter that.
try getting in train cars that have other people in them. You dont want to be in a car alone or with one other person. If possible cars with the conductors in them are safest in my opinion.
This is true during the day, too. If one car is empty or almost empty and the other cars are full, RUN to the cars that have more people.
This is actually not a safety issue -- it's because an empty car next to full cars means there is something really wrong going on inside the empty or almost empty car (usually a bad smell or no a/c).
As long as you're not going to any shady neighborhoods at 3am, you should be fine.
I'm assuming you're going to touristy areas in Manhattan? If so you won't have any problems.
However, be prepared that the subway platform temp is up to 20 degrees hotter than the surface temp. At the end of august, be prepared to sweat.
Don't carry your wallet in your back pocket. Tell your wife to hold her purse in front tucked under one arm with the strap across the shoulders- it makes it less easy for a pick-pocket to run off with your purse. Also don't sit right next to a subway door if you're fiddling with an iphone or tablet device.
Don't handle large amounts of money in public.
Good tip about the subway being hot, I would have figured it would be cooler underground. Thanks
Thanks again for all the good info. We are mostly going to be in the touristy areas however one of the days we are going to an all day concert on randle island its called "the electic zoo".
As an MTA employee (and former conductor), let me give you one tip if you're that concerned about riding the trains: ride in the middle car--that's where the conductor is located.
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