I am also what you call a "senior lady" and I haven't taken the subway in a year and a half -- stopped using it before the lockdown. Just got fed up with the filth and unanticipated route changes and delays that were making me leave an hour and a half before performances at Lincoln Center (I only live by the UN) and returning home much later than I wanted. And shortly before the lockdown, thanks to the ineptitude of our governor, we lost our excellent transit head, and I don't expect to see anyone nearly as good anytime soon (ex transit head is now head of Transport for London), so am not counting on any improvements. More recently I have had a spinal/motor issue that makes stairs challenging for me (I hope just temporarily) and I feel people get angry with me if I'm too slow. Also makes it hard for me to run, which I feel can be a necessity in certain parts of NYC (including subway). So I mostly get around by bus or walking (slowly) as I can still walk a mile and a half or so at a time.

I just saw a story about a volunteer program that is helping to provide safe escorts and is now available below 59th st. in Manhattan:

https://abc7ny.com/volunteer-program-that-launched-to-provide-safe-escorts-expands-in-manhattan/10596026/

Also from today, the NYPD is using auxiliary officers in the subway:

https://nypost.com/2021/05/07/nypd-boosts-unarmed-volunteer-forces-in-subways-to-help-combat-crime/

Howard mentioned homeless and crime. The homeless problem has become worse in the past 5 years or so and there have been a lot of issues. Sure, the likelihood is that the average person will come and go without issue, but crime does occur.

I watch our local news in the morning for traffic and weather and listen to a lot of AM radio during the day, subway crime has been in the news cycle for a reason. This is from yesterdays news cycle:

https://nypost.com/2021/05/06/nyc-subway-violence-continues-with-5-new-incidents-cops-say/

Don't let any of this deter you, but be aware of your surroundings.

Subways are probably cleaner now than they have been at anytime in history due to the frequent cleanings. They aren't empty anymore that is for sure. They aren't packed solid with people either. There were some recent studies suggesting that the subways weren't a major place for covid spreading. Almost everyone wears masks on the train and they mostly try to distance from other people to give everyone space when possible. While there are some media reports of subway crime it is worth noting that many of those incidents happen at further out stations and sometimes late at night. The reality is that transit crime is down 45.9% over this time last year. The governor is full of it. Both the governor and mayor are petulant children. The governor has his own scandals and the mayor takes political potshots with glee. They are both bottom dwellers to be honest but then again so are a lot of politicians so what else is new. I don't even know when Cuomo takes the subway since he spends most of his time in Albany and what children is he even talking about? His daughters are all grown up. I saw a young teen girl riding the train by herself yesterday and doing just fine. Seems like Cuomo is just desperate to smear deblasio in order to distract from his own scandals. I have no use for either of them.

I dunno what the situation is in Queens. Maybe it is different there as well as other far out outer borough stations. What I can say is I have ridden trains in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and didn't see any homeless on the trains. Saw maybe two sleeping in a Brooklyn subway station where tourists aren't likely to frequent anyway. This is drastically different than pre-pandemic when I saw homeless sprawled out on the trains frequently. It was a constant problem and then when the pandemic started they were taking over entire cars. That hasn't been the situation for several months, because they closed down overnight service for train cleanings and kicked everyone out.

I have been on the subway trains a number of times over the past few months. I pass through many of the stations tourists will utilize and don't see anything remotely matching the supposed doom and gloom. I wouldn't take the subway later at night like after 9 or 10pm, until things open up more but during the day there are plenty of people on the trains. Frankly the subway ride experience is much nicer now than it has been in years. I only take the trains because I am fully vaccinated though. They are getting crowded to the point where I would have some hesitation if I wasn't fully vaccinated because you can't always socially distance on the train as much as you could like two months ago. I do pay attention to my surroundings but to be honest I have always done that in the subway, because it is not like any of these issues are new regardless of how the media makes it sound. Also, I did notice police officers on post inside some of the stations.

Our inept governor is also a suburban car guy, apparently deeply into "muscle cars," who knows practically nothing about public transit and even less about the pressing need to limit the number of cars entering central Manhattan every day.

My main objection to filth concerns not so much subway cars as subway stations and the people who inhabit them, especially a place like Times Square station later in the evening. Not only does it smell the same, but it seemed to me to have the same Jesus freaks screaming about salvation in Spanish as it did in the 60s. I thought I was going to strangle someone around Christmas 2019, which is one of the reasons I stopped using it.

Thank you for posting this. Myself and 17 year old daughter will be in NY for a week in early June and plan to take the subway. We are experienced metro riders (DC, LA, Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Moscow). I was palnning on riding the metro during the day and mostly cabs Fter 8pm. Any words of wisdom? Any particular station to avoid?

Claudia

Caprimax, where do you plan to go?

Some of the major concerns have been at the far ends of train lines, where there may be less people and less crowded sections. If you’re planning to go to Brooklyn or Queens, you should certainly ask about which train lines and which stations are more concerning than others.

If you’re pretty much planning to stay in Manhattan, below, say, 96th street (although you could safely go to the cloisters during the day), you should remain vigilant, but it will never be empty which is what you don’t want. Safety in numbers. If you encounter someone who seems to not be “all there”, keep your distance. They will mumble or perhaps rant and rave. But won’t bother you if you keep away (and try not to stare).

Although the subway cars are SO much cleaner, I try not to touch anything as much as possible. You should hold on to something if you need to stand because you’re not used to the motion. But I’m sure you, like all of us, carry sanitizer and just use it after you get off. If you’re especially nervous, feel free to wear latex gloves and discard them when you get off. I admit that I did that a few times but now I just sanitize and wash as soon as possible. Most people are masked, and many, many are vaccinated.

You will see what you choose to see - if you want to focus on the one creepy guy who rants and raves, that’s what you’ll see. If you want to focus on the locals going about their business, or the high school kids chattering non stop, or the tourists figuring out where they’re going, that’s what you’ll see.

Think about how you want to organize your days. You may choose to start the day taking the subway, but towards the end of the day, when you’re tired (or perhaps laden with packages), may prefer a cab or Uber.

Pre-Covid, I took the subway home even very late, long past midnight. Now, I’m not doing that. Maybe in a few weeks. We’ll see. But by 9 or 10, I’m either waking or taking a cab. (Note: while I feel perfectly safe walking alone at 10, or 11, I know where I’m going. Perhaps until you know exactly where you are, a cab would be preferred).

My advice is to prepare yourself to take the subway. Look at subway maps, maybe some YouTube videos about riding the subway. Become familiar. Then, once you’re here, do so in the morning and see how it feels. It’s a $2.75 investment in testing out your own comfort level. If you don’t like it, you tried and that’s that.

#15 Don't have any accidents in subway stations that involve any cutting/breaking of skin because the stations are so dirty, such an accumulation of grit and grime, that you could end up with sepsis.

I had an accident a couple yrs ago, not involving subway, that resulted in a compound fracture and a trip to the ER. It was around midnight and I had to wait until 8 or 9 the next morning for the surgery. While I was lying in the ER they sent an ortho resident to "clean it" and temporarily stabilize it. She explained to me that a very serious concern with that type of open wound was that something so small as to be invisible would get in it and you could get this terrible type of bone infection that would be very difficult to deal with, even kill you. So she did that and I had the surgery and pins (when they cleaned it again) and they kept a close eye on it for a week or so to make sure there were no signs of infection and it all worked out fine.

Not long after that I was gamely making my way to the ballet one night via the shuttle and the 1 train. As I made my way through the mobs in the part of the Times Square station where the shuttle is I looked down at the floor and had like a PTSD experience. I recalled the fall that had led to my broken bone and all of a sudden had a fear I was going to fall again, but this time on a subway station floor that had so much grit and grime it was black and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in 10-15 years. A chill went down my spine.The floor there is I think fairly new, maybe no more than 20 yrs old, but it looks like it has never been cleaned. I am not a particularly fastidious person myself, but I am totally grossed out by that. If you are young, stuff like this may not bother you so much. But I find as I get older I have become more and more concerned about keeping myself in good shape, because the consequences when you are older can really be a lot worse than when you are younger.

I also recommend checking the MTA website regularly to find out about any proposed service disruptions. They sometimes, not always, post paper summaries of these in the stations, but they tend to be incomprehensible. If you check online, you can read it carefully, multiple times if you need to, then call if you still don't understand. In the fall of 2019 I was coming home from Lincoln Center later in the evening. They had been doing work on the shuttle and closing it early every night -- I think maybe at 10 or so instead of midnight. Well I hadn't checked ahead, and had forgotten about the work and arrived at the shuttle platform at 10.10 only to find out I was too late. So I had to go up to the street and wait a half hour or so for a crosstown bus. It's especially important for visitors to check the website as I think they are often not aware of what their other options are, and checking ahead gives them time to figure that out.

A couple of questions

Is this a first visit or do you have some previous experience in NYC? (A general sense of geography?)

Do you have experience using public transit? (Anywhere in the world?)

Which direction from Times Square is your hotel? (Some bits are nicer than others. If you don't want to name the hotel cross streets / intersections might be helpful)

You should experiment with the MTA trip planner to get an idea of route options to/from places you want to go https://new.mta.info/

A Metrocard is good for both subways and city buses so you can often choose among multiple routes. A weekly unlimited may be your best value https://new.mta.info/fares

P.S.. Re #9

Are your friends familiar with NYC?

What sources are they relying on to form their opinions?

Are they people who would be afraid to travel alone pretty much anywhere?

IIRC, Howard lives in a section of Queens not well served by the subway in a neighborhood that was hit hard by covid. Not sure if his transit hesitancy is related to covid, safety or both. He does get out and about in a variety of places - check out his recent threads on exploring local historic sites.

I live about a mile from the 2nd most crowded Subway line (The Queens Blvd line) before Covid the trains were really packed and I suspect that kept the homeless off the trains a bit. The E train is the longest train line that never goes outside so homeless would sometimes go on it, but because there were alot of people on it they sort of kept to themselves and rarely bothered anyone

There is also a large gap between Stops in Forest Hills and Jackson Heights , Betwen Jackson Heights and Queens Plaza and Between Queens and Manhattan so you cannot just move if there is a trouble maker on the train

At first I avoided because of Covid, but I think its safer now , Now I dont go on because of Safety. Without getting too political I do think certain elements in the city have made it harder to police the subway which adds to the problem. You can feel sorry for the mentally ill and homeless on the subway, but safety for all paramount, If I dont feel safe I wont ride, and while most wont bother me (I know how to ride the subway) they might bother people I am riding with and that is a concern as well