Echnaton

I am sorry to ask such a dumb question, but MTA's website is more confusing than helpful.

We will spend three days in NYC with a party of 8 people, including 4 seniors. How do we get subway tickets?

I understand that we can buy pay-per-ride tickets at $2.25 per ride. How much are tickets for seniors - $ 1.13? How do we get the tickets? Are there machines or ticket booths? How can we pay? Do the machines accept bills or credit cards? Do they give change?

Another options seems to buy 7-day unlimited ride Metro Cards at $13.50 for seniors. However, the website says, you have to apply for a reduced fare Metro Card at the Walk-In Service Center on 3 Stone Street with a birth certificate. Is this really true? Are tourists exepected to go to this center, get photographed etc. just to buy a Metro Card?

For the non-seniors, the 1-day fun pass seems to be the cheapest option (reduced fare not available). But the MTA website says, this fun pass is not sold at ticket booths, only at vending machines. Again, what kind of money do those machines accept?

Sorry that I ask these silly questions. But it really looks complicated to get tickets for a large, jet-lagged party after a transcontinental flight.

mztery

1) SENIOR metrocards are really for locals not so much tourists which is why it is difficult to get them. Per rides fares are not discounted during rushhour so if you are planning to use subway or bus from 6-9 or 4-7 they don't work.

The MTA site is very informative on where and how to buy Metrocards so I don't see why you find it complicated.

http://www.mta.info/metrocard/index.htm
There are machines that take cash and credit at every subway station, Grand Central and some hotels sell them.

You can also load the cards with a set value and use them they run out. Depends on how much traveling you will be doing - are your seniors active? We are late middle age and often take a subway to where we are going but if we are on the go all day take a a taxi back...

gb944

Although it is probably not worth the savings for a three day trip, you can apply for a reduced fare metrocard through the mail.

My advice would be to suck it up and buy the regular 7 day fun pass, and give the cards with four days left to someone who looks like they could use it.

E_M

I thought the website was rather confusing, too. Particularly the choice of "MetroCard Vending Machines" and "Subway Station Booths" as to where to buy a card. The subway station booth is the manned ticket booth in the subway station--which isn't available everywhere. However, nearly all stations (and every major one) has a vending machine. The vending machines take credit cards.

Yes, senior fares are for locals, not tourists. I think your best bet is buying a 1 or 7-day pass.

smetz

Echnaton, not a dumb question at all. If you're only going to be there for three days, you could save a couple of bucks by just buying three one-day passes (8.25 each) versus a one week card (27.00), but maybe the convenience of only going to the fare card machine once might be worth the extra money.

But the other thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to ride fewer than four times a day, it's cheaper to pay per-ride. Plus, you can load up a single card with any amount of money and everyone in your party can use the same card (though this gets a little complicated with more than two or three people, so you might want to buy two separate cards for a party of four for example). And as long as you're putting more than $8 on the card, you get a 15% bonus. So let's say you put $20 on a card, you will actually get $23 in credit, which will pay for 10 rides. That's the cheapest way to go if you are only going to be riding 1, 2, or 3 times a day.

SueNYC

Ignore the first comment about per ride fares not being discounted during rush hour - not sure where this is from - probably NJ transit and Metro North trains

Senior fares are meant for locals - don't waste your time - our transit is cheap

The buy 7 days fares and pass it forward is a nice altruistic answer but since I have no idea what you are planning to do for your few days - it's probably overkill

Now listen carefully - for every 8 or more dollars you put on a per ride card, you get an extra 15% worth of money. Up to 4 of you can share that card by passing a back and (swiping for each in a subway or dipping for each in a bus)

A ride is either a bus ride or a subway ride OR a bus to subway transfer within 2 hours (if it says x xfers - don't swipe again) or a subway to bus xfer within 2 hours (if it says x transfers don't dip again) or a transfer between 2 DIFFERENT buses (uptown/crosstown, not uptown/downtown)

You will probably get by with a lot less than the cost of 8 7 day passes if you buy 2 or 4 per ride cards --- humans take cash - machines take cash or plastic - only 2 transactions per card)

NOtE - have the seniors share cards - many times in buses they will probably allow 2 of them for a ride if they look senior enough

Please go re-read all this at the MTA website:
http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...ey-to-nyc.html

nytraveler

And do realize there are no "tickets". The Metrocard has to be swiped in the turnstile and then it comes out and you keep it. You can get one for any amount you want and just keep adding more money - depending on how you plan to travel.

I would NOT get a senior Card - even through the mail - since there is no discount at the busiest times of day.

I would look at where you're staying and where you plan to go to get some idea of ow much you will be using the subway/bus versus feet and cabs. It might e better just to get one day passes for each day you will use the subway.

Aduchamp1

I am glad i live here so I do not have to live with such confusion.

SueNYC

YOU and me both Adu -- btw -- Brooklyn exposed has decided that bwac is good....

I'll know more on Wed but it seems I'll be counting NYCers in my neighborhood for a few weeks

HowardR

Whoa.....Unless things have changed recently, seniors can travel for half fare by showing their medicare card at a ticket booth. You then get what amounts to two rides for the price of one.

NeoPatrick

I'm really confused by the comments that seem to suggest if you have a senior card you can't use it certain times of the day. We were there for a month, got my partner his senior card and a month pass at Stone Street and he used it whenever. What is this deal about not working some times of the day. If you have a senior card, you can then buy a half price pass for whatever length of validity and it works ALL times.

Locals are often brutally unforgiving in not understanding why someone who has never been in the NYC subway and never encountered a metro machine might be confused. It is
VERY understandable.

SueNYC

I'm confused about the senior card too. As far as I know it works all the time but I think it's a waste of energy to get it for a 3 day trip.

E_M

I'm confused as to why someone coming to NYC via a transcontinental flight would have a medicare card.

NeoPatrick

well for starters, maybe they live in Iowa (or any of the other 49 states) and are stopping in New York after a transatlantic flight coming home from London or Paris. Stranger things happen. And we've certainly already established that being a senior is part of the equation.

ellenem

A "transcontinental" flight is . . . transcontinental . . . no oceans involved. California to New York is transcontinental.

NeoPatrick

duh. of course it is. I was thrown by that question from the poster before me and thought it was "transatlantic".

ellenem

Perhaps it was the reference to jetlag. The OP may actually have meant trans-Atlantic.

Aduchamp1

I would not get a seven day fun pass if you are only going to be here three days.

SueNY and Smetz give sound advice. How often do you actually think you will take the subway in a day? And you can always use the buses which give you a view of the city as well.

Enjoy your time and do not wait on lines for a discount card you will never use again.

If eight people are flying across the country (unless Neo is correct and they moved the Atlantic this morning) that is at least 2,400 bucks and now you are concerned with saving an additional 20 bucks and losing time that you can spend seeing the city.

E_M

Unless they are coming down from Canada, I suppose.

You are correct. One should not post after one's bedtime.

Carry on....

smetz

One other possibility is that you can go about 25 blocks in a taxicab for about $10 including tip. Since you can get 4 people in most cabs, the cost is about the same as 4 subway tickets.