City Transportation

With its enormous population, you will think that transportation is a challenge in New York City. This is not the case as the city contains one of the world’s complex infrastructure systems. The city has major airports, sea ports, railways and world class highways.

It has the longest suspension bridge in the whole of North America and the world’s subway system, that’s the Brooklyn Bridge, which connects the Manhattan and Brooklyn borough in Long Island. The bridge was open for use in 1883 and it is 6061 feet long. Other big bridges include the Manhattan, Queensborough and Triborough bridges. There are several ferries which substitute for other transport means.

Up to 5,900commuter buses are available in the city, serving 2.01 million passengers in a single day in the 200 plus local routes and the 30 dedicated express routes. The buses can be identified by number or prefix of the destination boroughs. The buses are used to connect between boroughs, suburbs, states and on major routes leading to airports, railway stations and seaports.

There are 13,000 yellow cab taxis operating in New York. In addition, there are up to 40,000 vehicles for hire, all painted in yellow with the NY icon. The empty cabs show light on their top and those occupied show no light. The cabs served up to 241 million passengers in 1999 alone and the fares start from US$2.50 upwards depending on the distance traveled.

New York City subway, the largest in the world measures 1,056km in track mileage. It is estimated that close to 1.4 billion passenger trips took place via the subway in 2005. It is home to two of the world’s 24-hour subway system upon which many residents depend on. The city has a total of 26 subway lines, which run through al its boroughs excluding Staten Island borough which is serviced by the railway.

Commuter railway system is also in great use, and it is the most extensive in USA. There are 250 stations served by 20 railway lines which carry close to 150 million commuters per year. These rail commuter services start from suburbs to the city centers and then grow to interstate rails, which comprise of 54 busy trains between New York and Philadelphia.

The city also has major airports like the JFK airport, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia airports. The first two connect to the regional rail systems. They also serve both domestic and international flights while LaGuardia deal with domestic short haul flights.

The seaport in use is the New York Harbor on the Atlantic Ocean which is the 3rd busiest in the United States. The harbor handles 25million tons of ocean cargo and up to half a million passengers each year.

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