nyc fact/tip #17:
grand central madison is one of the most expensive and delayed public transit projects ever, at an estimated cost of 11.1 billion dollars (5 times over budget). it should have opened in 2009 but opened in 2023 (14 years delayed) instead due to numerous delays. the station does look fantastic, though.
it is part of the east side access project, expanding the lirr to connect penn station to grand central. this is because many commuters taking the long island railroad (lirr) are going to somewhere closer to grand central (east 42nd and park ave) than where the lirr would drop them off at penn station (west 31st and 8th ave).
grand central terminal serves the metro-north railroad (which goes north into ny state and into ct), and penn station serves lirr, nj transit, and amtrack. grand central terminal now connects to grand central madison (underneath the terminal) with the lirr.
you won’t want to miss a step down these escalators found in grand central madison.
image credit: crainsnewyork.com
nyc fact/tip #16:
let people off the train before getting on. please.
nyc fact/tip #14:
central park is the most filmed location in the world (in movies)!
it also smells like horse poop a lot of the time (depending on the area) so be warned. i saw a group of people who were very disappointed when they walked into central park to find out it smelled like that (for being such a famous park!).
nyc fact/tip #13:
mullvad vpn went all out with advertising in nyc. i’ve so far seen their ads in the subway, on buses, and billboards.
nyc fact/tip #12:
long island railroad and metro north railroad still uses conductors to manually check tickets and use hole punchers to validate fare payment. this is in contrary to other systems like in london where they use tap on/tap off.
they are supposed to get omny (nyc’s new fare collection system) on the railroads, but very little information on how that will be implemented has been shared (i think it’s very unlikely they install tap points at stations).
nyc fact/tip #11:
“i 
ny” is sort of rebranding as “we nyc”
nyc fact/tip #10:
the term “the city” is often spoken by new yorkers or those in the surrounding tri state area to refer to new york city (like it’s the only city you could be talking about). it’s also used to talk about manhattan specifically depending on the context.
nyc fact/tip #9:
mta installed some barriers to prevent people falling or being pushed onto the tracks.
they are very simple and don’t open and close, so there are some gaps. compared to other cities in the world, this is very low tech and unsafe. i guess better than nothing?
image credit: mta
nyc fact/tip #7:
will there be snow tomorrow in nyc? or will it be a scam? we’ll find out.
nyc fact/tip #6:
congestion pricing will go into effect this spring. it is the first city in the united states to implement such a toll. other cities that have tolls like this include london.
congestion pricing tolls car drivers $15 (or 22.50 if you don’t have an ez-pass) when driving into the central business district (south of 60th street to the bottom of manhattan). tolls are in effect during peak hours. the money will go to the mta to improve the system.
new jersey filed a lawsuit because of the mta’s decision to implement congestion pricing.
nyc fact/tip #5:
nyc’s 701 day streak without an inch of snow has been broken!
nyc fact/tip #4:
the metrocard, the fare payment system used on new york’s subway and bus system (opreated by the mta) is in the process of being replaced!
the metrocard will be replaced by omny, which stands for one metro new york. it allows contactless credit and debit cards and mobile wallets to simply tap on the payment terminal.
it is already in use on all subway turnstiles and bus doors! if you visit new york, there is no need to buy a metrocard! all you need to do is tap your contactless credit/debit card on the omny reader. skip the long metrocard machine lines and just tap and go! you can make an omny account, but it isn’t necessary.
if you need to pay with cash, your best option is to see if there is an omny card vending machine (which are in the process of being rolled out), or else just by a metrocard (unless you are willing to go to a convenience store that sells omny cards).
in the future, omny will (hopefully) also be on other transit in the area, like the lirr, metro-north, nice bus, bee-line bus, and more.
learn more about it at omny.info