NYC Transit: MTA Subway & Bus Reviews

I visited NYC for about three days with my family, and NYCTransit definitely saved our lives. Coming from California, we never take the train or bus to go places, so taking the subway would be a huge issue. But NYCTransit made traveling so much easier. We knew exactly which train to get on, what stops were being taken, and when we had to get off to either our destination or to transfer to another train. Of course, I can’t give it five stars because sometimes the times are inaccurate, but the times are usually off by a couple minutes. To get an accurate time, the signs in the subway do give better times of when a train is arriving (i.e. 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc.). Also, the service does cut off when the train is in motion, so NYCTransit doesn’t work and doesn’t show us our exact location, but once the train stops for the next flow of people, you are able to see exactly which station and street you’re on if the train itself doesn’t provide a sign or you cannot hear the conductor. If I ever go back to NYC, I will definitely be using NYCTransit again :)

Every day for the past month I have been racing to get to the express bus stop because NYCTransit gps stated that the bus would arrive in a certain amount of minutes. I keep watching hung the gps in NYCTransit count down the arrival of the bus until it reaches ‘0’ minutes which means the bus is within feet of the stop….except no bus arrives. And I am now left waiting for an additional bus to arrive for another hour. Is it so hard to say that the bus for that time is not running today. Why does NYCTransit need to provide such blatant lies. Just say it’s not running. And when asking the drivers about their tracking—they say “oh don’t pay attention to that—the gps on this bus never works”. Why use NYCTransit for real time. I may as well stick to the generic time table and hope for the best. As I type this, it is 9:30 pm. I just got off of my shift as an RN and raced to catch a bus that was supposed to arrive 10 minutes ago. NYCTransit os now saying another bus will arrive in 50 minutes. So instead I have to wait alone at night as a woman for the next bus that May or may not come. This is not a one time occurrence. It’s now daily.

I tried NYCTransit and ‘NYC Subway’. This is a far better app.
I was visiting from out of town and had visited many years earlier. I like the NYC subway. It is easy to get around.
But some things are confusing and NYCTransit just does not get it right. We were staying at a hotel near the 33rd street, green, #6 line. During most of the day, only the #6 train stops there, it NYCTransit’s map says that the 4 also stops there. It does, but only late at night. It took me a day to figure out this error in these maps.
But the route directions to get from one place to another were fine most of the time. We wanted to go to Yankees stadium. NYCTransit sent us south on #6 to 14th street to change to the #4. We ended up going north on #6 to Grand Central Station, then switch trains there. That seemed far more logical.
Still, I could not have found my way around the NYC subway without NYCTransit.

Absolutely the best NYC subway map!
We tried four separate apps and this one proved to be the easiest to read as well as the easiest to follow.
It also shows your current train’s progression to the next stop. Which proved helpful one time when I boarded the wrong train. I was able to hop trains at the next stop and save valuable time.
There were a couple of times when I noticed another train, that wasn’t listed, was heading the direction we were going, but that could be something beyond my limited experience.
NYCTransit should be the NYC’s official subway info provider. It puts MY MTA to shame.

Developers - I’m using a fully functioning iPhone Pro 12 Max. Just downloaded your app yesterday and was impressed with the up-to-date notifications and overall UI. Especially with the recent Ida flash floods. But to miss major stops - Union Square? Grand Central? - or lacking trains at other major stops (only B / Q at Atlantic-Barclays Center) is just shameful. These stops are only recognized when mapping trips. But to go to them directly from train lines - nothing. The express 4 and 5 trains don’t have either 14th or 42nd! Same with the B and Q trains! Where is the entire N train? How does your team - or any of these lousy apps - expect folks to transfer trains properly without these stops on your app, let alone featuring all the trains? You want locals to fuel your subscriptions but you don’t have the basics done. Update/upgrade as quickly as you can.

We just came into town to celebrate a birthday and wouldn’t have been able to get around without NYCTransit! It rerouted us when the subways were down for maintenance and gave us multiple options.

I wish NYCTransit would keep your last searched trip’s information on the home screen instead of opening fresh every time (it got annoying having to constantly re-search our route when I just wanted to double-check the numbers), especially when you’re in a subway station with poor reception, but it was a minor inconvenience.

NYCTransit has a lot of potential. The best thing about it is it's reasonably accurate display of subway arrival times. But there are at least four things about NYCTransit that are annoying. 1) Certain multi line subway stops, like W. 4th St., only show the information for the blue lines, not the orange lines. 2). The subway arrival time display for each station often displays at the top of the screen where you can't see it without resuming your screen. 3) NYCTransit should remember the zoom state when switching between bus and subway. 4) you should be able to turn on or off bus/subway info in preferences so that the display is cleaner and tailored to ones main use.

I used NYCTransit during a recent trip to NYC. Because of a leg injury suffered just before our trip, I needed to minimize walking while still enjoying all the city has to offer. NYCTransit allowed me to enter my starting point and destination, then gave me choices that included bus, subway, and walking options. So helpful! Easy to use, and was such a help in learning the transit systems. NYC also deserves credit for having bus stops clearly marked, and for maintaining immaculate buses.

Visiting from PA and wanted to take subway from 44th and Broadway to the 911 memorial. NYCTransit worked great on the way there. It was nice that it tells you exactly where to walk from your location to catch which subway and shows you the exact subway route. Coming back it directed us to a different route that ended up with no trains appearing. After asking locals for help they told us that those trains were not running accurately. We wasted our fair on those and went back to one we knew (the one we came on). We were scared, confused and not happy. We wasted some money but all together it was cheaper than a taxi. And it was a good experience to try.

NYCTransit works well only if you want to use one manner of travel (subway, bus, etc) only. If your travel requires you to catch a bus to a nearby subway station- you will be stranded in NYC. Also, with multiple bus stops on various corners, this program is terrible at telling you WHERE the bus stop is located! We ended up missing busses numerous times. After the 2nd day, we simply stopped using it and switched to using another program (g**gle to be honest). Great idea for an app, definitely needs some tweaking for those of us not from the city!

In my opinion NYCTransit is user friendly & easily navigated. I tap into NYCTransit when leaving a destination - it’s great to get immediate travel info. I even use NYCTransit while I’m in transit, this helps because if they’re delays I can see possible so I can connect to another train line to reach my destination. I really enjoy the ‘take me home’ button; I get an immediate estimate on when I’ll arrive home.

I was excited to use a new app that has an easier navigation layout & no fees. But for over the past month its been inaccurately reporting the train time. I’ve been leaving my home too early or too late (15min in advance) and its been inaccurate. I’ll either have to wait extra or miss my train by a chunk of time; but it especially keeps merging the anticipated catch time to the later scheduled train. Not exactly what I was hoping for during the winter and the pandemic.

I’ve tried numerous transportation apps, and this is the only one with clear and consistent updates. Plus the layout and favorites screen is easy to read, especially if you have to pull out your phone in a crowd while you’re rushing for a bus! I would definitely recommend it. 👍

I downloaded NYCTransit so that I could see exactly what it shows - how soon the buses would arrive. I was surprised to see it even does trains too. The only thing I am not sure of is updates on closings and/or rerouted trains/buses - like for construction or maintenance. I will update rating if it doesn't have this feature but otherwise the starting point is important and it does the job.

This is a great way to navigate the NYC Transit System. It allows you to plan trips by destination and desired time of arrival, and includes the time spent walking to the departure stop and from the destination stop to your final destination. NYCTransit gives you several alternatives from which to choose. As an out of towner who visits the city a few times a year, NYCTransit is invaluable.

NYCTransit is great for directing you to the correct subway entrance and train number however it could be a little more informative on the direction you need to take the train, as the same trains run both directions and not being familiar with the city we got on the train going the wrong direction. NYCTransit still made it much easier.

When I head for the subway or a bus stop, NYCTransit tells me whether I should run to catch my ride that’s about to arrive, or relax because It’s a couple of minutes away and I can stroll to catch it. i’ve been riding the subway since the 1950s, so I don’t need NYCTransit to navigate, but it looks like it works pretty well for that, too.

*** Update: this issue was addressed within 24 hours. Thank you very much.

NYCTransit would be absolutely amazing if I could read the numbers of the busses when I plan a trip. Unfortunately, it looks like the numbers are written in the same color as the highlight and you can’t see the numbers.

The amount of options to get to your destination by using the MTA system is amazing. I thought I knew how to get around and fast until I downloaded and started to use NYCTransit. I get at least 4 options on how to get to my destination and way faster. Great resource I can't be without. Highly recommended!

I was looking for a way to save money on travel and NYCTransit was very helpful.
Every month I spend $269 on metro north and $35 on subway but NYCTransit found me a subway close to marble hill .. this saved me $$$. Instead of spending $300+ a month I am down to $110 with almost the same destination arrival time for my morning commute

And keeps getting better. Every crappy thing you hate about the official MTA is not an issue with NYCTransit. NYCTransit opens to the information YOU want to see; no stupid animation of a train every time you open it, no convoluted menu screen. The map scrolls to where you want to go, not some arbitrary point that it picks - and it shows an overlay of the subway, something that the MTA thinks is unnecessary. Your favorites are displayed in an intelligent way, as are nearby stops. Bottom line: you’re getting what you paid for when you use the MTA app.

Found it the most helpful in planning my trip but there are some affordances and UX that could be improved upon to make this even better.

What it doesn’t take into account is the travel time between lines and real time delays fm trains that could mess up the travel sequence. I know, a lot to ask for but that would be super.

i’ve been living in new york city for all my life thats 17 years and i take the mta bus everywhere including school. sometimes NYCTransit shows when the bus is coming for ex. “9 mins” so i wait at the bus stop and 9 mins pass by and theres no frickin bus ??? OR A NO SERVICE BUS COMES... then it says to wait another 10 mins??? liKe what kind of app liesssss. I know MTA is trash but like at least provide accurate times of buses that are in SERVICE!!! im constantly LATE because of the inaccurate times NYCTransit informs me of.... blocked and reported and deleted . cutting all negativity from my life .

i have been using NYCTransit over 4 months and it has been working great. Compared to NYC official MTA Subway which is soo bad i deleted after one use.
I give 4 stars cause it seem the train gps movement is gone it doesn’t show it no more. Doesn’t matter to much but would be nice if i can see where is the train. Over all i’m satisfied.