The New York bus system is, to put it simply, extensive and a tad complex. If you’re heading to more remote areas of New York City (like the Brooklyn IKEA), the subway might not reach there. This makes buses indispensable. MTA buses span from Manhattan to areas like the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. It’s all under one system with the same payment method! This article provides a detailed guide on how to ride buses in New York! (This guide mainly focuses on general buses.)
New York Bus & Price Introduction
Local Buses, SBS, LTD: Each ride costs $2.90
Express Buses: $7 per ride
Introduction to NYC buses:
- Local buses: These are your regular buses, making up the majority of the service. Examples include M1, B61, …
- Select Bus Service (SBS): These buses make fewer stops, operate on main routes, and you can board from any door. Examples are M15, M23…
- Limited buses (LTD): These look like local buses but have fewer stops. They're marked with “LTD” upfront, and their bus stop sign has a purple indication (while general buses have blue signs). Examples: M2 Ltd, M4 Ltd…
- (Not discussed in this article) Express buses: These have the appearance of large tour buses and are used for transportation between different regions. Many operate only during peak hours on weekdays. Examples include X1, X2, X3, and so on.
View all New York bus/subway routes：Link(In essence, it’s complicated, so it’s usually easier to rely on Google Map.)
By entering your current location and destination in Google Maps, it will guide you to the nearest bus stop, indicate which bus to take, when it arrives, how many stops, and where to alight.
Bus Stops
Most bus stops have tall, circular signs displaying a bus icon and the bus route number. (MTA refers to these as lollipops.) Some bus stops have shelters. (Some older express bus signs are green.)
Pay attention to the bus number and station name displayed. A single stop might have multiple signs spread around a crossroad, so a little searching might be needed.
Below that, there's a more detailed route map. You can check if your destination is listed.
How to Get On
The bus will automatically stop:
Generally, you don’t need to signal for the bus to stop. Simply stand by the sign, and the bus will automatically stop and open its doors.
Board from the front door:
For local buses, passengers board from the front door and can alight from both the front and rear doors.
For SBS buses, which are longer in shape, passengers can board and alight from both the front and rear doors. Typically, passengers tap their cards when boarding from the front, but it's not uncommon to see some evading fares by boarding from the rear.
How to Pay
All payments are made upon boarding, regardless of the journey length, with a flat rate of $2.90. If you’ve taken the subway within the last two hours, you can transfer to the bus for free. However, you still need to swipe your card when boarding.
OMNY (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Credit Cards)
Each door is equipped with a sensor machine for passengers to tap on when boarding.
For Local Buses, passengers must board from the front door, as the machines at the rear door are marked "No Entry."
For SBS buses, which are longer, there are sensor machines at every door for passengers to tap on.
Credit or debit cards need to be linked first before use. If you haven’t set this up yet, consider reading：A 10-Step Tutorial on OMNY! Use Debit Cards and Apple Pay to enter New York Subway
Metrocard or Cash
You can purchase an unlimited 7-day Metrocard or a single-ride subway card. However, note that some bus stops might not have nearby ticket vending machines.
When inserting your Metrocard, make sure the card's front faces you with the black magnetic stripe on the right side.
For cash payments, you should have the exact change as there’s no change service available.
Seats
The seating in each bus might vary, but overall, they are relatively clean and made of hard plastic.
There are USB charging ports available in front of the seats for passengers to use.
How to Get Off
There are two methods to signal your stop: pull the cord or press the button.
It's quite convenient. Passengers sitting by the window can simply pull the yellow cord, while those sitting in the aisle can press the bell button. This makes alighting effortless for everyone!
If you’ve successfully signaled for a stop by pulling the cord or pressing the bell, the display will show "Stop Requested", indicating the bus will stop at the next station.
You can alight through the rear door, but note that the driver won’t automatically open it for you. You need to manually push the door from the center with a bit of force.
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