Public transportation can be a frustrating and time consuming ordeal when traveling in a new city. Schedules change, routes vary, buses, subways, and metros run express sometimes and close early on weekends, and full system maps often resemble a human cardiovascular system with its branching lines and transfers. However, with a little planning and an awareness to the nuances of a new system, you can maximize your time while minimizing your costs on public transportation. Here are four tips on how to do just that:
1) Use the Internet.
It's simple, it's obvious, and it's true. By visiting the official website for a city's metro lines you can take advantage of trip planner functions that can take you door to door on your trip, and also become aware of schedule changes due to maintenance or line changes. Often times subways and buses run on fluctuating schedules during the weekends - something that locals know, but you may not. Take a quick peak at the home page and see if any alerts are jumping out at you. They write em in huge letters.
Also independent sites like Hopstop.com provide maps of your trip and detailed information and directions on every leg of the trip - including the walk to the train or bus, as well as how long each trip takes. Google also runs a nice service with relevant time and schedule information, although they are much much larger so not as up to date as the smaller sites that update the information regularly.
2) Economize and skip the hassle.
If you're in town for a few days, compare the savings on packets of tickets or weekender type metro passes to a "pay as you go" method of individual trips. Allow a certain number of trips per day - say four for light sightseeing, and eight for a heavy day - and see what that adds up to at normal turnstile prices. Odds are it's much cheaper to buy a day pass or a week pass, plus with these unlimited ride options you won't have to worry about constantly having cash to pay for more tickets or for swiping your card on the wrong direction of a track and paying double to get on the right line. Oftentimes just buying a random amount of credit on a card is the wrong way to go. Plus certain city's buses only take exact change and in some cases (like New York) they only accept change - NOT dollar bills. An unlimited pass is a great way to circumvent these minor inconveniences that can turn into major stress inducers. Also, you want to feel excited about traveling all over a new city, not constrained by your dwindling metro card balance. Skip the hassle.
3) Take a picture, it'll last longer.
Taking a picture of the city's subways map or bus line grid on your phone or camera and saving the picture is an old trick a lot of travelers use when trying to stay informed without giving away that they're a tourist (a.k.a. not refering to a monster folded paper map). Keep those where they belong - wadded up in your parent's glove compartment. However, with the way that technology races on, even this tip is becoming irrelevant with new apps for iphones and devices that beam up to the minute schedules and line changes to your phone or pda. Also, less expensive or free apps and programs provide you with detailed maps and stop information for most major city public transportation. Keeping this on you at all times can be a lifesaver when you're underground with no service and no clue where you are.
4) Take a second.
Despite all the research and files on your phone, getting on the wrong train really stinks. So, despite the forward push of crowds or the herd mentality in an underground metro, don't just file onto the train that you think might be the one that goes uptown. Look at the sign. Read it. And then most importantly, compare it to the one across the track or street. Something a lot of maps and programs are unclear of is the direction that a line is headed. Often times the line is demarcated by the last stop, but not always, and depending on rush hour and other factors, that can change. The one constant of public transit is that things are always different. Traffic happens, passengers get sick, lines get delayed and rerouted, so do your best to actually read the posted signs, no matter what the drunk guy at the end of the platform tells you. Getting on the express train to Harlem at 3 a.m. is not the best way to get to Brooklyn.
Good luck and safe travels.