Traffic & Transportation in New York City
New York City is served by one of the largest rapid-transit systems in the world -- the MTA subway, with 472 stations, the most of any system globally, and 4.002 million average weekday riders in 2025 -- making genuinely car-optional living practical across most of the city, alongside JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty (together the busiest airport system in North America) and the free Staten Island Ferry, the borough's only non-vehicular link to Manhattan.
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Learn moreThe MTA Subway: One of the Largest Transit Systems in the World
The MTA subway operates 472 stations -- the largest number of public transit subway stations of any system in the WORLD -- running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Average weekday ridership ran approximately 4.002 million in 2025, up 7.1% year-over-year and recovering to approximately 73% of 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels; the system recorded nearly 1.3 billion total trips in 2025, and set a real, post-pandemic single-day ridership record of approximately 4.65 million riders on December 11, 2025.
Genuine, Practical Car-Optional Living Across Most of the City
This genuinely enormous, rail-based system makes fully car-optional living a real, practical option across most of Manhattan and large sections of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx -- a meaningfully different baseline than every other market built in this project, including Philadelphia's own genuinely substantial but much smaller SEPTA system.
Staten Island: The One Real, Notable Exception
Staten Island has no subway connection to the rest of NYC. Its only non-vehicular link to Manhattan is the Staten Island Ferry -- a real, free (since 1997) service carrying approximately 16.7 million riders in 2025, or roughly 70,000 people daily, between St. George and Whitehall Street. This is a genuine, real, and disclosed structural reason Staten Island carries a distinctly more car-dependent, suburban character within NYC than the other four boroughs.
Three Major Airports Forming the Busiest System in North America
JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty (physically in New Jersey but jointly operated with the NYC-area airports by the Port Authority of NY & NJ) together form the busiest airport system in North America. JFK alone served over 60 million passengers in 2025, the busiest of the three, followed by Newark (~50 million) and LaGuardia (30 million+).
Confirm a Specific Commute and Neighborhood-Level Transit Access Directly
Given NYC's genuinely large scale, movers should confirm current, address-specific commute-time expectations directly (e.g., via a transit-planning tool for a specific home-to-work route, checked at the actual time of day they'd be commuting) rather than relying on any citywide average -- particularly for a Staten Island address, or an outer-borough neighborhood at the edge of subway coverage.
Key takeaways
- The MTA subway operates 472 stations -- the most of any transit system in the world -- with average weekday ridership of approximately 4.002 million in 2025, up 7.1% year-over-year.
- This makes genuinely practical, car-optional living possible across most of Manhattan and large sections of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.
- Staten Island has no subway connection to the rest of NYC and relies instead on the free Staten Island Ferry (~16.7 million riders in 2025) -- a real, structural reason for its distinctly more car-dependent character.
- JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty together form the busiest airport system in North America; JFK alone served 60 million+ passengers in 2025.
- Confirm current, address-specific commute expectations directly for a specific home-to-work route, particularly for a Staten Island or outer-borough address at the edge of subway coverage.
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