A Breakdown of NYC's Subway Lines and the Neighborhoods They Serve

One great way to become an expert on NYC neighborhoods is to simply get on different subway lines and see what happens if you take them to the end of the line.

You'll be amazed at the gems you'll discover, even without a map or a tour guide.      

Still, need a jump start?   Here are the lines and the places they go...  You might want to start exploring ones that include areas you're already interested in and branch out from there.   Note that all run from Midtown to Queens or Bronx (uptown), and Midtown to Lower Manhattan/Brooklyn (downtown).

Here are the BIGGEST train stations in Manhattan.  Just about all of the train lines runt though them, so you may want to remember which lines hit which stations:

Times Sq-42 St (N,Q,R,S,1,2,3,7)/42 St (A,C,E)    *Port Authority
Grand Central-42 St (S,4,5,6,7) 
34 St-Herald Square (B,D,F,M,N,Q,R)
14 St-Union Sq (L,N,Q,R,4,5,6) 
34 St-Penn Station (1,2,3) 
34 St-Penn Station (A,C,E)

*Do not confuse Times Sq-42nd St with 42nd Street/Bryant Park.  They're walkable distance, but not the same station!

The Numbered Trains

There are seven numbered train lines.  Most of them run from the Bronx to Brooklyn with the exception of the 7 which runs from flushing to Queens.

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• The 1 train: Runs from the Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and ends in South Ferry (which gets you to Staten Island.)   Stops at WTC Cortlandt along the way.
• The 2 train: Runs from the Wakefield neighborhood in the Bronx and ends in Flatbush.   Wakefield borders the southern tip of Westchester (think Yonkers.)
• The 3 train: Runs from 148th Street in Harlem and gets you to Brooklyn's New Lots Avenue in East New York.
• The 4 train: Runs from the Woodlawn in the Bronx and ends in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Go Yankees!
• The 5 train: Runs from Eastchester in the Bronx and ends up in Flatbush.  Passes through some pretty swanky train stations which are tourist sites in their own right including Fulton, the WTC and Grand Central.  Get those cameras out!
• The 6 train: Runs from Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx and ends up at the Brooklyn Bridge. This was the train that the movie "Taking of Pelham 123" took place on!    (Pelham Bay Park is a City operated park that's about 3x the size of Central Park.)
• The 7 train: Runs from Flushing, Queens to Manhattan. Neighborhoods along the route include Jackson Heights, Times Square, and Hudson Yards.  I often take it to my brokerage which is located near Grand Central Station.  

The Lettered Trains

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, M, N, Q, R, Z, W and S subway lines also run through NYC, they serve different areas and neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods served by them include:
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• The A train: Gets you from Inwood (the tip of Northern Manhattan) goes through Manhattan and zips back up into Queens ultimately ending up in Rockaway or Ozone Park.   
• The B train takes you from Bedford Avenue in the Bronx all the way down to Brighton Beach.    It stops off at Yankee Stadium along the way! (Anybody remember the Woody Allen film Brighton Beach Memoirs?)
• The C train: Runs from 168th Street in Washington Heights (Upper Manhattan) and ends in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Serves neighborhoods like Central Park, Lincoln Center, Harlem, and the Upper West Side.  
• The D train: Starts up in Norwood. Serves neighborhoods like Central Park, Lincoln Center, Harlem, and Brooklyn's Coney Island.  When you're going uptown be advised that once it hits 59th and Columbus Square it zips non-stop into Harlem, meaning it zips all the way past the Upper West Side. I used to need to go to 72nd Street (UWS) and would often get on the D instead of the B by accident, then get freaked out why it was suddenly turning express and passing dozens and dozens of stations into the 100s!    Warriors, come out and play-ay... Warriors, come out and play-ay...  Note that 7th Ave. connects with the E train, which is great forgetting into Queens.  Rockefeller Plaza is right after.
• The E train: Runs from Jamaica, Queens to the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Serves neighborhoods like Long Island City, Jackson Heights and Midtown.  Foodies:  Get off at Roosevelt Avenue.  That's as far as you need to go, unless you need to take a flight from JFK... connects with the shuttle.
• The F train: Runs all the way from Jamaica, Queens to the NY Aquarium and Coney Island in Brooklyn.  
• The G train: Runs from Court Square (Long Island City) down to Flatbush in Brooklyn. Serves neighborhoods like Park Slope and Greenpoint.  It is shown in the opening to the TV show "Girls", which admittedly, I have never seen.
• The J train is one of the few trains that connects directly between Queens and Brooklyn.   Winds up in the Financial District in Southern Manhattan.   Along with the E and Z during rush hours, it will also help get you to JFK.
• The L train: Runs from Manhattan to Canarsie in Brooklyn Serves neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick.   Hipsters rejoice!  
• M train winds in and out of Queens and Brooklyn, ultimately getting you to Middle Village, Queens.  For me it is a stalwart Queens lifeline stopping at Astoria, Jackson Heights and winding up in Forest Hills.    I'm a few stations from Steinway. 
• The N train:  Gets you from Astoria-Ditmars in Queens and runs all the way down to Coney Island in Brooklyn. I love the view of LIC when it makes the turn after coming out of the subway tunnel.   
• The Q Train:  Starts at 96th Street Station in the Upper West Side (one of the oldest stations in NYC) and ultimately gets you down to the Aquarium and Coney in Brooklyn.
• The R train: Runs from Brooklyn to Queens through Manhattan and feels like it goes on forever..  It runs via Queens Boulevard in Queens, Broadway in Manhattan and 4th Avenue in Brooklyn.   Will get you all the way from Forest Hills in Queens to Bay Ridge.
• The W train: Runs from Astoria Queens to the South Ferry Terminal in Brooklyn.  Don't get any native New Yorkers started talking about it.  South Ferry is your gateway to Staten Island.
• note: The S (shuttle) operates between Grand Central Station and Times Square.

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Suggested Reading:

Resources:

Discovering NYC Neighborhoods with The Subway Game

MTA Subway Map

Subway Service Information (lists the subway lines and their current routes)

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

NYC Metro Survival Tip

It's not uncommon for the monitors on the trains to suddenly go down commonly being replaced with an announcement that says, "Listen for further information," during which time train will suddenly start running on the tracks of another line (in other words, stopping at those stations.)

In this case, it's a good idea to have access to the MTA Text Map.  These maps list the names of the stations on each route and can be particularly useful if the train keeps switching lines (often due to construction.)

For easy access to these routes go to Chrome, top the three dots at the top of the screen and select add to home screen.   It will then turn the website you're looking at into an app that you can easily access from your phone's Home Screen.

For Apple, go to the bottom of the screen and click the SHARE button, then add to home screen.