It essentially never closes, except for major incidents such as hurricanes. With some exceptions the whole subway system operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While trains mostly run underground in Manhattan, a good portion of trains run on elevated tracks in the other boroughs. Unless noted otherwise, I mean the subway system if I just use the word train by itself. The subway is never referred to as the metro, underground, or tube. The subway system is usually just referred to as the 'trains.' Locals say 'I can take the train to your place' to generally mean that they take the subway. The system is operated by a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). With some 5.5 million riders on a given weekday (before the coronvirus pandemic), it is one of the primary modes of transportation for the majority of New Yorkers and tourists. It is one of the oldest and largest public transportation systems in the world (in terms of number of stations).

The subway system is the main public transportation system in New York.

Before I delve into the details of how to take the trains, let me help you understand some of the basic information about the system.

Manhattan subway map