New York is a fast-paced, metropolitan city and it needs to function for millions of people that use the city for work, home, play and adventure.

In spite of the fact that New York City (all five boroughs – Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx and Staten Island) is just 304.8sq miles, it is also the most populous city in the United States.

The New York transportation system includes one of the largest subway systems in the world, the world’s first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel and an aerial tramway.

What’s more amazing is that Manhattan is only 59.1 km² and hosts almost double its residential population, Monday – Friday.

A 2013 census estimates that the daily population of the island rises from 1.6m to 3.1m thanks to the influx of out-of-town commuters (Source: City Lab).

Just how does an island so small manage to get so many people to their desks on time…?

1. A typical driver’s shift is 9.5 hours.
2. Every workday, 2.5m riders use the New York City’s bus system (Source: City Lab)
3. In 2008, 44 old subway cars were dumped into the ocean off of the coast Maryland to serve as an artificial reef. (Source: BuzzFeed)
4. The average speed of a New York City bus is just 7.4mph! (Source: City Lab)
5. The cost of a single fare to anywhere in New York is just $2.75 – the cost of a single Zone 1 to Zone 1 area on London’s tube system is £2.30 (Source: Londonist)
6. The New York subway system opened in 1904 – almost 40 years after the London Tube system (Source: Londonist)
7. There is a tongue-in-cheek, but fairly accurate, economic principle known as the New York Pizza Connection, which states that the average price of a slice of pizza matches the cost of a ride on the subway. When one increases, the other tends to follow. (Source: BuzzFeed)
8. A typical taxi drives 70,000 miles a year.
9. 65bn passengers use the New York subway system every year (Source: Londonist)
10. There are 468 stations on the New York subway, which transport people along 660 miles of train track. In comparison London’s underground has 270 stations across 249 miles of track. (Source: Huffington Post)
11. The NYC Subway runs 24/7 whereas the London Underground runs for 19 hours a day – although there are plans to change this. (Source: Huffington Post)
12. There are over 13,437 medallions, the right to run a yellow taxi, in New York City.
13. There are nine ghost stations in the NYC Subway system: The most beautiful is the abandoned City Hall station on the 6 line. It was in service from 1904 to 1945. (Source: Mashable)
14. Medallions can be as expensive as $1,200,000.

Stanley Travel is a transport and holiday provider in the North East England – sadly no trips to NYC yet, but we can get you from A to B in the North East. For more information about what we do click here.