How Do Free Intermodal Transfers Work?

[andyschest]

This has probably been covered before but I'm afraid I can't find it anywhere. I'm reading a Manhattan travel guide and it says "All MetroCards come with free transfers between subways and buses, and between buses and buses".

Taking it at face value, this means that I pay for a subway ride and then if I get on a bus, I don't pay for the bus ride. This raises questions like is there a time limit between getting off the subway and getting on the bus? If I take the subway, then a bus and then another bus, do I pay for the second bus? Is there free transfer between bus and subway i.e. if I get the bus first?

Is there a simple explanation for how this works? I have to say, however it works, it's a good idea. It sure looks cheap to travel around. Thanks in advance.

[ManhattanKnight]

Taking it at face value, this means that I pay for a subway ride and then if I get on a bus, I don't pay for the bus ride. This raises questions like is there a time limit between getting off the subway and getting on the bus? If I take the subway, then a bus and then another bus, do I pay for the second bus? Is there free transfer between bus and subway i.e. if I get the bus first?

Is there a simple explanation for how this works? I have to say, however it works, it's a good idea. It sure looks cheap to travel around. Thanks in advance.


There's a partial explanation here (http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/metrocard/termsreg.htm). There is a time limit (I can't remember how long it is) for intermodal transfers. It's long enough to allow free transfers on a single trip but short enough to prevent turning two trips into one.

[Scruffy88]

The transfers are with metrocards but it only allows one transfer. Bus to Train, or train to bus, and im pretty sure bus to bus but not train to train unless its a specially marked "out of station transfer" like the F line and 59th street or the G line and the 7 and Court Sq. At those spots you leave the station, walk to the other station and swipe your card and it wont charge you. it will just say 1 transfer ok. But if you do this and then at the end of your trip try to hop on a bus it will charge you for the bus because that last one counts as your one transfer. kind of unfair.

the time limit and im 80 percent sure is 3 hours for that one transfer. But it might be 2 hours. 2 hours actually sounds more like it to me. And that is marked after you first swipe your card at the subway. or bus first, whichever.

So in short, if you are in Coney Island and hop the D train heading to the Bronx, once you swipe in CI you have 2 hours to get to your station in the bronx and swipe your card again at the bus for it to count as a transfer. Anything after that would be another fare. done

[andyschest]

Thanks both of you for your help. I hope your transport system lives up to my high expectations. Looks much better than London's.

[ablarc]

Thanks both of you for your help. I hope your transport system lives up to my high expectations. Looks much better than London's.
Don't know about that. It's certainly grubbier.