Thanksgiving NYC Subway Service: What You Need To Know

NEW YORK — Plenty of New Yorkers clear out of the city for Thanksgiving, but those who stay will still have to get around somehow. Straphangers should watch out for the various service changes hitting the city's transit system into the holiday weekend.

While subway and bus service will generally be scaled back on Thursday, some extra trains will help travelers get out of the five boroughs and to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Here's what you need to know about commuting on and around Turkey Day, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Subways

New York City subways will run on a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving Day, though the 42nd Street shuttle and the 1 line will see increased service to ferry spectators to the parade. Some station entrances will be closed at 59th Street-Columbus Circle, while certain entrances and exits will be shut at Penn Station and along the B/D/F/M line.

The closest stops to the start of the parade are 72nd Street on the 1/2/3 line, 79th Street on the 1, 81st Street on the C and Columbus Circle. Overcrowding before the parade may lead trains to bypass the 72nd Street station, the MTA says.

If you want to take a trip back in time, the first trip on the vintage "Shoppers Special" train will take off at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 25. The 1930s train runs from Second Avenue F station to Rockefeller Center, then along the A/C/D line up to 125th Street, the MTA says.

Other planned subway service changes for the weekend can be found here.

Buses

Like the subways, MTA buses will run on a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving Day, meaning many routes will be scaled back or won't operate at all.

All buses in Manhattan could see delays and be affected by detours, reroutes or "frozen zones," especially those running near the parade route in Midtown, the MTA says. The 79th Street Transverse through Central Park will also be closed to buses from noon Wednesday to noon Thursday.

Many buses will run on a normal weekday schedule on Friday, though some express routes will use special schedules. Those are available at this link. Other planned service changes are available here.

The MTA and the Port Authority are offering free rides on the Q70 "LaGuardia Link" bus until Nov. 26. Riders can catch the bus at LaGuardia terminals B, C and D; the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue subway complex; or the 61st Street-Woodside 7 train stop (also the Long Island Rail Road's Woodside Station).

Commuter Rails

The Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will both see extra service on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The LIRR will run on a regular weekday schedule on Friday, while the Metro-North says it will accommodate Black Friday shoppers with an "expanded Saturday schedule."

Details about the Metro-North schedule are available here, while info about LIRR service is available here.

(Lead image: Riders crowd the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station in Brooklyn in April 2018. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)