What’s the fastest way to get from the UWS to Park Slope?

I love the New York subway and bus system! When I lived in the city I used it every day to get to and from work and it’s still a favorite way for me to traverse Manhattan and Brooklyn when I visit. The MTA is a vast network of subways, buses and railroads – According to the MTA website, it provides 2.4 billion trips each year to New Yorkers — the equivalent of about one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation’s rail riders. MTA bridges and tunnels carry more than 300 million vehicles a year — more than any bridge and tunnel authority in the nation. This vast transportation network — North America’s largest — serves a population of 14.6 million people in the 5,000-square-mile area fanning out from New York City through Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut.

So, with all the lines and options, how do you choose your route? How do you decide the fastest route? Which trains are local vs express? Back in the 1980s before Giuliani had cleaned up the city, it was often scary to use the MTA and I used to be nervous that I’d accidentally end up in the wrong / bad part of town. Although the city is now much safer, it’s still an intimating process for a lot of people.

The MTA has come to the rescue – it has launched a highly intuitive trip planner that is also available in a mobile version so you can use your Blackberry or iPhone to optimize your travel time.