A–Z reference
NYC Travel Glossary
Locals throw around terms like OMNY, FiDi and BQE without thinking. Here's a plain-English glossary of every word a first-time NYC visitor will run into — transit, tickets, neighborhoods, and the local lingo.
Transit
- MetroCard
- The MTA's legacy magnetic-stripe fare card for subways and buses.
- MetroCards are being phased out in favor of OMNY contactless payment. New MetroCards will not be sold after December 31, 2025, and they will stop working entirely in 2026. If you're visiting in 2026, use OMNY (tap-to-pay) instead.
- OMNY
- The MTA's contactless tap-to-pay fare system. Replaces the MetroCard.
- OMNY (One Metro New York) lets you tap a contactless credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or an OMNY card at any subway turnstile or bus reader. A weekly fare cap kicks in automatically after 12 paid rides in a Mon–Sun week, making it effectively a 7-day unlimited.
- Subway transfer
- Switching trains within the paid area, included in your single fare.
- Most NYC subway stations let you transfer between lines for free as long as you stay inside the turnstiles. A few transfers (notably 4/5/6 to L at Union Square, and the Times Square shuttle to 7) are signed but require a short walk. OMNY and MetroCard also include one free bus↔subway transfer within 2 hours.
- Express vs local
- Express trains skip most stops; local trains stop at every station on the line.
- On lines like the 4/5/6, the 4 and 5 are express and the 6 is local. Check the digital sign on the front of the train — if you board an express by mistake, you may shoot past your stop. After 11pm most express service stops and everything runs local.
Tickets & Passes
- City Pass
- A bundled ticket covering 5 top NYC attractions at ~40% off the gate price.
- NYC CityPASS includes the Empire State Building plus your pick of 4 from a list including the Met, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Top of the Rock, the Statue of Liberty ferry, and the Guggenheim. Worth it if you're doing 4+ paid attractions in 9 days.
- TKTS booth
- Discount same-day Broadway tickets sold from the red-step booth in Times Square.
- TKTS sells unsold Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets for 20–50% off, day-of. The Times Square booth opens at 3pm for evening shows (11am for matinees). Lines are shorter at the South Street Seaport and Lincoln Center locations.
- Rush tickets
- Cheap Broadway tickets sold at the box office when it opens that morning.
- Most Broadway shows release a small batch of $30–$50 'rush' seats at 10am the day of the performance. Some require in-person purchase; others run digital lotteries via the TodayTix app the day before.
Neighborhoods
- FiDi
- Financial District — the southern tip of Manhattan below Chambers Street.
- FiDi covers Wall Street, the 9/11 Memorial, Battery Park, and the Stone Street historic district. Quiet on weekends, packed on weekdays. The Staten Island Ferry and Statue of Liberty ferries leave from here.
- LES
- Lower East Side. Historic immigrant neighborhood now known for nightlife and bagels.
- The LES sits east of the Bowery between Houston and Canal. Home to Russ & Daughters, Katz's Deli, the Tenement Museum, and a dense nightlife strip on Ludlow and Orchard.
- DUMBO
- Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass — the cobblestone Brooklyn waterfront.
- DUMBO has the famous Brooklyn Bridge framing the Manhattan Bridge view from Washington Street, Time Out Market, Jane's Carousel, and the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park.
- The Village
- Usually means Greenwich Village; East Village and West Village are separate neighborhoods.
- If someone says 'meet me in the Village', clarify which one. Greenwich Village = NYU and Washington Square. West Village = brownstones and tree-lined streets west of Sixth Ave. East Village = bars and St. Marks, east of Third Ave.
Geography
- Uptown / Downtown
- Uptown = north (higher street numbers). Downtown = south (lower street numbers).
- On the subway, 'uptown' platforms head north toward Harlem and the Bronx; 'downtown' platforms head south toward Wall Street and Brooklyn. Most station entrances are split — entering the wrong side often means you have to exit and re-pay.
- Avenue vs Street
- Avenues run north–south. Streets run east–west.
- In Manhattan above 14th Street, avenues are long north–south corridors (1st Ave through 12th Ave) and streets are short east–west blocks (1st St through 220th St). One avenue block is roughly 3x the length of one street block.
- BQE
- Brooklyn–Queens Expressway. The main highway connecting the two outer boroughs.
- The BQE (I-278) is notoriously congested, especially the triple-cantilever section under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. If you're taking a cab or Uber between Brooklyn and Queens at rush hour, expect 30+ extra minutes vs the subway.
Local lingo
- Slice
- A single triangular piece of pizza, ordered by the slice and eaten folded.
- A NYC 'slice' is the default cheap meal — $3–$5 at a no-frills counter, folded lengthwise so the tip doesn't droop. Joe's, Scarr's, L'industrie, and Prince Street Pizza are all reliable.
- Bodega
- A small corner store that sells everything: coffee, sandwiches, beer, household goods.
- Bodegas are NYC's 24-hour neighborhood convenience stores. The 'bacon, egg & cheese' (BEC) on a roll is the iconic breakfast — $4–$6 and ready in 90 seconds.
Ready to plan your trip?
Now that you can decode the local lingo, pick an itinerary and start pinning stops on the map.