When you live in New York City, you have to get around. 

The 305 square feet of NYC are baffling-- the sheer distance from the top of Queens to the bottom of Brooklyn is enough to make our heads spin.

So when you think about everything that’s going on within that distance; the people meeting for lunch, people taking out their trash, people yelling at each other, it’s enough to drive you pretty insane.

The point is that this city is large. And we have to get around these crazy boroughs somehow. 

So how should we deal? And what we mean is, what are the pros and cons of each method of transportation? 

To respond to that itching question, we’ve compiled a nifty hierarchy of NYC transportation below.

1. Subway

The most common, practical, useful option, the subway is first on this list because it’s most obvious. Obviously, most everyone uses the subway to get around in NYC. 

It’s (relatively) affordable, it’s (relatively) speedy, and it’s (relatively) convenient. The subway is everyone’s default, and everyone’s best friend and worst enemy combined.

The cons: The subway isn’t really as cheap as you might think. While $116.50 for an unlimited monthly is certainly less expensive than it would be to pay rent for a parking space or take cabs all the time, it’s still more hefty than most of us would prefer.

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There are also the obvious cons of having to be standing so close to so many, many people ranging anywhere from pleasantly attractive to grimy and sweaty. 

On the bright side, though, the subway is extremely reliable, which is why we even have the luxury to complain about the fact that trains are sometimes late rather than us just being grateful that they come at all.

Oh, also, another big con is the whole getting across town thing. Sometimes, we don’t feel like going all the way down to 42nd Street to get from the East Side to the West Side.

So yeah... the subway just doesn’t cut it 100% of the time. But it's the best we got. 

2. Your own car 

The plus sides of getting into a car in NYC are obvious-- you have the unparalleled freedom to get out of this city when mental health sometimes grievously requires it.

For those of us peasants without our own cars, when the smog and the crowds and honking horns of NYC start to all become too much, we’re pretty much trapped. 

We could take a bus or a train, but then we’re once again subjected to all the perils of public transportation-- and none of the luxuries of private transportation.

The cons of having your own car, in our meager opinions, far, far outweigh the pros. 

As in, unless you have the excess cash to spend as much on a parking space as some people pay rent in other parts of America, parking here is nightmarishly expensive. 

 3. Taxi / Uber / Bus

So remember that whole thing we were saying about traffic in the cars section? That applies here too, ten fold. 

Where taxis/Ubers/busses win in convenience (they score big in convenience, like game-winning, buzzer-beating three-pointer big), they lose in economic pragmatism and time wasted sitting in traffic jams. 

If it’s 6 p.m. on a weekday and you’re in a rush, this is not the way to go. While your driver is pounding on his horn and swearing at an out-of-towner who had the gall to block the box, the price on your meter will be ticking higher and higher, or your blood pressure (for all those bus riders out there). 

Our advice for almost any rush-hour situation? Take the subway. Take. The. Subway.

4. Walk

Walking is great for getting exercise, seeing the city, and not having to pay a single cent. 

The only investment you have to make on walking around NYC is on good shoes. If walking is going to be your primary method of transportation you should definitely invest in some good shoes. 

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Walking has some obvious pros, like never having to sit in traffic, getting to breath in real oxygen rather than subway tunnel smog, and getting to see lots of sunsets and city views.

Walking, of course, has its obvious cons. As in, if you’re going to be walking places, it’s going to take you forever to get anywhere.

5. Bike

Arguably the fastest mode of transportation in NYC, what biking wins in speed and exercise, it loses in safety. As in, every trip on a bike in any part of NYC is basically a dance with the devil. 

You love speeding along the shoulder past trucks and cabs and honking cars while they sit at red lights, but close brushes in NYC are commonplace enough to make anyone seriously reconsider riding a bike anywhere ever again.

Also, when you bike, you have to wear relatively athletic clothes to get there and you usually show up sweaty. 

So although it's easy to love riding bike, getting exercise, and not waiting in traffic (for the most part), sometimes you love wearing dresses and heels and showing up places not sweaty... just a little bit more. 

Whoa. What? Check out This Impromptu Freestyle Performance Break Out Right on the NYC Subway.