Wheelchair-accessible entrance
Yes
New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn
Categories
Location on the map
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, US
Accessibility
Wheelchair-accessible lift
Yes
Wheelchair-accessible toilet
Yes
Wheelchair-accessible car park
No
Amenities
Good for kids
Yes
Toilets
Yes
Crowd
Family friendly
Yes
Phone: +1 718-694-1600
Site: http://www.nytransitmuseum.org/
Site: http://www.nytransitmuseum.org/
Opening hours
- Monday:Closed
- Tuesday:Closed
- Wednesday:Closed
- Thursday:10AM–4PM
- Friday:10AM–4PM
- Saturday:10AM–4PM
- Sunday:10AM–4PM
New York Transit Museum in other cities:
Comments (199)
Hidden GEM of NYC. Absolute must visit if you want to know about the history of New York City subway system. Has beautiful and well maintained vintage subway trains. Will take you back in time with their vintage ads.Was blown away by my experience.
Secret tip and must-see place!If you like riding the MTA, you will definitely like this museum about the history of the transit in New York!Old train cars you can walk through on a real subway platform.
WOW WOW WOW! I couldn’t say better things about this place! I LOVE IT! AMAZING EXPERIENCE! The way time is captured here is incredible. Even if you’re a native New Yorker, like myself, you have to go here at least once! You will NOT regret it. 🚊🚂🚆
I came here basically on a whim, I thought it would be a quick little museum trip. I was HUMBLED. This museum was spectacular and had so much information! Part of it was like a time capsule back to the building/growth of the NYC subway system, and the other part was the AMAZING ACTUAL WALK BACK IN TIME to all of the decommissioned subway cars from the early days of the subway to now?!? It was breathtaking. And its like $10. Go here. ((I have an Instagram where I post interesting facts from museums and books that I find: secondhand_knowledge))
Great place to learn about the history of the MTA. Plenty of information, pictures and videos to learn from. All exhibits were interactive. The staff was friendly. Highly recommend to visit when coming into the city
Very nice! Fun to see all the old train cars downstairs. Well done and informative, if you’re interested in the history of the NYC transit system. Not too big and definitely can see everything in an hour.
It is so fun walking through vintage trains and turnstiles and learning about the fascinating history of helping New Yorkers stay on the move! Really fun for kids and adults alike -- a must see in NYC.
Nothing but the most fascinating NYC transit history - all in an old subway station! I loved walking through the oldest trains and marvelling at the differences between them and the current ones. I enjoyed the smaller feeling of the Transit museum compared to New Yorks larger less manageable museums.
A real time capsule that is worth the trip. You will be transported back in time. Sitting in the different era subway cars made me feel the nostalgia of what it must have been like during that time complete with ads of the day. You can touch and feel. It’s a cool place to go with or without the kids.
I’m really sad that most of the interactive things were restricted, not sure if that was a new rule or just because of Covid, but that really didn’t let you enjoy the place as fully which was really sad. But other than that, it was so fun! It was so cool to see the different trains throughout the ages. The price was also really affordable, 10 for adults and 5 for kids ages 2-17 (with other discounts for people)! What I would recommend is to wait to bring your child till they are at an age where they are patient and let you read all the signs, else you’re just going to zoom past everything in 20 minutes. Of course if they really like trains then this is the perfect place! If you want to purchase anything that’s worth it at the shop, it would be the mta metro cards, which were 5 dollars (+ tax) and have been so fun to trip everyone up when they see that your cards are metro cards.
Wonderful place! If your kid loves trains, buses, this is the place! Very nice staff, very clean place, It was fun, lots of trains! Old to very very old and some newer. Highly recommend
Such a cool museum. The staff was very nice and helpful and the exhibits are fascinating. Very family friendly but people of all ages will enjoy
This place is so great. The old subway cars take you back in time and are so perfect down to the smallest details.Loaded with content and I’m an old subway station. I spent hours.
I havent been here since I myself was a little girl. Took my 5 year old who is obsessed with trains. Definitely a must visit. The store is pretty great too.
Our son loves trains and needles to say we found his favorite place. I didn’t know that the Metro card was introduced in 1993 for the first time. There’s so many things even the ground ups can learn here. I would’ve given it 10 stars if I could!We will be going back for sure.
A fantastic museum that is located in an old subway station.The first floor explains the history of the subway and is accompanied by photos giving a great insight, along with train models, and old turnstiles.The second floor is platform level, filled with old subway cars from all decades, which was worth the entry alone as you can sit onboard and look at all the old adverts.There is a gift shop inside too, but I didnt go inside as there was a queue due to capacity limits.At this time booking tickets online is required (as are masks inside) and we managed to get tickets for the next slot during the week.
At 7 p.m. that evening, the subway opened to the general public, and more than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride under Manhattan. IRT service expanded to the Bronx in 1905, to Brooklyn in 1908 and to Queens in 1915. Since 1968, the subway has been controlled by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA). The system now has 26 lines and 472 stations in operation; the longest line, the 8th Avenue “A” Express train, stretches more than 32 miles, from the northern tip of Manhattan to the far southeast corner of Queens: (history.com)
Really cool place to visit, it’s so nice that you can see and sit in all the subway carts from different decades.
Very cool to see the old school subway cars. Def worth checking out if youve ever spent time in the subways.Entrance a little tough to find, look for 2 vintage subway entrance light poles
Great experience! Well maintained subway cars which shows the history of the subway system in NYC.
Love this place. Thank goodness people had the foresight to save all of this stuff. Its amazing what the engineers and workers were able to accomplish so long ago. Even with the timed tickets it was a little crowded at the beginning. The whole thing is much bigger than I was expecting. The collection of historic subway cars is fascinating. $10 seemed like a huge bargain. I wish the store had more and more interesting products though.
Absolutely incredible museum. I’ve lived in New York for years and hadn’t gone until this week and I can’t believe I’ve waited so long. Highly recommend it. Remember to book tickets ahead of time though!
Great museum! Much bigger than I thought it was going to be. Easy to get enthralled by the old ads, maps, photos, and trains. After 2 hours we had to leave and skip the bus/trolley section. The photos were really stunning and probably the highlight for me.
My daughter & I enjoyed our weekend here, this was her 1st time going. I went as a kid & also took my son here when he was younger. It’s a good outing for all ages and accessible by all public transportation. However, you do have to purchase tickets in advance online adults $10, kids $5 & Senior Citizens $5 plus they have gift shop to purchase items if you wish, hope you all will visit one day
Excellent museum with really friendly and knowledgeable staff who were more than happy to share information and insights about the exhibits. Absolutely worth a trip!
Excellent program, especially with kids. Several types of metros exhibited, can go in and experience the atmosphere of old timer subways.
Very detailed. My wife is a transportation focused civil engineer so she really enjoyed it. It was still interesting to me. Its in a converted subway station so its entrance might seem too obvious but the location on Google maps is accurate
One of the most underrated museums in the city. It is an actual former subway station
If you love buses and trains, or you have any interest in history (the history of NYC and its people is driven by the history of how people move in NYC), you should definitely see the Transit Museum.Reservations are currently required (May 2022), so make sure you book in advance on the website. The capacity limits meant that I didn’t feel rushed through any of the exhibits and got to spend as much time as I wanted to just taking in the details of the antique subway cars on display in the historic station that was converted to the museum. I decided to become a member after visiting, even though I don’t live anywhere near NYC, because of the experience and because of the memories the museum brought up for me of my ancestors who lived in NYC in days gone by.
A must visit, one of the great transport museums of the world!
A near perfect museum. It tells the story of public transport in NYC and nothing else. But theres clarity and even a sense of passion in the telling.Who would have thought poking around old subway cars would be one of the best ways to spend a weekend afternoon?
What an amazing Museum with so many things to learn for how the New York subway was creates and consequently how the city grew along with it.Lots of interactive activities to do too, at the platform one could enter train cars from different decades that even had the original adverts on from when they were operating.Very affordable too. For someone who wants to learn more about the city this is a much go.
This was the best fun for everyone. There are subway cars from every era and you can step back in time as your board the subway cars.You enter via a subway station and explore 2 levels or subway and transit history.Fun for kids, fun for adults
Learn about the history of new Yorks transit system, lots of neat details, though I wish there were more technical depth to some of the exhibits. would have also loved to learn more about some of the politics in the creation of the subway and the end of the trolleys.
Nice museum in a former metro station showing the history behind NY transport system. The entrance is quite discreet as it is basically a subway stop- if you dont know it you might walk past it :). We tried to access spontaneously on a weekend and it was all booked out... so it is worth to buy tickets in advance during busy times. We found it interesting overall, you can do it in 1h and would recommend it if you have time during your trip to NY- I would not consider it an absolute must see but pleasant activity if it fits your schedule. It starts out with several information panels about the history, I particularly liked the part about communication campaigns about etiquette on trains - quite amusing. It is also nice to see all the old historic metros and old ads that you can still find in them. We also found it quite funny to see the proof black on white that since 1997 basically not much innovation/improvement has been done to the metro system which is what you can observe on a daily basis in this city... it was a groundbreaking service at some point but then has gone downhill from there and now many other cities have overtaken in terms of quality of service, cleanliness etc.
It’s been 30 years since I’ve been here and the place continues to get better! Great interactive opportunity for the kids and some great staff who’s very knowledgeable.
The New York Transit Museum is a museum that displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, bus, and commuter rail systems in the greater New York City metropolitan region. The main museum is located in the decommissioned Court Street subway station in Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. There is a smaller satellite Museum Annex in Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. The museum is a self-supporting division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Old school.
This is a really special place. I read the bad reviews because I couldnt understand who could give this gem 1 star?! However, aside from the valid accessibility issues I can see why some adults may have found this a bit of a waste of time in a city where theres a million things to do.For anyone with small children or anyone who is into trains this is 5 stars! Its not going to be as exciting for adults unless they are very interested in seeing the old trains, as the exhibitions are small or they are packed with screaming children! Dont get me wrong, I LOVE the transit museum and I used to take my son all the time when he was little, in part because I think It is super cool. I love the old train cars and the color schemes are mindblowing. In short: The museum (other than a full block of antique train cars) is pretty small and possibly not worth the trip with older kids or for tourists with limited time (without young children).
Interesting information about the history of the NYC transit system and the numerous old train cars that you can go into are very cool! Its also located in an actual train station, which enhances the overall experience.
I am an absolute transit lover and was very excited to go see this museum. I went by myself when it was pouring out. I was unfortunately turned away at the door since they had sold out their tickets for that day. When I checked the website it did not say this and so I wasted my time going there from quite a distance because they have no way of selling tickets when others in that slot do not show up. No other museums are enforcing these kinds of covid measures anymore and they obviously cannot accommodate the implementation of it anyways. The pandemic is over and this museum should go back to normal or be able to handle the continuation of such measures effectively. They were very rude about the whole thing, its sad such a gem in the city is managed by these people.
Good transit museum, but horrible location if you’re planning to drive there and it’s not very kid/baby friendly. I had a stroller and had to carry the stroller up and down the stairs. Also you can’t drive” the mta bus or sit in the drivers seat. In the Brooklyn Childrens museum, you can. The museum is more nostalgic than fun. The gift shop is great though. It had a lot of toy trains and books for my son to pick out. I went on a Sunday with the hopes of finding street parking, but most of the side streets are for police vehicles, board members, or some kind of city official and the free parking on Sunday doesn’t apply to many of the streets there. I don’t think I’d go there again unless If I take the train.
One of the coolest museums Ive had the pleasure of visiting! Staff was enthusiastic and super knowledgeable. I got to go on a scavenger hunt which is not something I do very often! Highly recommended.
The train exhibit was fantastic. The upstairs portion is mostly stand-and-read stuff which I dont enjoy at museums. I wish they had more artifacts or interactive stuff on that level.
Overall I really like the idea and the quality of this museum but I would’ve liked to see more hands on activities (which is the only reason for a 4 star) especially for younger children such a mini train set to either play with or to look at. Looking and being inside the old style trains is really cool experience for children of all ages. Staff is friendly and the place is very clean for being underground. The lunch area is spacious. The artwork and information makes a very interesting experience.
You will love this gem of a museum. They took over the old part of the “Court Street” station in Brooklyn that was shut down and turned it into a museum. When you go down the steps, you are welcomed by the ticket agent in an actual booth that was, once back in the day selling tokens and giving directions. They have one of the first original wooden cars originally used when the subway system (the el or elevated trains) went into operation, up to the one we ride on today. Each subway car from its era also has period correct advertisement on display inside the cars. It is interesting seeing and learning the updates and improvements, and why they did them for public safety. You will see on display how they planned, built and dug out the system. Fair coins, turn-styles, meters are some of the things you will see and how they progressed throughout the years. They also go into the NYC busses and have a fun center for the kids. Very kid friendly. I went on a Wednesday late morning when they were giving tours to the kids and I was able to hear the history and facts from the docent. Nice gift shop. Easy to get to; not far if you walk across the Brooklyn or Manhattan Bridge (which is also a great view) or a short walk from the Jay Street, Borough Hall Station (A, C, F, R, 2, 3, 4, 5) Yes, this area is safe to get to and walk around. There is much more to NYC than just Manhattan. If you want to go back in time to remember riding the system when you were young, or if this is your first time in New York City, you will have a fun time seeing, touching and learning at this museum.
Total reviews rating 4.6
199 Reviews for New York Transit Museum 2023:
Review №1
2022-05-20A NYC Historical Gem. I havent been here in decades and it was even better than I remembered as a kid. Such an amazing display of the history of NYC transit. The art, old trains, information really made it a great visit. The staff was helpful and knowledgeable. I definitely recommend to everyone. Cant wait to visit again.
Review №2
2022-05-18An underrated museum. Depicts the history of the subway, the challenges faced and how the city evolved in parallel. It has 2 floors where the upper one has some exhibits and the lower one has actual older train coaches, the control station and the signals! (Its an unused subway station)You can enter these coaches, sit and take pictures. Fun to see the style/design/colours used before.Some Ads and Warnings are hilarious and take us back to the time 😂Shop merchandise seemed a bit on the higher side. Staff is really nice.Museum is totally worth 10 bucks, highly recommend!
Review №3
2022-06-25My partner and I arent big museum people, but in a city packed with some of the worlds finest we felt obligated to at least go to one during our week-long trip to NYC. We are so glad we chose the Transit museum! Your $10 admission goes a long way here. The museum is located in an old subway station and has loads of train cars you can check out. They also have an exhibit on how subway construction was photographed at the time, which I found especially interesting. While we dont have kids, I could see them having a total blast here. My one gripe would be the lack of accessibility, as the only way to access the museum is down a set of stairs.
Review №4
2022-04-24The museum is a full block long, the downstairs section is full of train carts from all the time periods of the NYC subway system.The gift shop is also great, the prices are a bit too high for my taste.Had a great visit! 10/10
Review №5
2022-01-17Great museum and great price! The first floor is the history of the subway and the bottom floor is all the old subway cars! Seeing the ads and what used to be is acceptable is hysterical! I totally recommend going for a day! It only cost $10 and we spent 2 hrs there! I probably wouldnt go back again, unless I was really into trains
Review №6
2022-05-10This place is the best! You can sit, stand, and pretend to ride some of the coolest train models spanning NYC’s rich transit history. They also have a turnstile display, multiple interactive setups, and a full scale bus inside the station. Plus, the entry fee is only $10. Make sure to dress appropriately for the weather.
Review №7
2022-01-02This museum is housed in an old subway station. The ground floor has various exhibits about transit history, as well as transit memorabilia such as old fare boxes.The basement floor has old subway cars, most of which you can enter and walk through. Its a lot of fun, especially for kids. Bathrooms are available, though no restaurant or place to eat. The souvenir shop has all kinds of fairly inexpensive transit related items.If you are at all interested in public transit systems, even if you dont know much about the New York system, this museum is a great place to visit.
Review №8
2022-04-12My 6 year old loved the train cars and I loved the old ads.Buy tickets in advance! It was Sunday and all time slots were sold out. So many families were turned away while we waited for my cousin to arrive. It’s a nice inexpensive way to spend a morning in NYC
Review №9
2022-06-30A nice gem in Brooklyn that is interesting for both kids and adults. Located in an old subway station this place has exhibits or if you want just wander around old train cars from different eras. Loved looking at the old advertisements in the cars that were accurate to the period the cars were in operation. Definitely one of the cheaper options in NYC at $10 for adults and $5 for kids.
Review №10
2022-07-03First time going with my nephew and it was a hot. It is a decommissioned train station with tunnels with tons of information about the genesis of NYC transit system to every model of trains ever used, to models of trolleys, to retro ads, to the advancement of turnstiles and payment systems, to great photo stations. My 10 year old nephew had a great time. Definitely recommend 10/10