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How to get to know my way around NYC?

Travel Info
I am planning on living in nyc... i don't want to be getting lost and plan on taking the subway, bus, and taxis for transportation so i plan on just touring nyc with my parents for a few days before they leave me to go back to san antonio. So how long do you think it would take for a person to understand their way around nyc? how much is a cab ride average per mile? I don't want to be getting lost on the subway and have heard its not very safe at all? should i use the subway during the day and a taxi at night? How much do most ppl in nyc spend on taxi transportation a month for going to and from work and wherever else they want or need to go? any help please!!!!!!!!

Travel Tips

I've lived in NYC since 1999, and I still carry a card-sized subway map in my wallet. Even though I never use it, I still feel it's a good security blanket. I wouldn't worry, the more you go out, the easier it becomes.

I use the subways and buses all the time, even late at night although if I feel the trains are running less frequently (or if I'm just too tired/drunk) I'll shell out for a cab. After 11pm or midnight until 5-6am the trains run much less frequently than during the day and some buses don't run at all. I've never really felt unsafe on the subway and I've even fallen asleep several times while riding it. But of course take common sense precautions - secure your wallet, keep a close watch on your bags, and watch where you're going and who's around you. When I first moved to NYC I found it helpful to consult a subway map before I headed out rather than have to flip out a map and look like a tourist on the street. Now there's websites like http://www.hopstop.com that can give you door-to-door subway directions so it's a lot more convenient. Just for kicks on a weekend, you might take a subway map and compare it with a street atlas to familiarize yourself with the streets nearby to the subway stations since it can get disorienting when you first get out of the subway. I recommend this one from Hagstrom: http://www.hagstrommap.com/catalog/produ...
Just remember that in Manhattan north of Houston (that's "house-ton" not "hews-ton") Street, numbered streets go east-west, avenues go north-south.

For cabs, it's $2.50 once you get in, and then generally 40 cents every 1/5 of a mile, plus traffic and other surcharges. The full rate schedule is here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/passeng...
I don't often use cabs, but when I do, it's if I have to move large items, or if I'm in too much of a rush/too tired to wait for the subway, or if I'm starting out from/going to a place that doesn't have direct bus/subway service. There were rides where I spent as little as $5 and as much as $20, but I don't think I've ever spent more than $60 a month on cabs.

Welcome to NYC!
Others

A simple fact of your life is that you are going to get lost. There's no way around that. NYC is simply too big and too complex not to get lost in. It takes people years to figure this city out -it's that hard to do.
The best way to get to know any city is on foot. The nice thing about NYC is that people walk everywhere ,and at all times of the day. At less than 1/2 mile -7 minutes- walking is the cheapest and fastest way to get somewhere.
Subway's are used by everyone 24/7 .Simply because it's by far the cheapest and fastest way around the city and of course buses tie into subways to get you even closer to your destination
Unlike places like San Antonio where the only people who use public transit are those who can't afford cars ; The NYC public transit system is an on- going example of egalitarian democracy in action.
You're going to get to know this city by first figuring out how to get from home to work and back .Then you're going to start figuring out your own neighborhood. The essential needs of life will found in your own neighborhood.Then you expand outward and start to figure the rest of this city out.
Have fun
native
Your parents are just dropping you off in the city? Do you have an apartment or a job?

The city isn't really difficult at all to navigate. For the most part it's a grid system. Avenues go North to South, Streets go West to East. Broadway splits up the West from the East.
Downtown areas become a little more difficult, and really you'll only understand them if you walk around them enough

Most New Yorkers don't use taxis all too often because it's possible to walk nearly EVERYWHERE you need to go, or to hop on the subway which isn't terribly unsafe. If you are a young female, alone, in the middle of the night, common sense would suggest that you find some friends, and hail a cab.

Subway during the day and taxi at night is usually a good idea.
You could pretty much use the subway at anytime of day except for like 1am 2am if your by yourself, i guess it also depends what neighborhoods your going to be. If i were you i wouldnt be thinking about cabs too much. They are really expensive and you can take a cab way easier. Ive been living here all my life and the only time i take a cab is if i have to go somewhere and its snowing like crazy ( cabs are more when the weather is bad or on a holiday). You should get acclimated pretty quikly. I wouldnt suggest carrying a map around honestly, its just going to scream IM NEW HERE I DONT KNOW WHERE IM GOING PLEASE RIP ME OFF! Every train car has a map up on teh wall and every train station has a map up. IF your not sure how to get some where you can reasearch it before you go out and then print out the directions. Hopstop.com is a good site for navagating by foot or train. Its basically like mapquest only it uses the subway and bus system. Good luck!
i am born and raised in nyc
umm..i guess you will learn to know your way around naturally
you cant really calculate how long it will take
Manhattan is fairly easy to learn, at least above 4th Street, as the east west streets are all numbered. The North South avenues will take about five minutes to learn, as between Third and Fifth Avenues there are several with names (Lexington, Park, Madison). Outside Manhattan, well, there is a saying, "Only the dead know Brooklyn" (or would want to IMNSHO). Queens is super tricky, with Roads, Streets, Avenues, Courts, and each may share the same number.
The subways are fairly easy to learn, and are quite safe from everything but overcrowding and the person next to you having just eaten garlic and last brushed his teeth when Richard Nixon was impeached. Cops ride every train late at night, so there is little crime on subways except for some pickpockets.
Taxis run high, and since they get caught in the same surface traffic as anyone else, often take much longer than a subway would to get you anywhere. And you pay for time the taxi stands still.
Buses cover many areas that subways miss, and there are free transfers between city buses and subways in some cases. For a new-comer buses are nice also because you can look out the window and see new things.