How to Get to a Broadway Show

OMNY — the MTA’s tap-to-pay system — works at every subway turnstile. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and contactless credit or debit cards all work. You don’t need a MetroCard. Each ride is $2.90 with contactless payment. If you do need a MetroCard, get it from a machine in the station, not from street vendors.

The MTA runs scheduled maintenance on nights and weekends, which means certain lines get rerouted or skip stops without much warning. Before you leave for a Saturday matinee or a weeknight show, check the MTA website or Google Maps for any service changes on your line. What worked last month may not run the same way tonight.

The Times Square station is enormous and has 16 exits spread across several blocks. Coming out of the wrong exit can add five minutes to your walk. Know which exit gets you to your theater before you go underground — Google Maps will tell you. And factor in the post-show crowd if you’re timing your return.

This is worth saying plainly. Midtown Manhattan traffic before an 8:00 curtain is bad. A cab or rideshare from 30 blocks away can take 40 minutes on a Tuesday. The same trip on the subway takes 12. The subway feels less glamorous, but it gets you there.

On-street parking in the Theater District is metered, expensive, and nearly impossible to find on a show night. Garage rates in the immediate Times Square area run roughly $40–$50 for an evening. Pre-booking through SpotHero or ParkWhiz typically gets you better rates and guarantees a spot — often at garages a block or two from the theater that you’d never find by driving around. Book before you leave home, not from the car.

The garages immediately adjacent to Times Square charge the highest rates and have the worst post-show exit traffic. A garage on the west side of 9th Avenue, or a few blocks north of 54th Street, is often cheaper, easier to exit, and only adds three or four minutes to your walk. When comparing options, factor in exit time, not just distance to the theater entrance.

This is the part most drivers skip. When you’re booking a garage, look at where it sits relative to the main avenues and how post-show traffic flows. A garage on 8th Avenue will exit onto 8th Avenue traffic — headed in one direction. A garage west of 9th can often get you out more cleanly, especially if you’re heading back to the Lincoln Tunnel or the West Side Highway. Five minutes of map work before you park saves real time on the way home.

Both run multiple garages within walking distance of the Theater District — Icon Parking at 250 W. 50th St. and Edison ParkFast at 332 W. 44th St. are among the most convenient. Check both through SpotHero when you’re comparing rates, as pre-booked prices vary by night and can be meaningfully lower than drive-up rates.

Midtown traffic in the 6:30–8:00 window is genuinely unpredictable. A trip that Google Maps estimates at 12 minutes can take 35 on a busy evening. If you have a hard curtain time, a cab or rideshare in Midtown is a risk. The subway doesn’t get stuck in traffic.

When 35 Broadway shows release their audiences within the same 30-minute window, every rideshare app in the Theater District sees the same demand spike. Prices surge, wait times climb, and the pickup chaos on narrow midtown streets is real. If you’re planning to Uber home, either wait 30–45 minutes at a nearby bar or restaurant, or budget for 2–3x normal pricing.

NYC yellow taxis charge flat metered rates with no surge pricing, no extra charge for additional passengers, and no app required. After a show, walking one or two blocks away from the theater entrance before hailing puts you in a better position. They’re reliable, predictable, and often faster to get than a rideshare pickup on a busy night.

The Times Square station at 10:45 on a weeknight is busy but not unbearable — and late-night service runs until around 1:00 a.m. on most lines before switching to reduced overnight frequency. If you’re heading back to a hotel or apartment in the outer boroughs, the subway is usually the most reliable way to do it without the stress of post-show traffic.

Nothing ends a good evening faster than missing the last NJ Transit or LIRR train home. Check the schedule before you leave for dinner, note your last viable departure time, and — if the show runs long — be ready to catch the next one. Most lines run until midnight or later on weekends, but late departures on popular routes fill up. Buy your return ticket before the show, not on the platform.

The 15 minutes immediately after curtain are the worst time to retrieve your car. Everyone else has the same idea, and the garages in the Theater District back up accordingly. If you can stay for a drink nearby and retrieve the car 30–45 minutes after the show ends, you’ll save yourself real aggravation — and probably exit Midtown faster too.

If you’re a commuter rail rider and your theater is in the mid-40s, walking to Penn Station (34th and 7th) or Grand Central (42nd and Park) takes 10–15 minutes and avoids any post-show transportation scramble entirely. It’s a pleasant enough walk on most nights, and you arrive at the station calm rather than stressed from sitting in traffic or waiting for a pickup.