Passport? Good.
ENKOFRESJA繁中

Can I eat or drink on the subway?

Short answer

Eating is not against the rules here, which startles anyone who has just come from Taipei. What the MTA does prohibit is an open container of liquid on the train, and alcohol anywhere on the system.

Inside a New York City subway car

What the rulebook actually forbids

The MTA publishes its rules of conduct, and a ban on eating is not among them. The provisions people half-remember are narrower than that: no open container of liquid on a train, and no alcohol anywhere on the system.

So a wrapped sandwich is not an offence. An uncapped coffee is the thing the rule names, and it is named for the obvious reason — it ends up on the floor and on other passengers.

Why this feels wrong if you arrived from Asia

In Taipei the same act is an offence under national law with a fine attached, and it is enforced inside the fare gates down to chewing gum. Visitors who learned their transit manners there arrive expecting the same and are startled to watch someone eat a full meal on a New York train.

The difference is not that one city cares more about food than the other. It is that one wrote the rule into statute and the other left it to the floor of the carriage.

The part still worth not doing

Not prohibited is not the same as unremarkable. Strong-smelling food on a crowded train draws the reaction it would anywhere, and littering is separately covered, so whatever you open leaves with you.

If you are carrying a drink, cap it before you board. That one habit puts you on the right side of the only liquid rule there is.

Good to know

  • The MTA rulebook has no ban on eating
  • An open container of liquid on the train, and alcohol anywhere, are prohibited
  • Cap the drink before boarding
  • Taipei bans eating under national law — the opposite answer to the same question

Sources: MTA — Rules of conduct, New York City Transit · Updated

More in — Getting around

A contactless fare reader at a subway turnstile

How do I pay for the subway or bus?

With the contactless card or phone already in your hand, in the larger systems — there is no national transit card because every city runs its own. New York reads your own bank card at the gate and stops charging once you have ridden enough in a week.

MTA — Tap and ride with OMNY
Signs for rental car companies at an airport

What is the waiver they offer at the rental counter?

Not insurance, despite how it is sold. A collision damage waiver is the rental company agreeing not to bill you for damage to its own car — which leaves the other driver's car, and the people in it, to something else entirely.

New York State Department of Financial Services — Collision damage waivers and rental vehicle coverage

The same question elsewhere

Sort the practical stuff before you fly.

eSIMs, rail passes, and airport transfers — the things worth booking before you land.

See all countries