Meet halfway in New York
For a group meeting in New York, the fairest points are usually Union Square-14th St, Times Square-42nd St, Atlantic Av-Barclays Center or Fulton St - each stacks four or more subway lines, so most of Manhattan and Brooklyn reaches them without a transfer. Which is fairest depends on where everyone starts: togather compares real door-to-door times for each person.
- Subway
- PATH
- LIRR and Metro-North
- Buses
- Cycling
- Walking
Where groups actually meet in New York
Interchanges that work as a fair midpoint for most groups. togather will not always land on one of these - it answers for your actual starting points - but they are the ones that come up again and again.
Union Square-14th St
4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R and W trains
The best-connected point in downtown Manhattan: the Lexington Av express, the Broadway lines and the crosstown L all meet here, which covers the East Side, the West Side and Brooklyn without a transfer.
Times Square-42nd St
1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, W and S trains
More lines than anywhere else in the system, so almost nobody has to transfer to reach it. Loud and crowded, so it is fair on travel time rather than pleasant to stand around in.
Atlantic Av-Barclays Center
2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R and W trains, plus LIRR
The obvious answer for any group weighted towards Brooklyn - it saves everyone the trip into Manhattan and back out. Nine subway services plus the LIRR make it fair to Manhattan starters too.
Fulton St
2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J and Z trains
Four separate lines were joined into one complex, which makes lower Manhattan reachable without a transfer from most of Brooklyn and Queens as well as uptown.
Grand Central-42nd St
4, 5, 6, 7 and S trains, plus Metro-North
The right pick when anyone is coming from Westchester or Connecticut, since that is where they arrive. The shuttle to Times Square keeps it fair for the West Side.
Herald Square-34th St
B, D, F, M, N, Q, R and W trains, plus PATH
Eight subway services plus PATH, which makes it the fairest option whenever someone in the group is starting from Jersey City or Hoboken rather than inside the city.
Jay St-MetroTech
A, C, F and R trains
A quieter downtown-Brooklyn alternative to Atlantic Av that still touches four lines, and it is walkable to Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights once everyone has arrived.
How to pick a fair meeting point in New York
New York punishes the halfway-point instinct harder than almost anywhere, because the subway is excellent north-south and poor east-west. Two people in adjacent Brooklyn neighbourhoods can be forty minutes apart if the only sensible route runs up through Manhattan and back down. The geographic middle is frequently the slowest place in the city for everyone to reach.
What matters instead is how many lines stack at one complex. Union Square-14th St works for almost any group because the Lexington Av trains, the Broadway trains and the crosstown L all touch it - three different directions of travel in one station.
Don’t default to Manhattan
The most common mistake is treating midtown as neutral. For a group weighted towards Brooklyn, Atlantic Av-Barclays Center is fairer than anything in Manhattan, and sending everyone to Times Square just adds two trips through the East River tunnels. The same is true for Queens and Long Island City.
Modes change it further. Someone on Citi Bike crossing the Manhattan Bridge is on a completely different network from someone waiting for the F, and averaging their positions on a map can’t express that. togather times each person on the network they actually use and returns the spots that keep the trip even across the group.
Add everyone’s starting point, set how each person travels, and drop the result in the group chat.
Meeting halfway in New York - questions
- Where is a fair place to meet halfway in New York?
- Usually a multi-line subway complex rather than a geographic midpoint - Union Square, Times Square, Atlantic Av-Barclays Center or Fulton St. Which one is fairest depends on everyone's starting borough and travel mode, which is what togather calculates.
- Why is the midpoint on a map wrong in New York?
- Because the subway runs north-south far better than east-west. Two people in neighbouring Brooklyn neighbourhoods can need a transfer through Manhattan to reach each other, so the geographic middle is often the slowest point for everyone.
- Does it work across the boroughs, not just Manhattan?
- Yes, and that is where it earns its keep. A group split across Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan usually has a fair point that is not in Manhattan at all - togather finds it instead of defaulting to midtown.
- What if someone is cycling rather than taking the subway?
- Set their mode to cycling and they are timed on bike routes instead of the subway. With protected lanes on the bridges and avenues, a cyclist's fair meeting point is often genuinely different from a subway rider's.
Other cities
Settle it in about a minute
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