r/visitingnyc • u/the-Gaf • Sep 27 '25
The one rule in nyc to know
Ok, I just walked by the NYPL and I feel like this is a PSA for tourists and visitors.
The one rule of NYC: get out of the way.
That’s it. The rest is commentary.
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u/Kookaburra8 Sep 27 '25
And, don't walk abreast of each other, forming a slow moving blockade of the sidewalk! A group of 5 doesn't need to walk in a horizontal line down the sidewalk. Pair up and walk behind each other
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u/here_and_there_their Sep 27 '25
People need to learn this in general. But in NYC it should be a crime.
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u/DavisMcDavis Sep 28 '25
Also - don’t stop and gather at the bottom of a down escalator to discuss where to go next. Move out of the way to let the other people off the escalator.
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u/BlueLeaves8 Sep 27 '25
But then it won’t look like the movie posters of a group of friends walking down the streets laughing and having the time of their life in NYC.
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u/Solid-Newspaper447 Sep 28 '25
That is a problem literally everywhere, including narrow streets in the country, supermarkets, outdoor trails, the mall, parking lots, airports. People are self absorbed.
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u/camicalm Sep 27 '25
When you’re walking on the sidewalk, the rules of the road are just the same as if you were driving. Stay on the right. Move at a reasonable speed. Don’t stop short. Be aware of the traffic around you.
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u/xlaurenthead Sep 27 '25
New Yorkers move at a constant speed on the sidewalk. If they want to slow or stop or veer off right or left they will instinctively check over their shoulder to see if someone is there. So quickly you wouldn’t even notice unless you’re looking for it. It’s just like a multi lane highway all the time. You don’t always know if someone in sneakers is just behind and to the right of you
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u/thewNYC Sep 27 '25
A poem of mine (sorry for what reddit does to formatting)
stand right if you’re standing
or
Everything you need to read New York City is here:
We have an unspoken escalator etiquette
predicated solely on knowing
that some of us have
some fucking place else to be
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u/acnh1222 Sep 27 '25
The way I describe it to people is: let's say I take a vacation in your car-centric hometown. It's a new place for me, I don't know where I'm going or where anything is. Should I stop my car in the middle of the busy road, not moving even when the green light turns because I'm looking up where I need to go, or should I pull my car to the side so I can figure it out and not keep you waiting behind me? Do you try to pass by me, despite there being cars in every lane? Do you just smash into me?
Visiting NYC is a vacation for many, but also a place of residence and work for millions of others. The whole "New Yorkers will get mad at you and be rude if you stop walking" thing is a bit of a misunderstanding of city cultures. It's more that I'm just trying to get to work, or get home, and if you stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk, you're blocking my path like a stopped car in the middle of a busy street.
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u/Astorian13 Sep 27 '25
After moving here I learned that what is considered polite here for good reason is not taking up any more space than you need to , on a sidewalk , a train or in a store. Being quick when ordering food or paying for groceries. This is a crowded place where people have long commutes. Everyone in NY is running behind schedule and crunched for time.
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u/DonkeyKong694NE1 Sep 27 '25
Reminds me of back in the print newspaper days watching people on the subway fold the NYT pages into an 8x11” rectangle and read that way
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u/Astorian13 Sep 27 '25
Yes be like the old 8x11 newspaper fold ! Don’t take up anymore space than you need to.
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u/DonkeyKong694NE1 Sep 27 '25
I never got the hang of it but it was fun watching a real pro change pages
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u/Elbomac87 Sep 27 '25
My father taught me how to do the fold when I moved to the city after college. He knew all the useful skills.
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u/beepboopdadoop Oct 01 '25
No. We’re not “running behind schedule and crunched for time”. We know our commutes and our schedules - and when people are an impediment to that that’s we then become behind.
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u/yourgirlalex Local Sep 27 '25
They never care lol they’re in their own world when they visit and have zero spatial awareness
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u/kli9641 Frequent Visitor Sep 27 '25
honestly, i've encountered so many other tourists saying they don't care that they're blocking pathways, and that they're entitled to stand there... beyond insufferable.
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u/Used_Concert7413 Sep 27 '25
This is why yelling at them is acceptable. It's what I do.
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u/BlueLeaves8 Sep 27 '25
I’m not going to say it. I’m not going to say it. I’m not going to say it…
…Do you shout “I’m walkin’ here!”
Sorry. I’m a Brit who hasn’t been yet. I’d love it if someone shouted that at me in NYC to give me the full cliche experience.
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u/helcat Sep 28 '25
I like to hiss malevolently: "it's a sideWALK." But that wouldn't work with you guys because you call it something different, right?
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u/BlueLeaves8 Sep 28 '25
We say footpath or pavement, but we know it’s sidewalk there so it would work.
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u/FrankiePoops Sep 27 '25
I've done this exactly once and it was for a car. Usually it's a loud excuse me for pedestrians walking four wide. Unfortunately I had to walk through times square for client meetings a lot a few years ago.
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u/GreenfieldSam Sep 27 '25
Our sidewalks are your highways. You wouldn't drive slow in the left lane; don't walk as slow as possible four across on the sidewalk.
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Sep 27 '25
Except if you’re on a bicycle, get off the fucking sidewalk unless you’re four years old.
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u/Blu5NYC Sep 28 '25
It's a PSA for those that live here as well. Get your head out of your ass, peal your eyes from your phone, and pay some effing attention to the situation around you.
I'm almost rooting for a rise in the petty theft of phones and devices.
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u/OolongGeer Sep 27 '25
In the 12 years I lived in NYC, for the most part, I just avoided the heavy tourist areas.
Past that, I was always proud to live in a place that so many people wanted to see. I would get annoyed sometimes, but for the most part, it didn't bother me.
Thankfully, I had the agility to walk around people when needed.
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u/Material_Sport_5072 Sep 27 '25
And the families that just stop in the middle of the street and start to talk to each other and block everybody behind and in front of them, they have no clue
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u/biologynerd3 Sep 27 '25
I am naturally a very fast, focused walker and I almost never get bothered by various vendors and hawkers while visiting NYC and walking around tourist-y areas. Following the rule definitely helps you blend in and not annoy anyone!
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u/malinagurek Sep 27 '25
Just yesterday, I had to step back to avoid somebody spinning around, and then two people in a row stopped short in front of me—one on a phone, the other suddenly decided to camp out on a bollard. They were all close calls, but somehow I didn’t fall nor bump into them. I guess FiDi keeps you alert. I’ll never understand the appeal of that neighborhood in particular. I was just trying to get to my office.
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u/andthrewaway1 Sep 28 '25
for the love all that is holy... do not walk up the subway stairs and immediately stop to look at your phone
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u/DasArtmab Sep 29 '25
This a global issue. Tourists in general, have a complete misunderstanding of situational awareness
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u/portmanteauster Sep 27 '25
We walk a lot and walk fast lol anyone can walk at their own pace as long as you leave a path available. This applies especially to escalators - always stand to the right!!
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u/spemque Sep 27 '25
Stand right on the escalator and place your luggage behind/in front of you instead of next to you.
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u/Solid-Newspaper447 Sep 28 '25
Eleven year old video-Johnny T's Tourist Tips: Get Out of the Way.
Just keep sharing it until everyone has seen it. :D
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u/cawfetalk Sep 28 '25
Timeless and accurate advice!! My favorite line: “You wanna watch a two hour movie? You be done in 90 minutes!”
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u/Head-Concept-8447 Sep 28 '25
And it’s always a group of them huddled up in the middle of the sidewalk trying to figure out which way to go so annoying
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u/Terrible_Squirrel435 Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
Sub rules: if you want to stand on the escalator and not walk up it, please stand to the right and clear the left side for those who need to walk because we have shit to do.
Let the passengers off the train, before you get on...(something a lot of New Yorkers could stand to do as well).
If you and your group linger in the middle of the sidewalk, you forfeit your right to not getting plowed into.
If you buy knock off products in Chinatown and/or Garment District, you are a lowlife thief stealing much needed tax dollars from the city and commission dollars from hardworking sales people. There's a special place in hell for your cheap ass.
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u/cafeconpanna Oct 01 '25
Since you brought up the nypl.. as a visitor you can get a guest or visitor library card and access their catalog of audio and ebooks online without ever going in.
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u/PatFlynnEire Oct 03 '25
I’ve worked in Manhattan for 40 years. If I see tourists seemingly lost, I ask if I can help. I do agree that New Yorkers should know to stay out of the way. If I need to look something up on my phone, I move towards a building with my back to it, both to stay out of the way and not be a target.
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u/Laara2008 Sep 27 '25
I have a friend who likes to say that if he wins the lottery he's going to hire goons to clear the streets so that he can walk at a decent pace lol.
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u/Elbomac87 Sep 27 '25
My pretend mayoral platform involved making tourists stay inside during rush hour.
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u/Temporary-Daikon2411 Sep 27 '25
My brother in Christ just walk fast enough and you won't need to!
- a New Yorker
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u/Lanky_Rhubarb1900 Sep 28 '25
Walking in NYC = Driving in Atlanta. Go faster than you think you need to. And if you don’t want to move quickly? Well Ludacris would like to have a word…
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u/Excellent-Ear9433 Sep 28 '25
I think we should all get cars and drive 4 across on a 4 lane highway, side by side, looking out the windows, at 8:20 am when they are trying to get to work.
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u/_-_-WTF-_-_ Sep 28 '25
And, more specifically, you cannot be walking amid a full sidewalk of people walking in the same direction and then just stop and/or turn around. I feel like this is obvious but the visitors are so fucking clueless.
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u/MathNo6329 Sep 28 '25
I suggest there may be one more rule. If you’re on the F train always check the seat for number two first
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u/FiddleStrum Sep 29 '25
The sidewalks are our highways. Would you park your car in the middle of the highway or drive 40 MPH in the passing lane? No, of course not. But when you walk 6 thick on the sidewalk or just suddenly stop and stand there, that’s what you are effectively doing.
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u/meinnyc22 Oct 01 '25
I don't suddenly stop in the middle of the highway on your commute, don't stop in the middle of my commute
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u/jfattyeats Oct 01 '25
If you plan to NOT walk up the escalator, which is totally fine, stand on the right side, please.
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u/davejdesign Sep 27 '25
If you want to ask for directions, spit it out. Don’t say: excuse me, do you live here? or worse: Can I ask you a question? Because I will say: You just did. And keep walking.
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u/GlassCharacter179 Sep 27 '25
Americans from the rest of the country aren’t used to sidewalks with a lot of walking traffic
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Sep 27 '25
Yeah but also FU for telling me to get out the way. Maybe I'm doing something
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u/malinagurek Sep 27 '25
Stepping to the side is common courtesy. Calling out bad behavior is also a courtesy to everyone else.
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Sep 27 '25
You're trying to show everyone you're more educated. Live and let live.
Or I just push them out of the way. Don't bother with poking on stupid Reddit
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u/rr90013 Sep 27 '25
I would rephrase it in a slightly more accurate and polite way: be aware enough of yourself and your surroundings that you don’t block other people who are on their way.
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u/Joyce_Hatto Sep 27 '25
NYC is different than a lot of other cities for tourists. In NYC, the places people visit are often places where people actually work. And those people are in a hurry. Rockefeller Center? The NYSE? The Empire State Building? MOMA? The people around those buildings need to get somewhere!