The port had maintained several roads; some were built atop former Lenape trails, others as "commuter" links to surrounding cities, and one was even paved by 1658 from orders of Petrus Stuyvesant, according to Burrow, et al.[1] The 19th century brought changes to the format of the system's transport: the establishment of a Manhattan street grid through the Commissioners' Plan of 1811,[2] as well as an unprecedented link between the then-separate cities of New York and Brooklyn via the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1883.

[6] About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York City or its suburbs.

Scientists at Columbia University examined data from 13,102 adults in the city's five boroughs and identified correlations between New York's built environment and public health.

Using census data, the MTA reported in August 2006 that ridership on its buses, subways and commuter trains in recent years has grown faster than population growth, indicating that more New Yorkers are choosing to use mass transit, despite poor service in some areas of New York City.

The three-day transit strike in December 2005 briefly depressed circulation figures, underscoring the relationship between the city's commuting culture and newspaper readership.

The largest and most important is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a public benefit corporation in New York state, which runs two of the city's three rapid transit systems, most of its buses, and two of its three commuter rail networks.

Subway riders pay with the MetroCard, which is also valid on all other rapid transit systems and buses in the city, as well as the Roosevelt Island tramway.

The first Minimum Operating Segment of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail was completed in 2002, and in 2006, service to its current northern terminus of Tonnele Avenue began.

AirTrain JFK is an 8.1 mi (13 km) rapid transit system that connects Kennedy to New York's subway and commuter rail network in Queens 24 hours a day.

[47] Amtrak's high-speed Acela trains run from New York to Boston and Washington, D.C., via the Northeast Corridor, using tilting technology and fast electric locomotives.

[51] Local bus routes are labeled with a number and a prefix identifying the primary borough (B for Brooklyn, Bx for the Bronx, M for Manhattan, Q for Queens, and S for Staten Island).

However, from 2012 to 2014, it also ran weekday morning and afternoon/evening service between East 34th Street and Pier 11 in Manhattan and Rockaway Park, Queens, with a stop at Brooklyn Army Terminal.

However, it was ultimately discontinued in October 2014, despite vigorous efforts by local transportation advocates, civic leaders and elected officials to convince the city government to continue funding the subsidized service.

To keep roadways, tunnels, and bridges safe for pedestrians and drivers, New York City has made efficient use of timers to regulate traffic lighting and help conserve energy.

With its Gothic-revival double-arched stone towers and diagonal suspension wires, the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the city's most recognized architectural structures, depicted by artists such as Hart Crane and Georgia O'Keeffe.

A less favored alternative to commuting by rail and boat is the New York region's expressway network, designed primarily by city planner Robert Moses.

New York's limited-access parkways, another Moses Project, are frequently congested as well, despite being designed from the outset to only carry cars, as opposed to commercial trucks or buses.

[73] Around 48% of New Yorkers own cars, yet fewer than 30% use them to commute to work, most finding public transportation cheaper and more convenient for that purpose, due in large part to traffic congestion which also slows buses.

To ease traffic, the Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, in 2007 proposed congestion pricing for motor vehicles entering Manhattan's business district from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

However, this proposal was defeated when Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, announced that the bill would not come up for a vote in his chamber.

[74] Due to the lack of competition and high cost of operations, fuel is often more expensive in Manhattan compared to state and national averages.

[79] Since the beginning of the 21st century, the growth of e-commerce companies such as Amazon has resulted in an increase in delivery trucks within New York City, with 1.5 million packages being delivered per day by 2019.

In 2018 alone, four delivery companies (UPS, FedEx, FreshDirect, and Peapod) were fined a combined $27 million due to parking and traffic violations.

"Medallion taxis", the familiar yellow cabs, are historically the only vehicles in the city permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail.

In 2013, a new type of street hailed livery vehicles called "boro taxis" in "apple green" color are permitted to pick up passengers in the outer boroughs and the northern part of Manhattan.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, of the 42,000 cabbies in New York, 82% are foreign born: 23% from the Caribbean (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and 20% from South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh).

In New York City, this “green wave” prioritizes bikers by timing traffic lights around the average biking speed, in addition to mitigating the negative effects of heavy automotive congestion.

A perimeter rule prohibits incoming and outgoing flights that exceed 1,500 miles (2,400 km) except on Saturdays, when the ban is lifted, and to Denver, which has a grandfathered exemption.

A regularly scheduled helicopter service operates flights to JFK Airport from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, located at the eastern end of Wall Street.

More than half a million people depart annually from Manhattan's New York Passenger Ship Terminal on the Hudson River, accounting for five percent of the worldwide cruise industry and employing 21,000 residents in the city.