Here’s a pretty comprehensive list of iPhone & iTouch applications for subway riders.  They include NYC subway maps, directions, tips, and MTA information.  They all have their pluses, and are really cheap.

These are apps that you will find yourself using on a pretty regular basis, especially if you spend a lot of time traveling around New York City.

These links will open up iTunes on your computer automatically.  From within iTunes, you can see what the apps look like, and see all their features.

Now when you’re out in the Village on the weekend, you can easily navigate your way back home!

Tube New York is a superb interactive guide to New York’s Subway, Path, Staten Island railway & Air Train services along with an informative central New York street map.

With no need for a Internet connection Tube will display a clear scrollable detailed map of these transport systems uniquely overlaid onto an informative central New York street map.

Tube can calculate the quickest routes for all your journeys on these public transport systems and show a fantastic animated display of your route on the map.

Full details of your routes are provided including line changes, platform directions, direction of travel, number of stops and accurate journey times. The New York subway services change dependent on time of day and the user can select from 6 different schedules (Rush AM, Midday, Rush PM, Evening, Night and Weekend).

When an Internet connection is available “Live Information” on the current state of the transport systems can be viewed (and automatically saved for future reference) allowing you to plan your journeys in advance and avoid any potential delays.

Quick station search and station information such as disabled access and fare zones are just a few taps away.

A wealth of other information on places of interest, hotels & restaurants, museums & galleries, entertainment etc is also provided along with details on the nearest stations and the quickest route to get there.

With the iPhone’s inbuilt GPS system you can find your position on the central New York street map and easily locate the nearest station or place of interest.   A must have for anyone traveling in New York.

$9.99

The Kick Map is designed is to get more people to ride New York City’s subway system. Created with clarity and ease of use, it allows riders to navigate this vast system easily and without uncertainty. The subway map is the key to understanding this most complex subway in the world, which has 26 separate lines and 468 stations.

A well-designed map not only welcomes and empowers novices to use the subway but also encourages additional use for regular “home-to-work-only” commuters to use the subway for recreational destinations where they might otherwise take a car. For this reason the design of the subway map can directly influence ridership numbers and can indirectly have an effect on New York’s traffic congestion and pollution. In short, a better-designed subway map will make our subway system more open and accessible.

$1.99

The iPhone game Subway Shuffle is a collection of puzzles set in a subway system. You have boarded a car on the Red Line, and your task is to reach your destination. The problem is, there are other subway cars in your way! Each subway car can move only on its own color line: the red cars on the Red Line, the blue cars on the Blue Line, etc. Can you shuffle the cars from station to station, eventually moving your own car to your exit station?

Subway Shuffle comes with 70 different layouts, of increasing difficulty. The early levels are fairly easy. They help you learn the techniques you will need to solve the later levels — which, though simple looking, are surprisingly challenging.

$2.99

iTrans NYC Subway – Tell us From and To, and we’ll get you there.
Using a sophisticated algorithm, iTrans finds the fastest route between any two stations taking the current schedules into account, then guides you step by step. It even works when you’re offline underground.

Search – Find any station with a few taps.
Search is easy and instantaneous. iTrans shows you the lines that service each station, as well as the borough the station is in (New York City only). Select a station and iTrans scrolls right to it on the map.

Schedules – Tap on a station to see the next trains.
If you tap on a station, the Stop Info Pane shows the next departures for each line. Leave the office at just the right time to catch your train, or see which lines are running right now.

Maps – Beautiful offline high-res maps
Scroll around the interactive system map in stunning high resolution. Pinch or double tap to quickly zoom in or out—graphics are always sharp. It’s by far the best way to view the system map on iPhone.
Maps and Location Integration.

Go to a station in Maps; find nearest stations.
Tap “Show in Google Maps” to go directly to that station in Maps; it’s great for getting from your final stop to the destination. iTrans also has a Location button; it’ll find the nearest stop and scroll to it on the map.

Advisories
Info about delays and service changes.

$4.99

CityTransit is a comprehensive guide to traveling through New York City. It includes official subway maps licensed from NYC’s MTA, line data, a GPS-based station finder and live service advisories. An expandable architecture will allow the future download of bus maps, commuter rail lines and more.

-Integrates with the Maps Application to show nearest stations
-Live service advisories from the MTA website

$2.99

NYC Subway Maps – You ride the subway and want to be able to check a map from time to time. Being able to check the MTA website on your iPhone/iPod Touch is great, but if you are already underground with no signal you are out of luck.

Mapped New York’s underground with original illustrations, and many users feel they are easier to ready than the MTA’s own.

$2.99