Meaning
In New York City, especially in Manhattan, crosstown describes travel or transit running across the island from one side toward the other rather than mainly uptown or downtown; MTA route names use it for multiple east–west Manhattan bus services.
How it is used
Crosstown is ordinary American English for movement across a city, but it is especially practical in Manhattan because many numbered streets and bus routes connect the East and West Sides. MTA route descriptions explicitly use labels such as 23rd St Crosstown, 79th St Crosstown, 86th St Crosstown, 96th St Crosstown, and 116th St Crosstown.
Examples
- “We took a crosstown bus across 86th Street.”
- “Getting crosstown can be slower than going uptown on the subway.”
- “The route runs crosstown from the East Side to the West Side.”
Pronunciation
/ˈkrɔːsˌtaʊn/ · CROSS-town
Tone and register
Neutral and practical. In New York it is everyday navigation vocabulary rather than slang.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can understand crosstown as an across-Manhattan or east–west travel direction in common transit contexts. It is not the opposite of only one term: uptown and downtown usually describe the island's north–south axis, while crosstown describes movement across it. The word is not exclusive to New York and can describe across-city travel elsewhere.
Cultural context
Manhattan's long, narrow geography makes the distinction between uptown/downtown and crosstown unusually useful. The subway network is strongest along many north–south corridors, while MTA bus routes provide several explicitly named crosstown links between the East and West Sides, making the word part of practical local wayfinding.
Places represented
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Comparisons featuring this term
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