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Could you tell me which one I have to use: on it or by it when referring to travelling by subway? For example:

The Kyiv subway is very convenient. You can get practically everywhere on it/by it.

Are both perfectly natural?

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  • I would use on it.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Oct 30, 2020 at 11:34
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    Native speakers don't normally travel by subway (or by tube in London, or by Metro if we're Brits abroad in Paris), even though we use that format for very similar "modes of transport" such as travel by road, rail, sea, air, car, bus, train, ship, plane,... Probably just because most native speakers don't live in those metropolitan areas, so they don't often use or refer to those transport modes (and there's something slightly odd about casually conflating "vehicle" and "medium or pathway traveled through"). So they travel on the subway / tube / Metro.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 30, 2020 at 12:10

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When you're using the subway, you're usually going to be traveling "on it". So, it's more likely that you would use "on it". "By it" doesn't really fit this situation as it doesn't have the same strength of "on it".

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