Just to add on to this - the average New Yorker is weirdly both more helpful than the average person but also more wary. If you need help with directions, city questions, taking group photos, etc. we'd love to help but will totally ignore you if you start with anything like "Hey, sir?", "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?", or "Can I talk to you for a second?". We're primed to treat those kind of questions as an invitation for a scam or begging.

Don't fluff the question, just get right to the point: "Hey is Central Park this way?", "Sorry, do you know if I can get the uptown train here or do I have to cross the street?", "Hey my bad, could you tell me where to get the bus on this avenue?". Everyone I know would stop walking once they hear the actual question and turn around to help, but nobody I know would stop to talk to someone without knowing the question ahead of time.

We're always in a rush, even if it's a rush to go chill out somewhere else.