Trains from Boston to NY? (Westwood: co-op, buy, live in)

[Sweetbottoms]

Coming up in roughly 4 weeks and will be up for 8 days. I have family in the Bronx and we're considering taking a trip down for the day to see them. The drive isn't bad really its 3 1/2 hours but are there train options? Anyone know how long it takes? Just curious. Thanks!

[TAM88]

If I were you I would drive to Stamford, CT and jump on the Metro North Rail. The drive from Boston will be around 2.5-3 hours. They have a nice big parking garage there and there's a pretty constant flow of trains going to/from NYC passing through. If you can, time it so you make an express train which will make less stops and mean a faster travel time into NYC. The Metro North trains also makes a few stops before it's terminus at Grand Central which would make getting to the Bronx faster.

Your other option would be to take an Amtrak train from Boston (you can catch the trains at South Station, Back Bay and 128/Westwood) down to NYC. There are several daily trains coming and going so the schedule would be pretty convenient. The cost of Amtrak would be greater than driving and taking the Metro North Rail however. The Acela is faster the normal Northeast Regional. Acela takes 3 and a half hours and the Northeast Regional takes 4 hours. The Acela makes less stops and the train cars themselves are newer and nicer.

[jetle25]

Take the Amtrak or if you wanna go cheap take a Chinatown Bus (lucky star). The bus is around $25 dollars I believe. Also the Lucky STar was shut down a while ago for safety issues and now reopened so I'm assuming its "safer" but I've never had a problem. It's just fighting for a seat and the drivers can be nuts, plus you stop at a crappy chinese buffet in the Middle of Nowhere. Get on a very early bus on a weekday you'll get more room, and early meaning 8 AM or earlier even. The traffic can suck making the trek around 5 hrs or more if you hit holiday or rush hr traffic. When you get to Chinatown in Manhattan just grab a cab or subway it to the Bronx. If your family can pick you up even better because the Bronx is a good hr and change on the subway from Downtown Manhattan

If you can plan ahead buy your amtrak tickets more then a month ahead and not on holidays you can probably snag a 95 dollar ticket. Tamm88 is correct on the acela vs regular trains. Training will have consistent times around 4 hrs but you have to deal with grabbing a cab in the city when you arrive to go to the Bronx, or hop on the subway and it'll be a long ride for 2.50. Get a weekly MTA pass if you plan to ride the subway during your visit.

[DarkWolf]

Take Amtrak to New Rochelle and then switch to Metro North and take that to Fordham which is in the heart of the Bronx. There are a few bus lines that run from New Rochelle to Fordham and other sections of the Bronx. If you book now it should cost you 95$ roundtrip.

[beasley106]

You might want to look at either Yo! Bus, Megabus, or Boltbus considering that you can get bus far between the two cities for only $1 if you book early enough.

[goyguy]

There's a sort of "satellite" bus terminal at the GW Bridge which Greyhound definitely uses and the other "majors" probably do as well. (I think the bargain lines only go into midtown or downtown Manhattan. At least that's the case for Boltbus, Megabus, and a couple of the Chinese carriers.) If the family members live in Riverdale it's a short walk to the 1 line on the subway and you'd make it there in "no time flat."
Your chances of scoring a $1 bus ticket are about as good as they are for winning the Powerball lottery. It's a heavily promoted gimmick. The one and only time I've seen one offered was when I was planning a day trip to New York; it was for the following morning at 6.
A new Metro North station was proposed for Co-Op City a few years back. Not only that, I think it was actually given the go-ahead and plans were being drawn up. Does anyone know whether it's opened?

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by goyguy

There's a sort of "satellite" bus terminal at the GW Bridge which Greyhound definitely uses and the other "majors" probably do as well. (I think the bargain lines only go into midtown or downtown Manhattan. At least that's the case for Boltbus, Megabus, and a couple of the Chinese carriers.) If the family members live in Riverdale it's a short walk to the 1 line on the subway and you'd make it there in "no time flat."
Your chances of scoring a $1 bus ticket are about as good as they are for winning the Powerball lottery. It's a heavily promoted gimmick. The one and only time I've seen one offered was when I was planning a day trip to New York; it was for the following morning at 6.
A new Metro North station was proposed for Co-Op City a few years back. Not only that, I think it was actually given the go-ahead and plans were being drawn up. Does anyone know whether it's opened?

It will open in 2019...