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Hey there, Bostonians. I currently live in Central New Jersey. This fall I'm going to an event at the TD Garden in Boston. The event is on a Saturday. So I plan to arrive in Boston on Friday afternoon, and then return home on Sunday afternoon.
I haven't booked any accommodations yet. But right now, I'm trying to decide which is the least expensive form of transportation to get to and from Boston. (I know I'll be taking the MBTA to get to and from the TD Garden.)
According to my research, a roundtrip Amtrak ticket from Metropark (located in North Jersey) to Boston's South Station is $106. Parking at Metropark will be around $27. Plus, tolls along the Garden State Parkway will amount to around $5.
If I drive from Central Jersey all the way to Boston, I might have to fill up my tank twice during the whole trip. Then there will be all the tolls on the Garden State Parkway, the NJ Turnpike, the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the bridge crossings that add up. Plus, whatever hotel I stay in will most likely charge for parking.
So would driving or taking Amtrak be the cheaper option for me? And what other expenses should I consider?
Bus from NYC can be readily bought for $15 - sometimes as cheap as $1. Look up Megabus, Fungwah, or Peter Pan. Some buses even have wifi. Train is outrageously expensive and so not worth it.
Bus from NYC can be readily bought for $15 - sometimes as cheap as $1. Look up Megabus, Fungwah, or Peter Pan. Some buses even have wifi. Train is outrageously expensive and so not worth it.
Fung Wah is out of business, although there's plenty of other Chinatown buses, Lucky Star would be another bigger name among them.
I personally prefer Bolt Bus. Nicer in general, the staff speaks English, the passengers are better, etc. Megabus also is good. Not fond of Greyhound/Peter Pan themselves, I've found Bolt to be much better, even though it's jointly owned by both of them, ironically enough.
However, it's also important to consider what you lose by booking a bus, which is likely to make it not worthwhile. And what you lose, is that you can't easily stay outside of the city/subway without a big hassle (Weekend Commuter Rail service sucks). And I'd bet you're going to save MUCH more by staying outside of the city than you would by taking the bus vs taking a car. Woburn, Burlington, Waltham, and Framingham all have concentrations of hotels that are usually pretty cheap (at least comparatively) on the weekends, as they're mainly aimed at business travelers who aren't there on those days.
Parking would generally be free at said hotels, but you would probably want to find cheaper parking at/near a T stop and then take the T into the main city, as downtown parking is usually expensive, although there are some coupons/discounts you can find at times. For some examples, Alewife station has a big parking lot that's cheap, Cambridge has some lots the are cheap near Lechmere station (IIRC there's a small MBTA one at the station, the City has one on 1st St 2 blocks away that's cheap as well)
The bus is by FAR the cheapest route. As has been mentioned, stick with Megabus or Bolt Bus. If you book your bus tickets in advance, there's a good chance the round trip will be under $30. Potentially under $10. You may have to wait a month or so to book (you can only book some 5 months in advance on megabus and 4-6 weeks ahead on bolt bus). At most you're still looking at less than 1/2 of the Amtrak cost with the caveat that you have to get into Manhattan (though Bolt Bus does have service from Boston to Newark Penn, I believe). Most of the buses leave from near Penn Station so an NJ Transit train in to NY Penn from Metropark would do the trick and only cost you an additional $20 round trip.
So, in a nutshell:
Amtrak= $106+tolls and parking.
NJ Trans+ Bus= $35ish (probably less if booked in advance)+$20+ tolls and parking.
The NJ Trans+ Bus route will be quite a bit cheaper if you don't mind the additional transfer. I might opt for the Amtrak route out of comfort/convenience (the trains are comfier than the bus, no arguing that), but if you were able to nab a few of the $1 or $5 seats on Megabus (not too difficult to do, just check the website), it would be close to $80 in savings which would make the extra stop worth while.
A typical relatively late model will probably use a full tank of gas and another quarter to half tank on top of that (I've done BOS- Manhattan twice on a single tank in my 2012 Sonata, but I avoided traffic by driving at night). I'd guess that that's around $75 for gas depending on your car and the prices at the time. In addition, you'll have to pay a toll regardless of where you cross the Hudson River. Any of the Port Authority crossings (G.W. Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel) charge tolls Eastbound only. They are all $13 cash, $10.25 with EZPass (peak) and $8.25 off-peak with EZPass. The Tappan Zee is $5 cash and $4.75 EZ Pass Eastbound only. Depending on which route you take from there, you'll still pay another toll. There's another toll on 95 in New Rochelle which costs $1.75. I'm not sure the cost of going 84/91/90. Regardless, there are tolls on I-90 at the very least. If you go the Henry Hudson Parkway to the Merritt Parkway (my preferred route), you'll avoid the I-95 toll in New Rochelle, but you pay another toll ($2.44 with easy pass and $5 by mail... cash not accepted) at the Henry Hudson bridge (Manhattan-Bronx).
In addition, you'll pay to park in some form regardless of where you stay. If you drive in and stay at a downtown hotel, you'll pay to park downtown in the ballpark of $30-45 per night depending on where you park (hotel valets are the most expensive almost 100% of the time... find your own garage or nearby lot). Even if you stay in the 'burbs, hotel parking may be free, but you'll have to either A) drive into the city and pay to park near the Garden (anywhere from $10-30 depending on where you go and on what day) or park at a train station and pay anywhere from $5-10 for the day plus train fair ($5 r/t on the subway and varying fares on the commuter rail). There are a few suburban hotels which offer both free parking and free shuttle to train stations, but not very many. I do believe that the Hyatt in Braintree offers this, but I'm not sure. Hotel Indigo in Newton is within walking distance of a subway station, but they charge $7.50/day for their guests to park.
You didn't ask about hotels, but the topic has been brought up. At face value, yes, hotels outside the city are cheaper. However, why would anyone pay face value? Check Kayak.com to get an idea of what "face value" is at most hotels in Boston when you plan to stay. Rates in the fall vary depending on when exactly you're going to be there and what's going on. Checking kayak will give you a pretty good idea of what demand looks like even this far away from your event. If rates for 3 and 4 star downtown hotels are showing up, on average, in the $150-250 range, then they have a lot of rooms available (hotels have "rate levels" that depend on availability... basic supply/demand). If you see rates averaging around $300+ for your stay on kayak, then demand is expected to be high and you may end up paying more for a downtown hotel, but keep watching.
There's a misconception that, like airfare, it's often better to book hotels way in advance. It's actually the opposite. Unless your booking for a MAJOR event (read: Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby, National Convention, Olympics, Mardi Gras in NO, Spring Break in Cancun, etc.), waiting until the last minute will often lead to the lowest rates by far. This is true even if you're coming to town for a touring concert, Sox Game, Bruins Game, Celtics game, show, etc. Those events have an attendance that comes nowhere near significantly affecting the amount of hotel rooms available.
Here's my approach to hotels:
1) Check Kayak (or Orbitz, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc) to get an idea of the "going rate" or "face value." Consider it like the MSRP on a car. You never want to pay that price (again, barring an event on the scale of the Super Bowl or Olympics).
2) Check out the official websites for the major hotel chains like Starwood ( the company that runs Sheraton, Westin, W, Le Meridian, Aloft, Element, Four Points, etc.), Hilton (Hilton, Conrad, Embassy Suites, Double Tree), and Marriott (Hyatt, Intercontinental, and Wyndham are worth looking at too). See what their "flexible" rates are. All of them have "flexible" rates which allow you to reserve a room without paying in advance. You can always cancel a Flexible rate up until a day or two before check in (make sure you read the cancellation policy before booking). Flexible rates are often a little higher than prepaid/non-refundable rates, but not much. When booking in advance (like you are), it's always a good idea to reserve a "flexible" rate to make sure you're protected if rates rise at the last minute (they mostly don't). You can then book a cheaper prepaid raid as you get closer to the date and simply cancel the "flexible" rate at no cost. It's a safety net.
3) Now that you've got a "flexible" rate secured, within about 1-3 weeks of your date of travel, check out Hotwire.com and the "Express Deals" section of Priceline.com. What they do is take hotel's unsold rooms and put them up for sale at 50-60% of the lowest available rate. The catch (there's always a catch) is that you won't know the name of your hotel until after you pay. What you WILL know beforehand is a star rating and a pretty specific location (i.e. Faneuil Hall area and it will show a map of about a 5-7 block section around Faneuil Hall where the hotel is located). In a walkable, urban city like Boston (or New York), every 3 or 4 star in a central neighborhood is good and Priceline and Hotwire are incredibly safe bets. Beyond that, about 90% of the hotels on priceline and hotwire are the big brands (i.e. marriott, starwood, hilton, etc.). Check the prices on Hotwire and Priceline and then go to the "name your own price" section of Priceline and bit about $10-20 less than the best price you saw on Hotwire or the "Express Deals" section of Priceline. Chances are, you'll get it. If you don't, just book one of the express deals or hotwire rates which will likely be about 50-60% less than anything you find on kayak or orbitz and the like. There's absolutely no reason you can't get a 3-4 star hotel in downtown Boston for $90-120 on most nights using these services. That's the same price (or lower) than what you'll pay to stay at the comfort in in the suburbs. For some reason, some people are skeptical about using these strategies and will opt to pay the same amount for a motel 6 that's 15 miles from downtown.
If you use Hotwire/Priceline, stick with hotels in the North Station, Faneuil Hall, North End, Beacon Hill, Financial District, Theatre District, Back Bay, and Copley Square areas. These will all be very safe, and very walkable. From most of those spots, walking to the TD garden will be simple. If you don't want to walk, they'll all be on public transit lines. Seaport area and Fenway area hotels will work (and probably be a bit cheaper) as they'll be nice and safe and in decent areas, but you'll have to rely on public transportation to get to the Garden from most of them.
Regardless of how you book a hotel, I'd leave the car in NJ and stay in the city center if you're going to make a weekend out of it. Why spend the money on 3 nights in suburbs that aren't going to be too much different from the suburbs in New Jersey?
*Source*
I worked in the central reservations office of one of the major hotel chains for over a year and learned a lot about how rates work. I also do tight budget weekend trips all over the country with some frequency. I use these strategies all the time with great success.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey
If you book in advance you can get 100$ roundtrip from Newark Penn Station...
The OP said they found a $106 round trip from Metropark which is closer to central NJ. Why drive to Newark Penn to save $6?
If you book the train a few weeks ahead of time, it can be $100 round-trip. The bus is cheaper, but the train is more far comfortable, less prone to delay and there's a Quiet Car on Amtrak. I take it about every other month and to me, it's worth it.
If I'm driving and get caught in a traffic jam, it's incredibly stressful. In a bus, if I don't have a deadline to meet, no problem. Just read or doze or play on the computer if you have one and there's wifi.
You don't want to be driving or taking a bus up here on Friday afternoon, the traffic is INSANE. I like taking the train, go for it.
Good point!
As for hotels, I'm willing to stay anywhere that's near a T-train station, as I'll be using the T-train to get to the Garden. Right now, I can't find a hotel that does NOT have valet/on-site parking, which could be expensive.
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