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Considering the wait times for the ferry, hiw much time do you save compared taking train to penn and hen metro north?
I moved to LI recently. I work mostly out of the house, and have to go into the city once a week.
Someone needs me to visit their office in Darien, CT and wondering what's my best option. This is not going to be a normal commute, just a one time thing.
The answer depends on where you are coming from. I am guessing you mean the Bridgeport/Pt Jeff ferry (not the Orient Pt).
If you are starting from the Pt. Jeff area or points east of there, the ferry will generally provide an advantage. You book a reservation and there isn't much wait time to be concerned with. Wait times can be an issue if you are a "drive up" with no reservation. This assumes you are taking a car. I believe that reservations aren't a big issue if you are a "walk on" passenger (not 100% sure - I always take a vehicle).
However, you are comparing the ferry to a train.
LIRR, you have to get to the station and ride to Penn. Then, you need to take two subway lines to get to Grand Central - that could take up to 30 minutes. Then you need to take the train to Darien. That's the long way around.
GC to Darien is about a 1hr train ride. Add the subway you are at 90 - plus some extra time needed to board, get to/from the track, etc. From the Nassau/Suffolk line and LIRR ride is another hour. You are looking at roughly 3 hours in transit to Darien by train. Ouch. I can drive from the Nassau/Suffolk line to Bridgeport in a little over an hour (no traffic, early morning weekend). Even with rush hour traffic I could easily make Darien in no more than two hours.
If you take the ferry, you still need to get from the ferry terminal to Darien. That will either involve a cab ride the train station, waiting for a train and then the ride to Darien.
If you plan to take a car on the ferry, we are back to the original suggestion... if you live near Pt Jeff or points east, the ferry may be a better bet. If you live west of Pt Jeff, driving to Darien will be the quickest and easiest way to go. With the ferry, you still need to make the drive from Bridgeport to Darien.
It looks like your suggestion is pretty much same as google maps, that I should drive but not go through the ferry because I will still have to drive south down to Darien.
I rent in St. James.
I'm very interested in taking a car on a ferry though. Since it's a Friday, I'll probably head north to visit the casinos after the job is done, and on my way home, go through the ferry.
It looks like your suggestion is pretty much same as google maps, that I should drive but not go through the ferry because I will still have to drive south down to Darien.
I rent in St. James.
I'm very interested in taking a car on a ferry though. Since it's a Friday, I'll probably head north to visit the casinos after the job is done, and on my way home, go through the ferry.
It looks like your suggestion is pretty much same as google maps, that I should drive but not go through the ferry because I will still have to drive south down to Darien.
I rent in St. James.
I'm very interested in taking a car on a ferry though. Since it's a Friday, I'll probably head north to visit the casinos after the job is done, and on my way home, go through the ferry.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
Google maps seems to have it about right. 1.5hr by car. 3+hr by train.
You are about 15 min from the ferry. The ferry ride is about 1 hr. Driving direct will save you a little time because of the necessary drive south on 95. On the other hand, the ferry eliminates the worst of the traffic and all the aggravation of driving. It's a wash, depending on the weather and what you feel like doing.
Your idea of driving there, going to the casinos and then taking the ferry home sounds like a good plan.
Being a Friday, plan the timing carefully. Traffic can be horrendous - not only on LI, but all up the 95 corridor. You are not the only one wanting to get away for the weekend.
From the casinos, it may also make sense to consider the New London/Orient Point ferry. It ends up being the same driving - substituting the north fork of LI for 95 through CT. If your plan is to simply head home, I would say go Pt Jeff and be done with it. However, going to Orient Point gives you a chance to visit the north fork. Coming back on the weekend, there will be traffic either way.
Don't forget to make an advance reservation on the ferry. It can fill up quickly on the weekends in the summer.
It looks like your suggestion is pretty much same as google maps, that I should drive but not go through the ferry because I will still have to drive south down to Darien.
I rent in St. James.
I'm very interested in taking a car on a ferry though. Since it's a Friday, I'll probably head north to visit the casinos after the job is done, and on my way home, go through the ferry.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
I'm in Stony Brook and I would take the PJ Ferry going up.
Coming home from the casinos I would suggest the Cross Sound Ferry. It's fairly close to the casinos and the last ferry is 9:45 pm Fridays. Last ferry on Friday out of B'port is 10 pm. There's no discount on the BPF for a same day round trip. It boils down to 75 miles to Bridgeport dealing with a fair amount of I-95 or 55 miles to St James via 25A from Orient Point. My friends and I use Orient to go to Foxwoods as opposed to Bridgeport.
Sort of going off of the OPs post:
Usually once every 3 months, I got to my company's office in Stamford. I've usually taken the train, but contemplated walking on the ferry and then taking the metro north to Stamford (my companys office is less than half a mile from the Stamford station).
I've heard that Bridgeport is a somewhat less than desirable area and wanted to know how far the metro north station was from the ferry? What are your thoughts on the area?
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