Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've looked this up, but I'd like to get opinions from people as well,
We are planning a trip to NYC in April of 2023.
This trip will have us there two full days as we will be visiting other areas as well on this vacation.
What is the best way to get around?
We will be staying in Jersey (within 20 minutes of NYC)
Is there a bus pass/subway pass that you pay by the day, and not the trip?
I've not had good results when searching this.
Would you prefer subway travel, or bus travel?
Only areas we'd like to visit is mainly Times Square, 9/11 Memorial, Coney Island, Rockefeller Center, Lion King (Broadway Show). These are things planned at this time.
I've visited NYC before, but I'm not too comfortable driving in the city. I am from North Carolina and live in the country! LOL. So even if we can leave our vehicle at the AirBNB and travel that way, it'd be great,
Shoot your suggestions over,
I appreciate your response in advance!
There's no one day or two day pass available. The shortest is a 7-day pass and that probably won't be worth it.
You'll likely want to take the PATH train into Manhattan depending on where in New Jersey you'll be. That's operated by a separate agency from the NYC subway and buses, but it does take Metrocard which is the magnetic stripe fare card that NYC subways and buses also use. If you're lucky, PATH *might* have rolled out its NFC card payment system which would allow you to use a credit card with tap payment ability or your phone (Apple Pay, Google Pay and the like) to board in which case you wouldn't then need to purchase a Metrocard at all as NYC subways and buses all take tap payments.
Use Google Maps (there are other more specialized apps like Transit, but Google Maps is fine) to figure out which are the fastest ways to get to where you need--it should show you transit options. You should also check the day / time you're going at the time in case there are any disruptions or construction on the subway so that you're routed to whatever service is best at the time.
Of the places you're going to, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Lion King are all in Midtown and are going to be in pretty easy walking distance of each other so you'll likely want to clump that together in one day. 9/11 memorial is downtown and should be a pretty easy NYC subway ride from Midtown (or a direct ride to there on the PATH-WTC service from New Jersey). Coney Island is the outlier which is much further away in the southern tip of Brooklyn and a subway ride from downtown Manhattan to there will be about an hour each way--if you're lucky, the Coney Island ferry service might be open by then which would be a 37 minute ride from Wall St though note that the ferry system has a sparse schedule and as of this time doesn't seem to be well-integrated into Google Maps. Coney Island as a place is pretty seasonal, so you'll want to figure out if things like Luna Park are actually open for the season when you're there in April. This year they opened earlier in the season, but generally they only open for weekends around the second half of April before going into 7-day a week from Memorial Day on. If that doesn't work for you, then a common pairing for downtown Manhattan visits is also to go over to the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge for Brooklyn Bridge Park and DUMBO where you can do subway, ferry, or walking the bridge either way to and from.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 08-12-2022 at 09:10 AM..
What is the best way to get around?
We will be staying in Jersey (within 20 minutes of NYC)
Where in NJ? Where is your airbnb?
Ideally you can take NJT into NYC. If there isn't a station in the town you're staying, you can drive to secaucus and park there. Note that many towns have resident only commuter parking, so if you're not a resident, you can't park in their train lots (although - this hasn't really been enforced since covid, in my experience)
As a side note - you can consider driving into nyc, parking for the day, and then driving back out. Also, there are plenty of car services (even Uber) that will drive you across the river and back.
Personally, I don't like the busses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEM91
Is there a bus pass/subway pass that you pay by the day, and not the trip?
for subway, just buy in the station and refill
Quote:
Originally Posted by JEM91
Would you prefer subway travel, or bus travel?
Only areas we'd like to visit is mainly Times Square, 9/11 Memorial, Coney Island, Rockefeller Center, Lion King (Broadway Show). These are things planned at this time.
For this, combo of NJT, path and subway, and likely uber/cab if later in the evening.
Ideally you can take NJT into NYC. If there isn't a station in the town you're staying, you can drive to secaucus and park there. Note that many towns have resident only commuter parking, so if you're not a resident, you can't park in their train lots (although - this hasn't really been enforced since covid, in my experience)
As a side note - you can consider driving into nyc, parking for the day, and then driving back out. Also, there are plenty of car services (even Uber) that will drive you across the river and back.
Personally, I don't like the busses.
for subway, just buy in the station and refill
For this, combo of NJT, path and subway, and likely uber/cab if later in the evening.
We haven't booked the AirBNB yet, but looking at no more than 20 minutes outside the city or so.
We may end up just getting uber into the city, then using the Subway.
I thought there would be a day pass, but we can get by with $2.50 a trip.
We haven't booked the AirBNB yet, but looking at no more than 20 minutes outside the city or so.
We may end up just getting uber into the city, then using the Subway.
I thought there would be a day pass, but we can get by with $2.50 a trip.
Metrocard use is now $2.75 per ride. The benefit of a metrocard is that if you use the subway or bus you get one free transfer within 2 hours (however, you can't transfer subway to subway for free but you can transfer bus to bus, subway to bus or vice versa).
A weekly metrocard is $33 which is the equivalent of 12 rides.
Another option is OMNI, where you pay with your credit card at the subway turnstyle.
Quote:
With OMNY, you will not pay more than $33 in total fares between Monday and Sunday, no matter how many rides you take. It’s like a 7-Day Unlimited Ride Pass, but without the upfront cost.
We haven't booked the AirBNB yet, but looking at no more than 20 minutes outside the city or so.
We may end up just getting uber into the city, then using the Subway.
I thought there would be a day pass, but we can get by with $2.50 a trip.
You are only in NYC for 2 days, I suggest pay the money and actually stay in NYC and get the real city feel.
If you do stay in NJ stay by the path in either JC or Hoboken.
You are only in NYC for 2 days, I suggest pay the money and actually stay in NYC and get the real city feel.
If you do stay in NJ stay by the path in either JC or Hoboken.
I agree.
Also you can look into staying in Long Island City Queens. It's right next to Manhattan (just like Jersey City and Hoboken are also right next to Manhattan). But Long Island City has NYC subway stations so maybe a bit easier to travel around to the tourist sites.
But since most of the stuff you want to do is in Manhattan, why not stay in Manhattan?
Also you can look into staying in Long Island City Queens. It's right next to Manhattan (just like Jersey City and Hoboken are also right next to Manhattan). But Long Island City has NYC subway stations so maybe a bit easier to travel around to the tourist sites.
I think the LIC in Queens is a good suggestion as it is right near the East River and a short subway ride into Midtown Manhattan. Also in LIC there is the G subway train that goes to Brooklyn and connects directly to the F train which goes all the way to Coney Island.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
