Buses or Transit: PHL airport -> NYC (ideally Chinatown)? (Philadelphia: trains, cheapest)

[ElleC]

Hi Experts,

Can you please suggest public transit options from PHL airport to NYC (ideally Chinatown) after 5:20pm on a Tue?

Can you recommend buses or trains?

Thanks so much!

Ellen

[CHIP72]

Here are what are probably the easiest (and cheapest) solutions:

1) Take the SEPTA R1 from the airport to 30th Street Station
2) Take either BoltBus or Megabus (both of which stop outside of 30th Street Station) from Philadelphia to New York Chinatown. I believe or both bus services have routes that stop in NYC Chinatown.

OR

1) Take the SEPTA R1 from the airport to Market East Station
2) Take one of the Chinatown bus lines that stop at 11th/Arch or 11th/Filbert (right outside Market East Station) at the south edge of Philadelphia's Chinatown to New York Chinatown.

[Young Herman]

Originally Posted by ElleC

Hi Experts,

Can you please suggest public transit options from PHL airport to NYC (ideally Chinatown) after 5:20pm on a Tue?

Can you recommend buses or trains?

Thanks so much!

Ellen

There is the Chinatown bus that runs from around 11th and Arch to Chinatown in Manhattan, it runs all day every half hour, I think it is 12 bucks 1 way, and 20 roundtrip. That is what I use when I go to NYC.

[newmarlig]

Boltbus has a stop in Chinatown (6th between Grand and Watts) - but Megabus does not. The problem is there is only one bus that goes there and it leaves at 7:15 a.m. I know they used to have more, but I guess they found more people were going to the midtown stop.

[solibs]

I would follow CHIP's advice. Just research the departure times and realize that there's a good chance your flight will be delayed.

[FindingZen]

I would strongly recommend against taking any of the Chinatown buses. In my personal experience, the drivers grossly exceed the limit and practically threaten to mow down any cars in front of them. When you realize that you reached your destination is 15-20 minutes quicker than you should have, there is a reason. Not to mention the occasional unscheduled/unannounced gas refueling and intermediate pickups....

While I have been on neither MegaBus or BoltBus as of yet, I would trust the integrity of their drivers more. The former is a successful international company. The latter is a joint subsidiary of Greyhound and Peter Pan.