Ways to get to NYC (Pittsburgh, Scranton: 2015, live, price)

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by gg

Sounds great! Love the idea of boat all the way and you are correct, I never said no boats.

I would love this trip.

[_Buster]

I've never really looked into it, but this made me think about renting a car for one day, dropping off in NYC. Then rent another on the way back dropping off in Pgh. I'm not sure if it's cost effective or convenient but its fairly quick and you don't need to worry about parking while you're there... I guess it all depends how much extra they charge you for returning cars at a different location, I have no idea.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by _Buster

I've never really looked into it, but this made me think about renting a car for one day, dropping off in NYC. Then rent another on the way back dropping off in Pgh. I'm not sure if it's cost effective or convenient but its fairly quick and you don't need to worry about parking while you're there... I guess it all depends how much extra they charge you for returning cars at a different location, I have no idea.

I'm curious about this as well. I've always thought about doing this when I visit my family near Scranton to save the wear and tear on my own vehicle.

[dbsteel]

Originally Posted by selltheburgh

My suggestions:

Megabus from Pgh to NYC overnight.

or

Drive and dump your car in Brooklyn and take the metro around the city.

Tolls and gas add up driving though.

Another option is finding a rideshare on Craigslist and pitching in for gas with a stranger.

Where do you dump your car in Brooklyn that is reasonably priced? We drove and stayed at a hotel in Brooklyn last year but it wasn't all that cheap. Well.... cheaper than a flight I guess.

[erieguy]

By the time you pay fuel, stop to eat, park, etc..., it's all but not worth saving a couple dollars.

[MamieRose]

I realize that the OP had probably decided against this trip but thought I would offer my 2 cents. We used to drive to NYC a lot before we moved to Pittsburgh, because it was only about 3.5 hours. To beat the parking we have driven to Weehawken and taken a ferry. This is not a super-cheap option because the ferry is something like $15 pp but they have free buses that will take you to most hotels. If you stay several days, this works out to much less than a garage.

There are also some park and rides in North Jersey where you can leave a car. Finally, you can use the Icon parking website to search Manhattan garages for something cheaper than your hotel. Typically garages on the west side are less per day on weekends. If you're comfortable with the subway (hopefully, because its the best way around the city) this is easy.

Since moving here, we have flown to Newark and find the AirTran/NJ Transit option to Penn Station a very easy way to get to the city. Also agree with above about staying in Brooklyn. Beside the hotel mentioned, there are several good places in Park Slope. After so many trips, we have been spending more time in Brooklyn anyway...lots of great neighborhoods, restaurants and shops.

[gladhands]

My two cents: just drive. Parking in Manhattan isn't all that bad; parking in tourist/business areas is. Rent an apt in a residential neighborhood on air bnb. Parking shouldn't be too difficult on the Upper West Side, East or West Village or any number of Brooklyn neighborhoods.

[stremba]

I realize OP is not doing the trip this year, but maybe this will help. Depending on what you want to do in NYC, the Amtrak option can be a good one. For my situation, if we drive, we normally will stop for numerous restroom visits and for 1-2 meal stops. All tolled, this can easily amount to 7.5 to 8.5 hours to drive to NYC. If I take Amtrak, I can get there in 9, without the hassle of driving... not too bad. When I do take Amtrak from Pittsburgh, I have found that staying at the Hilton in Newark is quite convenient. There is a pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel to Newark Penn Station. It's quite nice to have a short walk from the train to your room without worrying about cabs or hauling luggage either on the subway or walking NYC streets with it. It is easy enough to get from Newark Penn to the city, either via PATH or NJ Transit.


Alternatively, especially when we want to only go to NYC for the day, we will drive to Harrisburg and take the train directly to New York Penn Station. However, I would recommend using the Middletown station rather than Harrisburg as your boarding station. Middletown is only 10 miles from Harrisburg, near the airport, and there is free parking at the Amtrak lot. The only thing to watch out for is that not all trains on the Keystone route stop at Middletown; you have to check the Amtrak website to see what times service is available. Most trains do stop there, though, so it's really not a big issue. For a day in NYC, we typically will drive to Harrisburg the night before, stay at a reasonably priced motel in the Harrisburg airport area (off the Harrisburg east Turnpike exit), and catch a very early morning train (~5AM or so). This gets you to NYC around 8-8:30. To return, we typically will book a late afternoon train, getting us back to Middletown in the 8-9PM time frame. We usually will just stay a second night at our hotel and drive back the next morning. Two nights at a hotel in this area is still typically a good bit cheaper than a night at a NYC hotel.


Another advantage of the Harrisburg-NYC route is that delays on this route are less likely than on the full Pittsburgh to NYC route. For those unaware, Amtrak does not own the track between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Norfolk Southern (who does own the track) receives a payment from Amtrak for use of its track on this route. It reserves a certain time window for the Amtrak train, but if the train is delayed a bit and doesn't hit the window, NS can give its own trains priority over the Amtrak train, leading to longer delays. Amtrak does own the track between Harrisburg and NYC, though, so while delays do sometimes occur, exceedingly long ones are not common.

[ny789987]

Originally Posted by stremba

Another advantage of the Harrisburg-NYC route is that delays on this route are less likely than on the full Pittsburgh to NYC route. For those unaware, Amtrak does not own the track between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Norfolk Southern (who does own the track) receives a payment from Amtrak for use of its track on this route. It reserves a certain time window for the Amtrak train, but if the train is delayed a bit and doesn't hit the window, NS can give its own trains priority over the Amtrak train, leading to longer delays. Amtrak does own the track between Harrisburg and NYC, though, so while delays do sometimes occur, exceedingly long ones are not common.

Harrisburg-NYC also has a million more departures. The NYC-Pittsburgh route really isn't practical unless you are a history buff or have a ton of time on your hands. It literally takes up an entire day. With Harrisburg, you can jump on the turnpike for 3 hrs, then jump on the train for another 3 hrs where you can nap and be somewhat refreshed before lunchtime. In my dream world, Amtrak would have a red eye train departing at 10 pm with bunk bed accommodations that would arrive in NYC for breakfast! Obviously, the best way to do it is to fly, but most of the sane fares try to route you through Detroit , and then you have to deal with all the headaches and inflexibility that comes with flying.

[PIT2MAD]

Originally Posted by Mr.BadGuy

I just Google flights and book through whatever system is cheapest.

This deserves a quote. I just discovered this function myself relatively recently and after years of being frustrated with the individual companies' websites, it's nothing short of a godsend to be able to quickly check the prices of all flights between two given cities on any given date within several months. Hell, before I started using this, I considered it a victory if the website had the option to "check dates 1/3 days of your intended departure"