jbrkelly

We are going on a short vacation and will be spending one day in New York. We will be driving in from the Poconos area. We would prefer to park and take the train into NY and not deal with parking inside the city. However, after we leave NY, we will be heading up to New Haven, CT for a college interview for my daughter.

Would it still be better to park outside NY, take the train into/out of NY, and then travel North, or just find parking in NYC. Wherever we park, we want to leave the vehicle for the day. We will be traveling to different places in the city, but will use a metropass and/or our hop-on-hop-off tour as well.

Any suggestions??

Thanks!

bspielman

I rarely drive into the City anymore, preferring the train, usually during off-peak hours.

That said, parking at most NJTransit stations is pretty much reserved for commuters. In my home town, Madison, NJ, a few slots are for sale to daily non-commuters, but not many. Each town has its own set of parking rules.

The sum of your three round trip train fares, even from relatively close in (were you able to find parking you considered safe), is likely to exceed the cost of a day's parking in the City plus the bridge or tunnel toll. Look here: http://nyc.bestparking.com

Also, if you park in New Jersey, you're on the wrong side of the City to head for New Haven. You're better off biting the bullet of what you're considering as inconvenience, and deciding to park in the City.

nyer

What day of the week? Weekends in the summer it's easier to find parking (sometimes free street parking, especially on Sundays) . Weekdays require a little more planning, but as mentioned above, you will save a lot of time and possibly money by parking in the city anyway.

jbrkelly

We will be there on a Thursday...No free parking,I don't think.

jbrkelly

Thanks for the info.

We plan to spend most of the time in the downtown area. Probably the best place to for us to park would be somewhere near Times Square, as that is where the Hop-on-Hop-off tour will start. Any parking suggestions somewhat near that area?

J62

There are parking garages everywhere. Central parking and Icon are two of the co's that run lots of garages. Go online, pick a garage, reserve a spot, get a discount coupon, and off you go. I'd pick a spot on the west side, 7th or 8th st in the 40's or low 50s, since coming from the Poconos you'll use the George washington bridge and head down the west side of Manhattan,

nytraveler

Even leaving for CT heading up the west side highway is a good idea - the last thing you want to do is try to head crosstown in Manhattan. Head up the west side highway to the Henry Hudson to the Saw Mill River to the cross westchester to the Hutch. Avoid 95 until you get near New Haven - a much easier drive with no hideous truck traffic.

bspielman

As J62 says, use the link I provided above, enter your expected arrival and departure times, search for a (cheap) parking lot, print the coupon from the list of places and submit it when you park. Some places want it before you park; others when you leave. Don't forget to tip the attendant.

bspielman

East Side or West Side, you can expect horrendous traffic outbound at rush hour.

doug_stallings

Actually, what I'd suggest is that you take the Lincoln Tunnel into the city and park directly at the Port Authority Bus Terminal for the day ($32). You don't actually have to get on a city street to park there; there's a ramp to the right as you exit the Lincoln Tunnel directly into the Port Authority parking.

Driving toward New Haven is hellish during rush hour, so I'd suggest waiting until after 7:30pm to leave Manhattan. If you do that, you could beat some of the Bronx traffic.

On your way out, get onto 10th Avenue heading north. This turns into Amsterdam Ave. Turn right on 96th Street, drive through the Central Park transverse all the way to Madison Avenue, where you will turn left. This isn't usually a horrible crosstown route since you're out of Midtown and are beating most of the grid by going through the park.

Go all the way up Madison Avenue until you get to the Madison Avenue Bridge, and then you can get right to the Hutch without having to pay the toll for the Robert Kennedy (Triborough) Bridge. Just pay attention to the signs. You have to do a little jog to get onto the Bridge. Google Maps will give you good directions on how to get from I-87N (Major Deegan) to the Cross County Parkway to the Hutchinson River Parkway. It's a lot of switching but not that confusing (even for me, and I hate driving in the city). This is my favored route for getting out of Manhattan to Connecticut.

Then you're about 90 minutes to New Haven, so 2 hours total without stops. Having said all this, if it's raining, take I-95 all the way; the traffic will be horrible, but rain pools on the parkways in the Bronx, making driving treacherous.

doug_stallings

FYI: There is no one-day Metrocard any longer, so that's not an option, but it's definitely better to use the subway for transportation rather than a Hop-on/Hop-off bus, which will take five to six times as long and cost 6 times as much as 3 or 4 trips on the subway.

mclaurie

I'd ask where you're going after New Haven and where in the Poconos you'll be. Is it possible to do NYC after the stop in New Haven? One option is parking the car for 2 days at the. Port Imperial ferry terminal in Weehawken, NY run by nywaterway.com and spending the day in NYC and then taking Metro North train to New Haven thereby saving yourself some very unpleasant driving. Parking there is ~$12/day and you can either take the ferry into Manhattan or there are buses that charge a lot less.

tomfuller

Drive to New Haven and park at the train station (600 free spaces).
Take the train (Amtrak or Metro North) into NYC. Take the train back to New Haven for the college visit. Amtrak does have a special fare for taking your child for a college visit.

nytraveler

assuming the op is not coming from the east - you have just wasted half their day trekking rt to new haven for no reason.

sf7307

Not an assumption - they said they're coming from the Poconos. Probably a whole day wasted, not just a half! (I've done New Haven-New York-New Haven for the day, but I was STARTING in New Haven).