gatorbill

Hi all.
I am planning a short 4-day family trip to NYC between Christmas and New Years day. I have lot?s of questions for the experts on this forum which I?ll pose on different posts in order to keep each one focused. My itinerary is as follows:

Itinerary:
1) Fri 12-26: Arrive in NYC at 11:30PM
2) Sat 12-27 thru Mon 12-29: three days in NYC
3) Tue 12-30: early morning drive out to visit friends in Monroe, NY (60 mi N)
evening drive back towards city and sleep in Mamaroneck, NY (old hometown 56 mi SE)
4) Wed 12-31: hometown visit, afternoon drive to JFK airport for 6:30PM flight (28 mi S)

In this post I?d like help in determining what is the best way to get from the city to Monroe, NY as such I have the following questions:

1 ) What is the best place to get a rental car and drive out of the city to go to Monroe, NY ?
2) Can we instead take a train to go from NYC to Monroe, NY ?
From research I?ve already done we would need to use the Port Jervis line of the MTA Metro North railroad to go from Hoboken, NJ to Harriman, NY which is the nearest town to Monroe.
3) What is the easiest way to get from NYC to the Hoboken station ? Taxi, bus, subway ?
4) Is Harriman, NY a big enough town that I can rent a car there ? Can I pick up a rental car at the Harriman, NY train station ?
5) Is there an easier/better way to get from NYC to Monroe, NY ?

Rob

The Shortline Bus Company has frequent daily service from the Port Authority to Monroe.

sneezey

I've worked at a location around the NJ border where several people live up in the Harriman and Monroe area.

Rob's already got you the info on something other than a train and a rental car. If Monroe is the only thing on your agenda, then that's best. Monroe and Harriman as well are not really big towns. You can get a car in Monroe, I believe there is an Enterprise there, but I would figure there would be drop off/pickup charges for Mamaroneck.

It's something to consider - but the only way with public transport to/from Monroe to Mamaroneck would be to go back into the city, and then back out again via train to Mamaroneck.

If you do want to visit the specific places in town you want and need the car, then the best bet might be to train to White Plains. The airport there means there are several car rental companies. You could drive over to Monroe, drive back to Mamaroneck which is right by White Plains. And then return the car and train back into the city. As you are already thinking, I would avoid a car for the whole trip from NYC - in the city when you pick up a car there are some extra taxes but more than that the rates for city driving are far more than areas just outside the city.

gatorbill

Ron, I didn't think about the bus so that may be an alternative.

Sneezy, I also didn't think of your idea to take the train from Grand Central Station to White Plains and pick up a car there to use in driving up to Monroe and Mamaroneck. I would think there are rental car companies at the White Plains train station, do you happen to know off hand ?

Thank you both !

suzanne

I don't know about White Plains, but there is a Hertz at the NORTH White Plains Station. We used to rent from there occasionally.

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/mnr/html/ge...ound_hertz.htm

gatorbill

Man I love this forum !!!
Suzanne, thanks so much for the pointer this is exactly what I need. Looks like it's the train on the Harlem Line up to the North White Plains station, rent the car and head out to Monroe.