My husband and I are planning to use the bus service while in New York rather than the subway from Friday afternoon through Monday afternoon. Would the Fun Pass be our best choice and if not, what should we purchase. I have checked the MTA website and assume we can purchase this at Penn Station when we arrive on Friday afternoon at $4/day/person. If not, comments please.

Also, will be staying on Madison and 45th. Should we take a cab on Sunday a.m. to Battey Park to catch the Circle Line to SOL and Ellis Island and if so, does anyone known approximately how much the cab fare would be.

Thanks to all for responses.

I just visited MTA website
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/metrocard/m....htm#unlimited
and it reads $7/1-day pass, or $24/7-day pass, nothing about a 3-day pass at all.

I don't know WHERE within Penn you can purchase the passes, but you can purchase them in any subway station .. you may have to find the station entrance at Penn.

I like the buses for seeing the city, but often prefer the subway for getting to where I want to be.

Several web sites, including ny.com, have obsolete fare information. Perhaps one of these was your source, rather than MTA?

$4 was the old one-day pass before the last fare hikes. This was a big change: When the pass was $4, a single fare cost $1.50, so on your third ride, you were saving money with the pass. Now with the pass at $7 and the single fare cost at $2.00, you save money on your fourth ride. These passes cannot be shared: it cannot be scanned more than once every 20 minutes or so. The one-day pass is good until 3AM the next day, NOT 24 hours. The next pass is the 7-day pass for $24.

For some, if you won't ride at least four times in one day, it is more economical to buy a pay-as-you-go card. You put a certain amount of money on the card and fares are deducted each time you scan it. With each scan you have two hours to use a free transfer to another mode of transport: bus to bus, bus to subway, subway to bus. Up to four people can share the card, and the card keeps track of the free transfers as well. A cost savings comes in this way: for every $10 (5 fares) you put on the card, an additional fare is added for free. When I buy my $20 card, the first time I scan it shows that I have $22 left, since it just took off one fare.

You can buy any MetroCard at the subway entrances in Penn Station. The passes are available from the machines. Unfortunately, all the cards look the same, whether one-day or pay-as-you-go, so I usually have a little sticker to attach to a corner if I'm buying a special pass.

I wonder why you don't paln to take the subway. . . It would be fast, cheap, easy, and safe for you to take the subway from Madison and 45th (take the 4 or 5 from Grand Central/42nd St) downtown to Bowling Green/Battery Park, where you get the boats. You could take a taxi, but it would cost more than $10--hard for me to say with the new rates.

Have a great trip.

If you take the bus from 45th to Battery park, be sure to allow plenty of time. You see a lot above ground from the bus, but it's takes a while to make the trip. Check the schedules as Sunday service can differ from weekday. Have fun!

Can you really only use it every 20 min? I don't think we've ever had a problem with it. Look at that..learn something new every day. I just thought you couldn't swipe at the same turnstyle (obviously) although I guess it makes sense, that way you can't hop off the train, swipe someone else in at a different station and then both get on. Interesting.

I also like buses, redhat, but they're not as fast as the train. Given your central location, you may find most places within walking distance except the downtown things like the Seaport, Greenwich Village or SOL.

I think you might be best to buy a pay as you go metrocard for $10 which you can both use for both buses and subways. It will get you 6 trips total. You can always add money to it.

A subway is the best bet down to the ferry. Walk the 3 blocks to Grand Central, take the #7 to Times Square and from there change to the 1 or 9 down to South Ferry. I think you have to be in the first 4 cars to get off at South Ferry.

If you want to take a cab, it should be about $10 on a Sunday morning with no traffic. (Check and make sure there are no street fairs or festivals that day to avoid)

mclaurie,
redhat says they want to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The Lexington Avenue express trains at Grand Central, 4 and 5, stop at Bowling Green, which is closer to Castle Clinton and the ferries to the statue--no need to take the 7 train. If they want to take the Staten Island Ferry, I agree that the 1 or 9 trains would stop closer (just beneath) that ferry terminal. Even for the SI Ferry, from their location I'd probably still take the 4 or 5--I'd rather walk through Battery Park than wait for the 7 and make the change at Times Square.

Yes, Cinderella, you can only scan the unlimited ride passes every 15-20 minutes to hinder sharing. I've also heard that technically no MetroCard would allow you to transfer from an uptown bus to a downtown bus, thus getting a roundtrip for one fare. You can get around this by taking a bus uptown or downtown and then taking a subway back--again, within the two-hour limit. However, recently I believe I did get a free transfer from uptown bus to downtown bus. Funny how much fun it is to beat the system for $2.