I am taking 21 students to New York, and on our first morning I have to take them from our hotel on 94/Broadway to the Lincoln Centre for 9.30 am? I need to know wether to walk them or to take the subway. I'd rather walk, always the best way to see a city, my fellow Lecturers who have visited N.Y. say that it is miles and we need to subway. Can anyone out there help me please?

Similar information for 94 to Times Square would also help.

It's about 34 blocks, but in Upper west side and so it's realy very nice to walk.
Or by Broadway or by Columbus avenue.
Depending on your interest it can take
1/2 h to 2 hours...
From Lincoln center to Times Square it's 18 blocks, but it will be longer
because by Broadway, there isa lot of people on the streets...
If you want to walk from 94/Bdway to
Times Square, the best perhaps is to
walk to Central Park West, go down to
Central Park South by CPW(there are a lot of nice buildings) and then go to 7th. avenue to Times Square(so you will
pass in front of the Carnegie Hall,...).
Upper west Sdide is one of the nicest and charmfull part of NY.
Erik

Personally, with that many students and having to be someplace at an appointed time, I would first suggest you contact the hotel and see if they can arrange a bus and/or several vans to get you down there. The expense may be worth the time and hassle of trying to walk or take the subway.

If I have calculated the distance correctly (based on the size of city blocks), the walk is about 2 miles plus a bit. Depending on the age of your students, it might be a logistical problem to get them out the door and be able to cover 2 miles on foot (in a city like NYC with distractions at every point) in time for a 9:30 appointment. Also if it is raining or cold this trip will take longer and be kind of unpleasant, IMO.

Short of a private bus or van, I think your best bet is to take the #1/9 subway from 96th Street down to 66th. No changes and would take about a half hour door to door. You need to take a local train, as express 1/9 trains won't stop at 66th. You can always walk back.

You could also take a bus, but I believe transfers would be required at there would be some rush hour traffic at 9am to contend with.

For a map of the NY Subway go to http://www.nycsubway.org/maps/route/.
The 1/9 train also goes down to Time Square. This would be a good line to get to know; you can take it all the way down to the World Trade Center site.

Lincoln Center is 30 blocks from 94th Street. In NYC, there are 20 blocks to a mile. Thus, the walk in 1 1/2 miles. That's certainly doable for walking, especially if the weather cooperates.
Times Square is 50 blocks, thus 2 1/2 miles.

I live right in that neighborhood and walk down past Lncoln Cener frequently. It is almost 2 miles and will take at least 30 minutes at a brisk (New York) pace. To give the students (I asume teenagers) any time to look at their surroundings I would figure about an hour. If they're not used to walking and dawdle a lot (mall rangers) it could easily take more.

By subway (entrance on Broadway at 94th) it would take about 10 minutes. Bus is not a realistic option for that many people traveling together - at 8:30 they're very crowded and getting so many people on one or even two buses is not an option. You could ask about a van - but I think the cost would be prohibitive vs the $42 for the subway.

Walking to Times Square (almost 3 miles) would take about an hour of brisk walking and about 2 hours with any time to look around and considering the increased foot traffic. (New Yorkers are used to avoiding each other by darting in and out and still moving briskly - I;ve notieced tourists get confused by this and walk even more slowly. And yes, that's how New Yorkers know who the tourists are - they walk v e r y s l o w l y and look up a lot.)

Hope your group has a great trip!

To quiible a bit, I agree that thre are about 20 blocks to the mile measured the "short" way (i.e., going street to street running east/west, not Avenue to Avenue which run north/south). Remember that from Broadway & 94th down to Lincoln Center, they will essentially be crossing 2-3 blocks the "long way" (i.e., east across 3 Avenues from Broadway to Columbus), which using my calculation adds a half a mile plus a bit. Times Square is 2 Avenues further east as well.

According to my mapping software, the distance is 1.6 miles. As someone noted, there are many distractions along the way.

Good luck!! I hope you have at least 2 adults with you. Keeping that group together will be tought. Make sure they are all together when Broadway turns to the left at 72(?) street. I would stay on Broadway the whole way. But getting them all on/off the subway will be quite a trick. Walking seems to me the best and the kids will enjoy it. I would allow an hour, leaving the hotel at 8:30 should not be a problem.
I would also recommend taking them to Columbia College at 116th.

Am I crazy? Can't you walk straight down Broadway from 94th Street to Lincoln Center? What I am forgetting?

I think the main thing I'm missing here is if these are preschool students or maybe high school seniors. Big difference.

But, like Howard, I'm confused by all these involved directions to go straight down Broadway to get there. My normal rule of thumb on the short blocks (north to south) is one minute to the block. Invariably we do 30 blocks in 30 minutes -- a little more if you want to take your time.

I can't imagine the stress of trying to keep 21 kids (any age) together getting on and off the subway! I can see panic when one or two are left on the platform.

Yes, you walk straight down Broadway - but Broadway takes a fairly sharp left turn (when coming from the North)at 72 St so by Lincoln Center it meets Columbus - rather than being between Amsterdam(10th Ave) and West End.

Sorry - I assumed these are teenagers and relatively capable of fending for themselves - and that there would be several adults with the group. I think the chance of keeping the whole group together in anything except a hired bus is slim to none.

As someone who has traveled with NYC school field trips all of my life, we have ALWAYS taken mass transit in favor of hiring vans, and this isn't due to cost, it just makes far more sense. There should be no problem getting 21 students onto a subway car--you say everyone on, and they get on, and then warn them what street they are getting off at and call out for everyone to get off. This is how NYC students from K-12 travel around the city in large groups. If you're at all worried about bothering the other passengers, don't. They are beyond used to it. I would make sure you go in an enterance with a booth that is staffed so that you can count heads, pay, and then they will open the gate for you, instead of having every kid swipe a metrocard through a turstile.

I hate to split hairs, but the sharp turn of Broadway at 72nd Street really doesn't add that much to the walking distance. I'll stick by my mile and a half estimate!

I have no problem with the concept of groups traveling together on the subway - depending o the conditions. But considering how crowded the Broadway local usually is when it pulls into 96 St at 8:30 in the morning I think the chance of getting 25 more people onto a single subway car is very small - frequently only 3 or 4 people can get in at any one door.