I tried to read through the forum but it seems most questions were about going to Nantucket. Here is my situation: I am a travel nanny doing a job in Nantucket in August. My job finishes on a Saturday and on Sunday I must be in NYC to meet a client in late afternoon, early evening. Originally I was naive and thought I could just get to Boston Amtrak and take it to NYC. I now see that is probably not practical. I am trying to keep costs down for both clients and flying is too expensive. Can I take a boat from nantucket to new york? I see there is a ferry to Hyannis and a bus to New York but is traffic really bad on a Sunday from Hyannis to New York? Is there a better way? thanks.

Traffic is very bad on Sundays in the summer into the city, but you have few options. There's a ferry from Martha's Vineyard to NYC but not to/from Nantucket, as far as I know. Bus is probably your only option unless you really do want to go all the way into Boston, which may be possible but would be time-consuming (i.e., any time you might save by taking Amtrak from Boston would more than be offset by the extra time to get a bus into Boston). It must be a 2-hour trip into Boston from there and then about 5 hours to NYC. I don't think it's naive to think you could do that, but it's a schlep, but it's certainly not impossible, though I suspect it's more expensive than the bus into NYC.

You could take the bus from Hyannis to Providence and then take Amtrak from Providence to NYC to avoid Sunday traffic. No need to come to Boston.

But I think if you left early on Sunday, you would avoid the heaviest traffic. But that's a guess. Summer traffic also varies according to the weather.

The least expensive way is the Steamship slow ferry (2 hours, 15 minutes) at 6:30 AM is cheapest) Hyannis. The Steamship Parking Shuttle Bus will take you (free) to the bus stationin Hyannis (just ask, you won't be the only one) and you can get the Peter Pan bus from there to Providence, where you can change to another bus for NYC or transfer to Amtrak. The Steamship fast ferry takes an hour but costs about twice as much and leaves at 9:15. The early bus will help you avoid traffic off the Cape.

Going to Boston by bus, then changing, will take 2 hours, but you can get a really cheap Chinatown or Bolt bus. But I wouldn't. You don't need to save your employer that kind of money. If they can afford a nanny and a stay on Nantucket, they can afford reasonable transportation to NYC. Many people in your position would insist on flying Continental to Newark or JetBlue to JFK or USAir to LaGuardia, so you are being very kind.