New York transportation
 

Thank you to all the Fodorites who helped my daughter who has now arrived in NYC for an internship this summer. She used the car service Carmel limo, from Newark to apartment..was great. Very smooth. Cost $51 She also alerted me to a website for our visit in July, hopstop.com, which is great for assisting with getting from one place to another in NYC. Just thought I would pass it on.

jserv

Thank you very much for sharing the hopstop.com website. Most helpful.

Best wishes for a wonderful July visit.

Sandy

You are welcome. I also learned that the directions can be sent to your phone also!

Just be aware that this web site has some glitches in it. It will get you where you're going eventually - but often there are simpler or faster options. And it doesn't give info like using the front or back of the train (for different subway enrances/exits) which can save several blocks of walking at each end of your trip.

nytraveler - could you please commnet on how accurate the WALKING only feature of this website.

Thanks.

Sandy

Sentence should read 'comment'.

Sandy

It has similar issues - but they're much simpler to deal with since when you're walking you can see the streets in front of you. (For instance they tell you to walk through Central Park from the west side to the east side on 97th St. Well the entrance to the Park on the West side is on 96th St - not 97th. Also - they're taking you through the Park on a sunken road that's really for car traffic - and is quite unpleasant. When you could actually enter the Park closer to the starting point and walk across on curving pedestrian paths (it would be a no longer since you don;t have to go out of your way to reach the car transverse - which is only every 10 blocks or so).

I haven't looked at this before so don;t know all the glitches. If you want to consult it fine - but I would have a real paper map - which gives you as many options as you want.

Oh-Oh

Fodors strikes again. I don;t know why these message sets keep appearing twice.

Have tried a couple of more address sets. I think the problem is that it uses only roads open to car traffic - so can;t deal with any parks or squares or promenades (anyplace a car can;t go). It will take you around the outside or on streets open to traffic - but never across or through the park. The rest seems to work OK for walking - but I only tested 4/5 trips.

Thank you nytravler.

Also FYI, I live Near 8th & Broadway which is the R & W stop, but the 6 at Astor Place is only 1 block away. Hopstop will invariably pick a route that uses the R line even though it is faster for me to walk the one block to the east side line and pick up the 6.

So it's great to have as a reference and for options but sometime you can't just beat looking at the map yourself.

I use hopstop.com regularly and like it very much but you definitely need to verify the route it gives you on a map. I've lived in NYC for 30 years so usually have a sense when their instructions are wrong...a tourist may not be so lucky.

Has anyone tried it for the other cities it covers? (I want to go to Boston and Washington, DC soon).

Carol
Editor - Lowfares.com
http://www.lowfares.com