Arriving Amtrak at Penn Station on Good Friday during rush hour at 5:15PM - need to be at meeting at 7th Ave and 50th Street at 6:00PM. Can I expect to easily find a taxi at the station or should I hire a car/driver to meet me. Cost not the issue - convenience and being uptown by 6:00 is.
Thank you.

There will be a jillion taxis waiting and perhaps as many people waiting in the taxi line to take them.

Get out of Penn Station following signs to 8th ave. exit (8th ave. goes uptown while 7th ave. goes down) If there aren't taxis waiting, have $2 in change or a metrocard and take the 8th ave. bus up to 50th st. and walk over a block. Ofcourse, you could also walk. It's a 15-20 min. walk.

When you leave the station, be sure to get into the "official" taxi queue, if you are approached on your way to find a cab by someone who says "are you looking for a cab" say no thank you and keep walking to the stand. The people offering to "help" you get a cab will get you one, and then tell you that they work for $10. They are not associated with the cabs or Penn Station.

Enjoy NYC!

Exit Penn Station to 8th Avenue to get a taxi. 50th St. is one way eastbound so the driver can take you to the corner of 7th and 50th. Taxis should be plentiful.

For some unkown earlthy reason 5pm is the shift change for taxis in the city and at rush hour at 34th st will probably be a bit hard to come by easily.

I would suggest getting the #1 subway right at Penn Station and getting off at 50th St. That would probably be the easiest way to get there on time.

I'd be much more concerned about the Amtrak arriving on time at Penn Station. Amtrak is not known for Swiss precision.

Just checked the Washington to NY (5:18 arrival) train for the last 2 days and it arrived 20min late one day and 1hr late another.

Thank you all - sound slike subway may be best.

I agree that I'd be more concenred about a Friday train being late. Can you catch one an hour earlier?

I agree 100% WITH Mclaurie.

If you're catching a cab at Penn Station, you're going to run into Lincoln Tunnel Traffic from 34th to past 42nd St. If you head up 8th Avenue, you're heading towards the Port Authority - lots of traffic and pedestrians.

Unless there is a physical issue with the subway, you are FAR better getting on the 1 train at 34th and getting off at 50th. The subway should be no more than 20 minutes.

In a cab, it could easily take 20 minutes to go from 34th to 40th on some days.

What no one has mentioned is that Good Friday afternoon is a noticeably slow day in Manhattan. I wouldn't count on taxis. Honestly, it's an easy walk unless you have luggage --- in which case, have a driver meet you at 5:30pm if being on time for the meeting is critical. Trains can be delayed.

We walked from Penn Station to 56th St. last week with no problem and we're not "spring chickens"! I would just walk if it's a nice day.

Amtrak is quite likely to be late. Getting a cab at that time always involves a wait - how long depends on weather traffic - and being a holiday certainly doesn;t help - but it could easily be 10/15 minutes,

I would walk - with subway as a second choice.

Another vote for walk. Bring an umbrella, and be sure to exit Penn on the 7th Avenue side (follow the signs).

The time it takes to hail a cab on 8th, then drive up and cross-town to 7th ... quicker to walk.

anywhere from 4-6 is a bad time to hail a cab in NY. It's really stupid, but around that time all the drivers are changing so that a majority of cabs are out of service.

It's totally annoying, yet unavoidable. The best bet is to walk. You aren't that far.

I agree that you should walk. It is a straight shot up Seventh Avenue.

If not, catch just about any uptown subway and get off in Times Square. The N/R stops at 49th and Seventh but doesn't go to Penn Station so switch to the N/R in Times Square.

ANOTHER VOTE FOR WALKING

Thank you all - I hadn't thought about train not being on time, so as suggested, I'm taking an earlier train arriving 4:15 and, having only one small carryon, if the weather is right, I'll walk - if not, I'll subway.