Will be spending 3 days & 2 nights in the Big Apple the last week of May. Looking for travel advice to & from Philly, other than driving. Thanks

I presume you are asking for the best way to get between these two cities, other than driving. The answer is Greyhound; with an advance ticket you can buy a non-stop round-trip for about $24. Choose a Peter Pan bus and you'll get a free movie. Chinatown busses are even less expensive. Time-wise will be about the same as local train, and cost will be FAR less than Amtrak.

And if you WANT to use rail, you can take New Jersey Transit commuter rail between NYC & Trenton NJ, and the SEPTA commuter rail between Trenton & Philly. You don't even change platforms in Trenton.

I'd do the bus for such a short ride.

rb, could you help with this variation? A friend and I will be heading to NYC in April. She lives near the Jeanes Hospital in Philadelphia and has access to SEPTA. Could we take SEPTA to somewhere and pick up NJ Transit commuter into NYC? Where does NJ Transit end up in NYC?

You can take Septa R7 to Trenton and change to NJ Transit Northeast Corridor Line (very easy) which takes you to Penn Station in NYC. It might take you a bit of time but it works.

Andrew

Thanks a bunch, Andrew. Does SEPTA R7 go directly to Trenton or are changes necessary? I accessed the SEPTA website briefly, but it's not too clear, at least to me.

Yes, the R7 goes from the downtown stations (30th Street, Suburban, Market East) directly to Trenton without a change and Trenton is the end of the line. Then apparently the NJ Transit train departs to NYC from the same platform in Trenton (I've taken Amtrak to Trenton and changed to NJTransit, saw the Septa signs but didn't actually take the R7 - but it's clear from the maps. I considered the R7 once but used a different method to get where I needed to go.)

The Amtrak train from 30th Street to NY Penn Station is a lot faster but of course much more expensive. Amtrak does offer discounts for AAA and such, however.

Andrew

Thanks again for your help, Andrew. I poked around on the Amtrak site and saw discounts and packages, etc. Most expired in mid-March, so I'll check into that again prior to our April date.

If you mean by the "best way" the one with the least hassle, then it is Amtrak; no changes. OK, it costs more than the bus or the Septa/NJT combo and is probably a lot faster than the latter unless you enjoy trains that stop at every commuter rail station of any importance along the way.

I somehow doubt the bus is as fast as the Metroliner or the Acela Express.

OK, I was curious and bored, I guess, so I checked schedules and fares for a random weekday. Next week, Amtrak has a fare of $42 (fares that day go up to $98 on different trains) for a ride of only 1:16 Philly to NYC, leaving just before 11AM. Around the same time, Septa/NJ Transit would take 2:28 including switch in Trenton, and the fare would be $7.00 + $11.50 NJT = $18.50. So if you spend the extra 1:12 on the trains, you save at least $23.50, perhaps a lot more if you don't get the best fare on Amtrak. And that's only one way, per person. Round-trip you save $47 per person but spend an extra 2:30 on trains. Worth it to you? Depends on the person.

Andrew

Thanks for taking the time to research this, Andrew. I just Googled <Amtrak discount codes> and found a wealth of info, though unfortunately most is outdated.

Here's a URL from Trip Advisor that details Amtrak vs. SEPTA for the Philadelphia NYC route:

http://tinyurl.com/86z65