I need some help from all you connoisseurs on the matter. What's the best option (as in pricing) to go from JFK to White Plains, NY? First of all, does anyone know an approximate of a taxi fare going to White Plains? Someone told me it could be up to $100, is this true? I've been looking at other options, like reserving a town car, which can come up to $85, or even take a shuttle to Manhattan and then the Greyhound to White Plains, which, in all, adds up to $20; But this last option, though it's a good price, is kind of a hassle. In case of reserving a town car, does anyone know of good companies I could use? Any other thing I could do? Appreciate it!

You can try Carmel of Tel Aviv for car services. Sometims they have discounts on their websites. Do NOT take a cab - since they charge double as soon as you leave the city limits - and won;t know where anything is in White Plains.

I would check the JFK web site for ground ttransit options to see if they have any shuttles that go to White Plains or Westchester - that would probably be cheapest - except for the endless, multiple change public transit.

Looked a little further - check out Westchester Express or All County Express. It looks like a shuttle to White Plains should be in the area of $50.

Seems like the simplest solution is to take an Airport Shuttle Bus from JFK to Grand Central. At Grand Central, you can take a Metro-North Train to White Plains. Total trip will probably be about 2 hours with transfers and waiting, but it will be faily straighforward. You should be able to do this for well under $50.

JFK to Grand Central via Shuttlebus one-way is $15, and a one-way Metro-North Ticket to White Plains (peak) is $8.50. Off-peak is $7 or so.

Once in White Plains, either someone can pick you up at the train station, or you can catch a cab there to your final destination.

NY Airport Shuttles:

http://www.nyairportservice.com/index.html

Metro-North:

http://www.mta.info/mnr/html/mnrmap.htm

Agree a cab is not an option. Cabs don't have to go outside of NYC. Here's a page that lists all the options. Select to the suburbs at the top of the page and then look at Westchester (where White Plains is located). Where exactly in White Plains are you going?? Do you know how near or far it is from the train station?

ooops, here's the page

http://www.panynj.gov/aviation/jgtsfram.htm

ttt

Thank you all for your advise. I'm still trying to figure out what to do, but certainly keeping everything in mind-specially the not taking a cab part.

QC, I had considered taking the shuttle to Grand Central and then the Metro-North, but I then thought about safety issues and such, given I will be traveling, of course, with luggage. I've never taken the Metro-North, is it like the subway? Is it safe to carry luggage?

McLaurie, I'm visiting a friend at
S Lexington Ave. I believe (or what they made me believe) it's within short walking distance of the station, so taking the Metro-North wouldn't be a bad option, as long as it is safe carrying luggage.

Thank you all again!

QC, I had considered taking the shuttle to Grand Central and then the Metro-North, but I then thought about safety issues and such, given I will be traveling, of course, with luggage. I've never taken the Metro-North, is it like the subway? Is it safe to carry luggage?

No real safety issues here. The shuttlebus stops across the street from Grand Central, a very busy travel hub. Many people bring luggage there.

Metro-North is a commuter railroad, it is in-between a subway and an Amtrak train. You should have no trouble bringing luggage aboard, assuming it is not rush hour.

If you have a tremendous amount of luggage, it would probably be unwieldy to do the bus/train combo.

A cab from JFK to White Plains will be somewhere around $100-$120. A car service will be slightly more expensive. I agree that your best bet would be the bus/Metro North combo. The train to White Plains from Grand Central takes 30-50 minutes. It depends if you take a local or an express train.

A single 'peak' ride (weekdays before 10am) is $8.50 at the station, and $14.50 on the train. Off peak, tickets are 6.25 and 11.00. There are trains every 30 minutes, and you can check the schedules at www.mta.info

About towncar companies, Dial7 and Carmel are usually pretty good.

If you have a lot of luggage, another suggestion is to do a one way rental through Enterprise (about $60 I think), it's an easy drive from JFK to WP. I stopped taking the "town cars" when the cost sometimes exceeded my plane ticket ($200+ RT).

Metro North is safe and easy. I take it everyday, full of commuters with comfortable seating, overhead racks and a/c. Plus, it's an express from GCT - WP. Just remember to purchase your ticket before you board or they hit you up for an extra $3.00. There's manned ticket booths plus lots of kiosks to buy tickets. Trains to WP run every 1/2 hour or so. The schedules are posted everywhere when you reach GCT. If you have any time, there's plenty of shops and restaurants to keep you entertained until the next train.

I used a shuttle service called Prime Time a few months back. It's a shared van service from JFK or LGA to several hotels in White Plains and other CT areas. They have a website you can book online. I recall paying about $50. Took a while as we had to pick up and drop off other passengers, but overall thought it was a good value as we were family travelling with much luggage.

You guys are great.

Jean Valjean, I had seen that, about the train charges, on their webpage. I'm gonna make sure I buy them before. Thanks.

Owlwoman, I just considered that option this morning, and did check out Enterprise. It's three of us that are going, so I thought that to be a good alternative. It's around $60-something, but since I'm 24, they add some security/insurance charge of $25, which we'd split between the three.

But we'll see, I think it's either renting the car or the bus/Metro North combo, as someone said up there.

Thanks again, you've been very helpful.

W9London, thanks, I'm going to be checking that out as well.