Subways on Thanksgiving morning
 

My niece is taking a 7 am train from NY Penn Station to our house on Thanksgiving morning. She will need to get to the station from the NYU area. I suspect the subways will be pretty crowded with people heading for the parade?? Does anyone have any experience with this or have any advice I can give her so she does not miss the train. I have a suspicion she will underestimate the time it will take to get to the station and may miss the train. Thank you.

It won't take any longer to get to Penn Station than it does on any typical holiday morning. Nor will overcrowding be an issue until she gets into the station, which I suspect will be fairly crowded even that early.

Rather than being a nagging aunt (she lives in NYC and should know how to take the subway by now, one would hope), tell her to make sure she picks up her Amtrak ticket the day before. Even that early there may be crowds trying to pick up tickets on Thanksgiving morning. It's a busy travel day.

Ditto what Doug said. the subways will be running as fast as usual - even if more crowded she can just squash on. But buying a ticket at Penn Station may be a lengthy process.

The OP doesn't say where the niece is headed from NY Penn. But if she's going to be using NJTransit, she can download MyTix, a free iOS or Android app that enables online purchase of NJT tickets, thus avoiding crowds.

From NJT's website: "Currently available for travel between any Morris & Essex, Montclair-Boonton, Main, Bergen County, Port Jervis and Pascack Valley stations and Secaucus Junction, Hoboken Terminal, Penn Station New York or Meadowlands Rail Station only. Also available between Penn Station New York and Meadowlands Rail Station (event days only). Available for other lines soon."

You buy any number of tickets electronically, then activate them for use before boarding the train. You then show the phone-activated "ticket" to the conductor.

Amtrak also offers online ticketing at amtrak.com. Just show your home-printed ticket to the conductor.

Great - thanks to both of you about the ticket tip. Believe me...I am not inquiring to be a nagging aunt...just trying to help out someone who is not an early morning person and who has a habit of turning off her alarm ;-)

Oh - thanks too, about the NJT info. She is using amtrak - I assume she will print at home, but will warn her of the lines in case she doesn't.

A hint about Amtrak tickets purchase online. . .

When you purchase a ticket, you receive TWO emails: one that is a receipt/confirmation and another that has the itinerary with a PDF ticket attachment.

In my experience, the receipt email goes to my email inbox with no problem but the ticket email always goes into my junk email. The receipt email is clearly labeled "this is not a ticket" but even so I've seen some people try to use it as a ticket.

Tell your niece to watch her junk mail as well for the ticket. Plus the PDF is the ticket so she must print that, not just the itinerary in the email itself.

I would encourage her to purchase her ticket well ahead. Sometimes discounts are available for 14-day advance purchase, though I'm not sure if it is true for holidays.