Young couple wanting to travel from philadelphia (around the area of market street or 30th street station in phili) to NYC.

any suggestions on an affordable/comfortable mode of transportation other than car?

Isn't the 30th Street Station an AMTRAK station?

Take AMTRAk. In NYC there are very inexpensive buses from Chinatown. Unfortuntately I do not know where they drop you off in Philly.

AMTRAK is the comfortable, fast and expensive way to go.

If you want to save money, and don't care as much about time and comfort, you can take NJ Transit (I think you have to change trains in Trenton). It's probably 1/3 or less the cost of an Amtrak trip.

I always do the combination of Septa and NJ Transit, and it doesn't take that much longer. You're traveling on the same track, after all.

In Philadelphia, you can take Amtrak from 30th Street Station to New York Penn Station directly but that's usually expensive, even if convenient. But the trains are nice, have bathrooms, food on board, comfortable seats, etc.

The alternative that's been mentioned is using the regional commuter trains, SEPTA and NJ Transit, to make the same trip. It takes about an extra hour vs. Amtrak and requires a change in Trenton (easy), and the trains aren't nearly as nice as Amtrak. But you can pick up the SEPTA trains at Market East or Suburban Station not just 30th Street.

If you look at a schedule for SEPTA (www.septa.org), look at the R7 schedule:

http://www.septa.org/service/sched/pdfs/R7.pdf

and you'll see the times for the NJ Transit trains listed there as well (it takes almost three hours each way). Note that NJ Transit is picky about you buying tickets before you board (there's a surcharge unless you buy it before you board from a machine), whereas SEPTA is more flexible, in part because there aren't even ticket machines at some SEPTA stations.

In NJ Transit, you want the Northeast Corridor Line from the R7 to NY Penn Station.

You can also travel by Greyhound. About same price as SEPTA/NJ Transit combo but no need to change trains in Trenton.

yk - You don't recommend the Chinatown buses?

thanks for the advice. my parents had taken the trip from trenton to NJ on the NJ transit but i didn't even think of taking a train to switch in trenton.

I'm one of those people who hates long bus rides and greatly prefers a train (I can read on a train but not on a bus - I get motion sickness). So I wouldn't be doing the Greyhound route myself. Also, the Trenton change is no big deal - not a big train station.

My only reserve about recommending the SEPTA/NJ Transit route is that, in my experience, there has been several times the first train was delayed and the 2nd train didn't wait around for it. That resulted in a long and unpleasant wait at Trenton train station. I'd say it happened maybe 1-2 out of 20 times I did that.

As long as you don't completely hate busses, I would recommend Greyhound. Amtrak costs a fortune (and gets funny ideas sometimes), and I hate the Trenton switch, although I've only done it fairly late at night, which may explain some of my dislike. I've never tried the Chinatown bus, but it's only about 5 dollars cheaper than Greyhound, and it's a whole lot more complicated.

The worst part about the bus from Chinatown is the sometimes huge crowd in the terminal. It can get really crowded at peak times. The trip itself is 2 hours flat and a LOT cheaper than Amtrak.

thanks for the info. some of you mentioned takig nj transit to ny penn station. does it go to grand central station? once in ny I need to take the 7 train to my cousin house.

No, NJTransit or AMTRAK trains from New Jersey goes into NY Penn, nothing to Grand Central.

I believe megabus has new PHL/NYC service, but it may not begin until May 30. see www.megabus.com. random dates of June 7 to June 15 showed fares as low as $1.00 (yes one dollar.) They have had it in Chicago for a while.

If you go to Amtrak's website you can check many options. I've taken the train between Philadelphia and New York, and recommend it for several reasons. The 30th Street Station is a landmark building, worth a visit for architectural/historic reasons. But most of all, the train is, as mentioned by others, comfortable and reliable. It also takes you into center city Manhattan. The least expensive one way fare is $43.00, and the trip takes only an hour and a half or less. You also get to see interesting sights on the trip.
I feel that saving time getting somewhere can be worth spending a bit more.

here's a summary:
amtrak - 1.5hrs, from $43 up to over $100 one way
Septa/NJ Transit - 2.5hrs, $20.50 one way
Greyhound - 2hrs, $14.50 one way
i do this trip regularly and i'm usually taking either Septa/NJ Transit or Greyhound depending on mood and schedule. during rush hour, i'd take the train as on a bus you are exposed to traffic on the road. during off-hours, i'll take the bus.

We are looking at doing a day trip with kids.... we live in the Western suburbs. I've never done it, but many friends do it this way - drive to Trenton and take nj transit from there. Since we'd have to drive 45 minutes downtown, its only an hour to Trenton, and its significantly less money. (especially times 3 kids)

any reasons why I wouldn't do this ?

surfmom - your plan sounds reasonable, as long as you feel safe leaving your car in Trenton the whole day.
Honestly, I have done the SEPTA/NJ Transit many times while I was living in Philadelphia. 95% of the time the trip went well. But there were a few times the incoming train was late and the outgoing train did not wait for the pax. It was miserable to hang around the Trenton station for 30-45 minutes. That station is just b-(

surfmom - When using NJTransit, we drive and park the car at Hamilton station. It's north of Trenton, with easy access from Route 295.

For station information, see http://www.njtransit.com/rg/rg_servlet.srv