Subway Park and Ride?

Hi all..

Coming down to Manhattan from NH for a day (Saturday).

I'm hoping to avoid having to park in Manhattan. As I'm coming down from New Hampshire, I'd like to know if any of the subway stations on the north side of the system have any convenient & safe parking lots or garages.

We'd just be going to Midtown, the Garment District and perhaps the ferry - quick day trip is all it is.

Any suggestions? The $13 (to Greenwich) MNRR fare for each of the 4 of us going is a lot more, I would hope, than parking and some 1-day MetroPasses.

Thanks in advance.

djlong wrote:Hi all..

Coming down to Manhattan from NH for a day (Saturday).

I'm hoping to avoid having to park in Manhattan. As I'm coming down from New Hampshire, I'd like to know if any of the subway stations on the north side of the system have any convenient & safe parking lots or garages.

We'd just be going to Midtown, the Garment District and perhaps the ferry - quick day trip is all it is.

Any suggestions? The $13 (to Greenwich) MNRR fare for each of the 4 of us going is a lot more, I would hope, than parking and some 1-day MetroPasses.

Thanks in advance.

Coming from NH, the only place you might be able to pull this off is in The Bronx. I would seriously avoid doing that if at all possible, because you'll probably be relegated to on street parking. The NYC Subway system wasn't really designed for Park and Ride.

If you park in Greenwich, you'll have a greater probability of finding your car the way you left it.

Also, you might want to reconsider doing this in 1 day...That's a lot of driving.

Heh. Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a Christmas present for one of my daughters that morphed into a day-trip for me, her, my other daughter and a friend. It's about a 200-minute drive to NYC from my place on the NH/MA state line.

Further investigation showed a couple of things..

- I was quoting the "On Board" fare at Greenwich and missed the $8 "buy the ticket in the station" fare.

- 12-hour parking in Manhattan on a Saturday for $14 at the Hippodrome Garage. Perfect place to drop off the car, pick up a MetroCard and let everyone go where they want until showtime. Close enough to the Garment District for my older daughter and her friend, Times Square and Central Park for my younger daughter.

I kinda figured that Park-and-Ride was mostly a MNRR/LIRR/NJT thing when scanning all over mta.info for parking at subway stations revealed NOTHING.

Since we're coming in before noon (early departure from NH) the traffic shouldn't be bad. I'm a bit concerned about any crowds that might start gathering at Times Square for New Year's Eve - how early do they start camping out?

I occasionally do a day trip from Providence. I've had extraordinary good luck in finding free parking on the West Side streets in the 80s and 90s west of Broadway. It's safe and worth a try before going to a garage. Avoid the Bronx.

Hi All,

Another option: Kiss and Ride.

The Mrs. or whomever, drops you off at the station and away you go. No need to worry about parking. Reverse the procedure when returning home. A cell phone is useful.

djlong wrote:Heh. Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a Christmas present for one of my daughters that morphed into a day-trip for me, her, my other daughter and a friend. It's about a 200-minute drive to NYC from my place on the NH/MA state line.

200 minutes is incredibly optimistic.

- 12-hour parking in Manhattan on a Saturday for $14 at the Hippodrome Garage. Perfect place to drop off the car, pick up a MetroCard and let everyone go where they want until showtime. Close enough to the Garment District for my older daughter and her friend, Times Square and Central Park for my younger daughter.

Although Saturday isn't a gridlock alert day, traffic will probably be heavier than a normal Saturday. Parking availability at that garage may be limited.

Since we're coming in before noon (early departure from NH) the traffic shouldn't be bad. I'm a bit concerned about any crowds that might start gathering at Times Square for New Year's Eve - how early do they start camping out?

Traffic will probably be worse than usual that day. Times Square won't be off limits to cars until Sunday, but the general traffic situation won't be good. It's never good in Manhattan, and your estimated 200 minute trip could turn into 400 minutes if you venture into Manhattan by car.

The only think I could think of avoiding driving into Manhattan is parking at Bay Plaza Shopping Center, then grab either the Bx12, Bx29, or the QBx1 buses a short ride to the Pelham Bay Park 6 train station and take the 6 down. This place is right off of I-95.

Another option, also right off of I-95, is New Rochelle. They just built a parking garage there not too long ago. I'm not sure what the parking fee is, or if you need a sticker like on the LIRR, nor do I know if there will even be spots left in the garage by mid day, but it's worth a try since it's on the way anyway. I think it'll be a bit cheaper on Metro North from New Rochelle than from Greenwich.

Hi All,

In general, you do NOT want to take your car into Manhattan. Parking fees are outrageous, the car's safety is in jeopardy, and it simply isn't done by the real NY'ers .

I normally will take my car and park it under one of the stations of the elevated subway, usually around Shea Stadium, but any protected parking space, under the station is okay. You can then take the El to Manhattan, and use the subways to get around, should you want to go to several places. This time of year, while cold, it is really nice in Manhattan, and brisk walks are really nice. You can also see many of the smaller shops, where the bargains are. And there are restaurants, small local ones with excellent food, galore. It is usually fun and enlightening to wander OFF Broadway. It is a whole new world there.

I'd say parking at Shea and taking the 7 is definately the best idea. The only problem is you gotta pay to take the Whitestone Bridge, but other than that, you're good.

Figured I might as well post the results...

Left NH at 6am, pulled into the Hippodrome Garage at 9:30am. 236 miles in 3 1/2 hours - ok, I was off by 10 minutes (210 minutes instead of 200 )

By noontime, crowds were LARGE in Times Square and walking was difficult but moving - lots of blocking of cars trying to make turns off of Broadway or 7th Ave.

Ended up seeing "The Producers" - good time had by all.

Leaving was another story. Walked up to the garage and presented my ticket just after 5pm ($14). Noticed that the garage wasn't just full - it was PACKED. Couldn't have fit a Mini in there even with Vaseline!

Pulled out of the garage about 5:25 - traffic heading uptown was NOT fun. Too more time to get away from Times Square than it did to get from FDR Drive to Connecticut (but I expected that).

9:30pm, pulled into my unexpectedly snow-covered driveway.

Didn't ride the subway much but what trips we took gave us no unpleasant surprises. I must say the announcer on the shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square was amusing - imploring the people to come to the empty cars at the front of the train

Note to the MTA - PLEASE let me buy more than one FunPass at a time.. The line behind me backed up considerably while I was buying passes for my party. It would have been SO much faster if I could have just said something like "Quantity: 5" when I was at the vending machine.

DEFINATELY send the MTA an email regarding that issue with purchasing the fun pass from the MVM. It would definately help speed things up