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Park and ride in NYC

My gf and I want to visit my daughter in NYC. (In February) GF won't fly so we are driving from Ohio. I don't really want to drive and park in Manhattan. Where are hotels where I could park reasonably and ride train into city? Once car is parked I want to be done with it until return trip. Daughter is upper west side almost to Harlem.

Posted by
1192 posts

Will you be staying with your daughter, or where the car is parked?

A hotel at Newark airport, or long term parking at the airport? Or somewhere along the PATH trains routes in New Jersey?

Somewhere in Westchester county, north of Manhattan? White Plains, Scarsdale, or somewhere on the Metro-North routes?

Here's a link showing hotels in New Jersey close to trains to Manhattan:

https://njhotelsnearnyc.com/nj-hotels-near-transit-to-nyc/

And there is always Amtrak, if you don't want to drive all the way...

Posted by
467 posts

Don't know about hotels, but we have parked at Seacaucus NJ and taken the train into Penn Station. I think trains leave every 15 minutes, and aren't expensive. No idea how much daily parking is these days. You could also park at Newark Penn Station and take the train to NYC Penn Station as well. NJ Transit website or app can probably help you out with some options.

Edited to add: I am assuming you are staying somewhere in Manhattan. If you are staying outside the city and just going in for the day, I guess you just need to find some hotel options you like and ask about getting into the city...

Posted by
25 posts

I won't stay with daughter, no room. I would be happy to stay outside of Manhattan (been there several times). Daughter may even be interested in riding train out to where I am just to see another neighborhood. I thought about somewhere in NJ. I would like to park car and stay at same location and use public transit to get around.

I have stayed in Long Island City with a car before but I remember parking being high and it was a pain to park in one place and hotel was several blocks away.

Posted by
119 posts

It has been a while but we have stayed at the Sheraton Lincoln Harbour Weehawken and then either taken the ferry or a very quick bus ride into Manhattan. Both room rates and parking were reasonable and it was so easy to get into Manhattan, however there isnt or wasn't much near the hotel (restaurants etc)

Posted by
17 posts

Check for hotels in Jersey City near the Grove Street, Journal Square, or Exchange Place PATH stations. The benefit of taking the PATH train into Manhattan is that it runs 24/7 just like the NYC subway, works with NYC subway MetroCards, and it's cheaper than the NJ Transit commuter train. The area around Grove Street station in particular is rather Brooklyn-like with good restaurants and nightlife.

Posted by
25 posts

Thanks all. I’ll sit down with Google Maps and Hotels.com and see what I find.

Posted by
7906 posts

Go to Trip Advisor NYC Forum (news board) and search for the same keywords discussed almost weekly.

Edit: Parking with mass transit available is priced higher for that reason. You also have to make sure that the parking is permitted overnight, because many "commuter" lots prohibit multiple-day parking. I find getting to Jersey City or Hoboken (from northern NJ) to be annoying, with truck-clogged prewar highways that are narrow and in poor condition.

There are a significant number of hotels that either don't have parking, or that charge for parking, in addition to the room charges.

It is significant that you have already tried parking in Long Island City (Queens) and were not entirely satisfied. The fact is that "Park and Ride" is (decades later after the inception of the idea) very limited. In my town and adjacent towns (25 miles to Times Square), most parking that exists is reserved for residents. Real estate costs are so high that the county or the state can't often afford to buy land and built garages or lots for public use. One exception is Ramsey and NJ Transit rail, but that might not be near enough to Interstate 80, which goes to northern Ohio.

Posted by
4071 posts

Honestly, you’re already not flying because of your girlfriend thus you now will drive all the way from Ohio.

Why not do what you can to make this a little easy for yourself. Take the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan. Pick the center tube. If the center tube has only outbound traffic in it, take the left lane of the right tube. Turn left on Dyer Ave & drive straight ahead to the garage at end of Dyer at 42 St. That’s all the driving you’ll do in Manhattan. I don’t like driving in the city either.

Then stay at a hotel in Manhattan. You’ll find deals in February!

Posted by
1118 posts

We ALWAYS park and ride to NYC. We have done it from New Haven CT and Morristown NJ. Both about an hour by train. At New Haven we parked our car at the hotel by the station (La Quinta Inn & Suites); at Morristown there is public parking at the complex across the street (Lot 3; https://www.njtransit.com/station/morristown-station).

There are dozens of options. Just check the NJ Transit and MetroNorth line maps and find the sweet spot for which direction you are coming from, and how far from town you want to be.

Posted by
16324 posts

I stayed at the Sheraton in Weehwawken about 15 years ago. The ferry offers a free bus network in Manhattan to help get you near where you want to go. (Subway station, bus stops, etc.)

I used to have a storage unit in Manhattan. Then I got notice it was being torn down to make way for a new apartment building. I drove a van to NYC to get my stuff. Rather than trying to park in NYC, and worry about the van being broken into, I stayed at the Sheraton. Plenty of parking. And my room had a great view of the Hudson and Manhattan.

https://www.nywaterway.com/busstopsschedules.aspx

Posted by
1118 posts

I think some of it depends on WHY you don't want to drive into Manhattan. If it is just to avoid parking, and you are fine with urban driving, then a closer-in suburb like Weehawken, Secaucus, Rye, White Plains would be appropriate. For us, we just want to avoid the eight-lane freeway / exit every 500 yards / commuter scramble altogether. If you look on Google Maps the part around NYC that is coloured white is pretty built up. Hence why we stay a bit further out, at the edge of the white, in New Haven or Morristown.

Posted by
16324 posts

You could also park at Newark Airport and take the PATH train into Manhattan.

Either long term airport parking or some of the hotels have a park and ride program.

Posted by
4162 posts

A few of the above posts recommend close in suburban places , like scarsdale , rye and white plains. Unless you are staying at a hotel in any of these towns that provide parking ( white plains has several in walking distance of the metro north train station ) these are bad choices. All the parking at these stations is swamped with commuters during the week , and the parking is virtually all by Monthly permit .

Posted by
686 posts

Are you close to Amtrack as it crosses northern Ohio?

My wife and I livied in NW PA for a number of years and drove to NY to visit family in both the suburbs and in the city. But we never drove in February. Trucks, snow storms, and short days do not make for pleasant drives across rural NY or PA interstates.

Fortunately, we have family in NY suburbs and could park with them when we went into Manhattan. Does your daughter have any work fiends who live in the suburbs that would let you park at their home?

Posted by
467 posts

Another option might be to take Mega Bus, depending on where you are in Ohio. I know it goes to Ann Arbor MI and Pittsburgh PA to NYC (Port Authority), where long-term/daily parking might be less expensive. My oldest used to take it to get home from PA and NYC, it was cheap, clean, easy, etc. Something to think about. Get a hotel in Manhattan, way easier than staying outside the coty and going in each day.

Posted by
33891 posts

nothing back from tckings in 2 weeks since the day after the OP.

I wonder if they are still seeing all these helpful answers

Posted by
1360 posts

just fyi, Miami University is in Ohio. Probably named after the same Indian chief as the Florida city. Yet the university is in nearby (gasp!) Oxford Ohio, not in Miami Ohio.
Have a fun day!