WAFR 2006: Travel Information

There are many options for traveling to WAFR 2006. Start with one of these sections:

• Arrival by plane:
  • via John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
  • via Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
  • via LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
• Arrival by train
• Arrival by car — including parking information

There are also the following sections:

• Getting to the Tribeca Grand Hotel from Manhattan — in particular, from Penn Station, Port Authority, and Grand Central Station
• Getting from the NYU dorms (student lodging) to the Tribeca Grand (conference hotel)
• Getting around NYC by subway

DISCLAIMER — prices, travel times, and other details are as accurate as what we've been able to find from the web and from some personal experience, but there may be errors.

If you have questions or suggestions for this page, please let us know by emailing wafr-info@wafr.org.

My recommendation: If you don't want to pay for a taxi (or if it's rush hour), then take the train.

• By taxi — costs $45, excluding tolls. I think the only toll will be for the Queens Midtown Tunnel which is $4 (with EZ-pass, which cabs should have). Should take 40-60 minutes, depending on traffic.

• By train — you will need to take a series of trains:
  • Take the AirTrain from the airport to the Howard Beach Station. This trip should only take 5 minutes or so. Note that the AirTrain also goes to Jamaica station, so be sure to get the right train.

  • Take an A train (subway) towards downtown Manhattan. Apparently, You can only get a local train from the Howard Beach station, but you could switch to an express train somewhere along the way.

  • To get to the Tribeca Grand Hotel, get off at the Canal Street station. This trip should take somewhere between 35-45 minutes. See the Getting to the Tribeca Grand from Manhattan section for information on getting from nearby subway stops to the hotel.

  The A trains are fairly frequent: every 6 to 20 minutes depending on the day of the week and time of day. (You can look at the A train schedule if you're really interested.)

  This will cost $7 total, $5 for the Airtrain and then $2 for the subway. You'll need to get a "MetroCard" with at least $7 on it to start this trip. See the Getting around NYC by Subway section for more information.

  If you take the subway/AirTrain back to JFK, note that you'll need to take an A train that goes to Far Rockaway, not to Lefferds Blvd. From midtown Manhattan, you can take an E train to Jamaica Plain and change there for the AirTrain.

• By bus — the New York Airport Service runs 2-3 busses per hour from JFK to Grand Central (1 hour 30 minutes), Port Authority (1 hour 40 minutes), and Penn Station (2 hours) for $15 one way.

  I took one of these busses once to JFK: I think I started at Penn Station and then had to change to another bus at Grand Central. It took longer than by train, and it was a little cramped), but at least I didn't have to schlep my luggage around a subway station to change trains. Still, I'd recommend taking the train over the bus.

My suggestion: if you don't want to pay for a cab, then take the train, but if you can get one of the busses to downtown Manhattan then that will put you with walking distance (or a $5 cab ride) to the hotel.

• By taxi — will cost $40, excluding tolls. I think the only toll will be for the Holland tunnel which is $4 off-peak / $5 peak (with EZ-pass which cabs should have).

• By train — you will need to take a series of trains:
  • First, take the Airtrain Newark to get from the airport to the Newark Airport stop on the Amtrak/NJ Transit train lines. This takes about 5 minutes, and the trains run approximately every 15 minutes.

  • Then, take a New Jersey Transit train from the Newark Airport stop to New York Penn Station. This takes about 25-30 minutes, and there are around 3 trains per hour (depending on time of day, etc.)

    You could also take an Amtrak train, but they only run 1 train per hour, and it is more expensive. Besides, the NJ transit trains start earlier in the day and run later than the Amtrak trains, so I don't think there's any reason to take Amtrak.

  • You can buy a single ticket that covers both these trains at the airport for $14 from the NJ transit ticket machines. These machines take cash, credit cards, and debit (ATM) cards. You'll need to use this ticket on each train, so don't throw it away after the first one!

  • See the Getting to the Tribeca Grand from Manhattan section for information on getting to the hotel.

• By bus — the Olympia Bus Company / CoachUSA runs "Newark Liberty Aiport Express" busses to midtown and downtown Manhattan for $13 one way.

  There are busses about every 15 minutes to midtown manhattan. Probably the Port Authority (bus terminal) is the most convenient option. However, Port Authority isn't exactly the... uh... nicest place to make a transfer, but I wouldn't have any safety concerns during the day. You could also get off at Grand Central Station, which is a nice place to make a transfer, and catch a 4/5/6 (subway) train, but the Canal Street stop on this line is a little further (4-5 blocks) from the hotel. See the Getting to the Tribeca Grand from Manhattan section for information on getting to the hotel from these locations.

  Apparently they will take you to a hotel via a smaller shuttle (change at Port Authority) for $17 from Newark, but no bets on how long this will take.

  There are 4 busses per day to downtown Manhattan (their Barclay and Church Street stop is about 10 blocks from the hotel which is approximately a 10 minute walk or about a $5 cab ride).

  You can see their brochure for more details.

• Taxi — $22-30, not including tolls, and takes 20-30 minutes or more

• By bus — the New York Airport Service runs 2-3 busses per hour from LaGuardia to Grand Central, Port Authority, and Penn Station for $12 one way. See the Getting to the Tribeca Grand from Manhattan section for information on getting to the hotel from these locations.

To get from Penn Station to the hotel, see the the Getting to the Tribeca Grand from Manhattan section.

I wouldn't recommend driving to the hotel, though — not because of crazy New York drivers/taxis but because of the parking situation. A better option would be to Park & Ride.

Parking

• The Tribeca Grand Hotel has valet parking available for $45 per 24 hours.

• There are, I am told, parking lots on "every other block" in the area, but still you should expect to pay on the order of $40 per day to park.

• It is possible to park on the street in NYC for free, however I wouldn't recommend it. It's not as easy as it used to be, and it is particularly difficult during the day on weekdays. You will spend at least half an hour, possibly much more, cruising around looking for a parking place, and then most streets have alternate-side parking, e.g., no parking on Tuesdays from 7-10am, and when you move your car, you'll have to cruise around for a parking place again. If you really, really want to do this, your best bet is to look further uptown (like above 20th street) and either on the east side or the west side (not from, say, Fourth Avenue to Seventh Avenue).

• There are parking garages further uptown that have lower rates, but I don't know of any specific ones. Perhaps you can find them on the web.

Park & Ride

• Metro-North Railroad
• Long Island Railroad
• New Jersey Transit

You should be able to find a station that has parking for around $4-6 per day from which you can take a train into Manhattan for $10-20 that will take from 30 minutes to over an hour. The above web sites have information about the schedules, stations, etc.

I would suggest identifying at least two stations in case the parking lot/garage at one of them is full. However, if you are arriving on a Saturday, this shouldn't be a problem. Also, make sure that you can park there overnight (and, probably, prepay via parking vending machines) for however long you'll be in the city.

These trains will deposit you in Manhattan at Grand Central or Penn Station. See the Getting to the Tribeca Grand from Manhattan section for information on getting to the hotel from these locations.

Many arrival options into Manhattan will deposit you at Penn Station, Port Authority (bus station), or Grand Central Station. From there you can:

• take a cab — cabs are plentiful in Manhattan, and it's easy to hail one: just step out into the street and raise your hand!
  • from Penn Station, it's about a $7-8 fare
  • from Port Authority, it's about a $10-12 fare
  • from Grand Central, it's about is $12-15 fare

• take the subway:

  • from Penn Station, take either:
    • an A/C/E train 5 stops downtown to the Canal Street station (or 3 stops downtown to the W. 4th St. station for the NYU dorms). You can take an express train, but for only 5 stops it won't really matter.
    • a 1/2/3 train 8 stops downtown to the Franklin Street station. You will need to take a local train as the express train doesn't stop at Franklin Street.

  • from Port Authority, take an A/C/E train 6 stops downtown to the Canal Street station (or 4 stops downtown to the W. 4th St. station for the NYU dorms). You can take an express train, but for only 6 stops it won't really matter.

  • from Grand Central, take a 4/5/6 train 8 stops downtown to the Canal Street Station. You'll have to take a local train as the express train doesn't stop at Canal Street.

  Please note that the Canal Street stops on the A/C/E and the 4/5/6 lines are actually different stations and do not interconnect. The hotel has an interactive map showing the hotel location and the nearby subway stops.

  All subway stations should have a local map so you can choose the best exit from the station. This is particularly important, I think, for the Canal Street station on the 4/5/6 line.

The NYU Dorms (Hayden Hall, 33 Washington Sq W) are about 1 mile from the Tribeca Grand (2 6th Ave. at Church St.). This is a 10-ish minute walk straight down 6th Ave. (Avenue of the Americas) or 2 stops on the A/C/E trains (the closest subway stop for the Tribeca Grand is "Canal St" and the closest stop for the NYU dorms is "W. 4th St.- Washington Square").

• Map showing route from the Tribeca Grand to the NYU Dorms (Google Maps)

• The subway fare is $2.

• The NYC subway no longer uses tokens. You must buy a "MetroCard" or a "SingleRide Ticket". Each passenger must have his/her own card/ticket. A SingleRide Ticket costs $2. The minimum purchase for a MetroCard is $4, the maximum is $80.

  If you buy a MetroCard for $10 or more, you will receive a 20% bonus, e.g. a $10 purchase will actually give you a card with $12 on it.

• You can buy a MetroCard or SingleRide ticket from MetroCard vending machines. There are "large" and "small" vending machines. Both types accept credit cards and debit cards (ATM cards), but only the "large" machines will take cash (and can only return a maximum of $6 in change). A SingleRide ticket can only be purchased with cash from the large vending machines.

• You can also buy a MetroCard or SingleRide ticket from the subway station booths. They accept cash only.

• If you are going to be doing lots of travel on the subway, you may want to get an unlimited ride MetroCard. There are many types, but the ones you may be interested in are:

  • 1-Day Fun Pass — costs $7 and is good for unlimited subway and local bus rides from first use until 3 a.m. the following day. (However, I believe this refers to a service day, not a calendar day, so I don't think you can use it after midnight and still be valid later that day.)

    You can purchase this MetroCard from the vending machines. It is not available for purchase at the subway station booths.

  • 7-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard — costs $24 and is good for unlimited subway and local bus rides until midnight, 7 days from day of first use.

  I don't believe either of these cards is good for the AirTrain to/from the JFK airport.

• The MTA has a web site for the NYC subway which has a lot of information, including a subway map

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