EWR - Jersey City - Meadowlands - NYC - Bayonne by public transport - report

[Cotswold Eagle]

Some time ago I got some useful advice on this board with pre- and post-cruise planning for my recent Explorer of the Seas sailing from Bayonne (I will do a full review of the cruise itself over on the RCI board - this report focuses on the transport and accommodation I used). I promised to come back and report how I got on, so here I am! Hopefully it may prove useful for others heading the same way, who may be a little overwhelmed by planning from a distance. For context, I am mobile, if slightly overweight, I was travelling on my own from the UK, and had hand baggage plus one large suitcase.

 

My plan was to fly into Newark on Saturday 1 December, take in the Jets game at the Meadowlands on the Sunday and maybe see some of New York City, before leaving on the Explorer on Monday 3rd. Thanks to the local knowledge on this board, I had booked a room at the Westin Jersey City Newport at around $150/night via Hotwire about 3 months in advance and had worked out my transport options. Of course, Superstorm Sandy had blown into New York/New Jersey in the meantime, but actually had minimal impact on my arrangements (although if you are using this report as a reference for future travel, bear in mind that one or two things such as transport schedules were affected). I intended to use public transport as much as possible - those taxi fares add up for the solo traveller.

 

I'll split the report in to bite-sized chunks for ease of reading :)

[Cotswold Eagle]

I flew from Heathrow on a BA flight and we touched down at Newark Airport (EWR) more or less on time at 2 pm on the Saturday. There was a little delay getting through immigration, but nothing serious, and after collecting my bag I made my way to the Airtrain station in the terminal at about 3 pm, intending to take the train to Newark Penn Station, where I would pick up the PATH train to Newport, close to my hotel. However, the very friendly and helpful customer service representatives (look for the folk in the red jackets) who were attending the Airtrain ticket machines, suggested I get a bus instead - the train would cost $8.75 to Penn Station, the bus just $1.50. Following their suggestion, I made my way to bus stop 8 (this was at terminal B), where I soon boarded a local bus to Penn Station. This bus, which had some luggage space, was a stopping service, giving me a good look at, er, beautiful downtown Newark, before dropping me right at the station. I had to manage a few steps up to the concourse level, although I think there was an elevator available. I then followed the signs to the PATH service at Platform 1, taking the escalator up to platform level.

 

In the aftermath of Sandy, PATH were running one route only at weekends, from Newark Penn Station through to 33rd Street in New York, which would call at Newport - ordinarily I believe I would have had to change at Journal Square. The flat fare was $2.25 and tickets were only available from machines at the platform level. Access to the train is through gates, which retain your ticket if you only have a single (the gates open automatically when leaving the platform). With luggage look for the wide accessible gate, don't try to get through the narrow ones (yes, the voice of experience!). There was a train waiting at the platform, but it did not leave for about 10 minutes, and the journey to Newport took perhaps 15 minutes.

 

At Newport I used some stairs to get to street level, but again there was an elevator available. There is a fairly long passage way to get out of the station, but this was easy to manage with wheels on my suitcase. From the station entrance I could see the Westin, a block away across the road, so I was at my destination in a matter of moments. It had taken me about an hour from when I cleared customs and had cost me a grand total of $3.75 - great value!

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

The Westin is a pretty large, modern business style hotel. I was upgraded to a large room on the SPG Preferred Guest floor, which was probably more than I needed for my brief stay. It was clean, comfortable and everything worked. The hotel has an indoor pool, a restaurant and a lobby bar, none of which I used! My one gripe would be the $9.95 for 24 hours internet access (WiFi is free for 60 minutes in the lobby).

 

 

I had chosen to stay here because its location and transport links seemed ideal for my plans. I had to adapt slightly, because PATH's Hoboken station was still closed after Sandy, but in the event this caused no issues for me. The Westin is ideally situated for the PATH line (airport and New York), NJ Transit Light Rail (to Bayonne) and is right next door to the Newport Mall, where I ate at the food court a couple of times. The waterfront, with views across to Manhattan is a block away.

 

The PATH station is to the right, beyond the trees, the Light Rail to the left of the big green and cream building, with the mall beyond it at extreme left.

[138east]

This is great feedback. Thank you. Looking forward to more.

[Cotswold Eagle]

This is great feedback. Thank you. Looking forward to more.

 

You're welcome, will have to be tomorrow, I'm afraid.

[Cotswold Eagle]

On Sunday morning I was up early (still on UK time!) and decided to head in to New York City before heading out to Meadowlands for the game (a 1 pm kickoff). I retraced my steps to the PATH Newport Station and caught the train to 33rd Street (again $2.25 flat fare). There was a considerable wait for a train to arrive, perhaps 20 minutes. PATH does not have indicator boards to let you know when the next train is due, which I found unusual in this day and age. When a train did finally arrive it was absolutely packed, as if in rush hour, but somehow we all squeezed on. After a journey taking maybe 25 minutes, I made my way to street level, and found myself on 6th Avenue, next to the Manhattan Mall. I did not have much time, so just walked up to Time Square, took some photos of New York in the fog and grabbed a coffee.

 

To get to the Metlife Stadium at Meadowlands from NYC by public transport is really quite easy. I walked back down 7th Avenue to New York Penn Station (it is somewhat confusing for the visitor that both Newark and New York have a Penn Station!), which is next to Madison Square Garden, and caught a New Jersey Transit train to Seacaucus Junction, where I changed to the special Meadowlands-only service that runs on game days. I bought a round trip ticket at Penn Station ($10.50), as I knew I would be coming back in to the city. There were lots of Jets fans doing the same thing - queues were long for the ticket machines, but I used the ticket office, where the queue moved quickly.

 

I caught the 11.08 train from Penn Station and was at the Meadowlands for about midday. The station is the most convenient I have seen for a stadium - it is literally on the plaza, a few steps away from the entrance. After the game, there was a queue to get back on the train, but there were plenty of them running, so the wait was not too long. After changing again at Seacaucus junction, I was soon back in the city, where I went up to the observatory on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building (which is very close to Penn Station) for some spectacular night time views of NYC. I then headed back to Jersey City by PATH train from 33rd Street, for the now familiar $2.25 fare.

 

My two trips in to the city and one out to the stadium cost a total of $15, or roughly the price of a hot dog and coke at the game!

 

Metlife Stadium entrance at left, the train platform at right

[Cotswold Eagle]

To get to the ship on the Monday morning, I had decided to use the NJT Light Rail from the Pavonia-Newport stop, as shown in the photo above (in my planning I had not realised this is separate from the PATH Newport station, but it is even more convenient for the Westin). It took me two minutes to walk there with my luggage. The service on the Hudson-Bergen line runs every 20 minutes and takes 22 minutes to get to 34th Street in Bayonne (make sure you are on an 8th Street train, the destination is announced and displayed on the train). There were some good views of the Manhattan skyline along the way

 

The fare was $2.10, and again tickets have to be obtained from machines on the platform. Single journey tickets also must be validated, i.e. stamped with the date/time, at a separate machine before boarding. The access to the platform is by ramp and there is level access on to the train. The stops are announced, indicated on board and clearly marked on the platforms, so there is no problem finding the correct one to disembark. As far as I could see, all the stops are simple, unattended stations (in Europe this service would probably be called a tram).

 

A Light Rail service at Pavonia-Newport - this is the opposite platform, towards Hoboken

 

 

Although the 34th Street stop is convenient for the port, it is not really close enough to walk - the terminal is the end of a long road down a peninsular, which in turn is across a highway from the station - so I called for a taxi (I had taken numbers for three Bayonne firms and had a cellphone with me, in anticipation of this). There are two sides to the station - a short, level walkway from the tracks takes you onto a local street (Avenue East), or an overhead passageway (elevators available, I believe) takes you in to a park-and-ride car park. When I called the cab firm, I was asked if I was at the front or back of the station, which is not a useful distinction for a visitor, but I was able to describe my location on Avenue East and was picked up about 10 minutes later. The cab also picked up another cruiser from the other entrance and we were soon on our way down towards the ship. I had caught the 11.18 service from Pavonia-Newport and was in the taxi by about 12 noon. I anticipated being at the terminal about 15 minutes later.

 

Unfortunately we hit two lines of virtually stationary traffic heading up towards the ship, from when it took about 40 minutes to actually get to the dropping-off area. Our driver said it was the worst he had ever seen, apparently partly caused by a late arrival for Explorer that morning, so departing and arriving passengers were all using the same area. The agreed fare for the cab ride was $4 each, even though the driver tried to charge us $9 each (a dispute resolved by calling his dispatcher), so my journey from Jersey City to the ship cost a grand total of $6.10 (plus tip for the taxi driver)

[Cotswold Eagle]

On return from a fabulous 10 days on Explorer, I wanted to pick up a rental car (to get down to Philly for the Thursday night Eagles game and then vist some friends in Bucks County, PA). Again from advice on this board, I knew I could take a shuttle to Newark airport, so had arranged to pick one up there.

 

The shuttles can be found by following the signs for taxis (turn left as you leave the customs/immigration area). If I hadn't known they were there, I may have missed them - there were three short lines of barriers with signs with the names of the airports, on the right hand side as you head towards the end of the covered area (where you would find taxis). Fortunately, an EWR shuttle had just loaded and had room for one more. The fare to Newark was $16. There were 10 others on board, and we dropped parties at two terminals and one at the Courtyard Marriott, before the driver took me round to the Avis facility (to be honest, I suspect I would have been quicker getting off at the first terminal and taking the Airtrain, especailly as he got a bit turned round finding the hotel!) Within a few minutes, I was on my way.

 

Returning the car a few days later was pretty simple - just follow signs for the rental car returns. There is also a petrol (gas!) station right by them, which only gets signposted a couple of turns out - look for a little sign for 'Food and Gas' - so I was able to refuel the vehicle rather than pay the surcharge for the firm to do so. The Avis facility is right next to the P3 Airtrain stop (elevators available to get to platform level, which was good as I had by now acquired a second suitcase), from where there are frequent, free trains to the terminals. A few minutes after dropping the car I was enjoying a drink in the BA lounge, ready for my flight home.

[Cotswold Eagle]

I was very happy to have stayed at the Westin Jersey City Newport pre-cruise, and my public transport options worked out well. I certainly think it was better than staying at an airport hotel at EWR. It's probably not ideal for everyone - I am glad I did my research beforehand and one would need to be able to manage luggage even though pretty much everywhere had step-free access. It also helped that I had some small bills and change from previous trips, as both PATH and NJT Light Rail only had ticket machines (they did take cards, but this would be an expensive option for international travellers). I am also very familiar with public transport, both from living most of my life in London and being fortunate enough to travel to many large cities around the world, so the multitude of services (Amtrak, PATH, NJT, NY metro) available at some of the stations did not faze me, and I found the ticket systems relatively easy to use.

 

I got to save a fair bit of money, used some of the services the locals rely on and saw a lot of the beautiful scenery of north Jersey (ahem). There was easy access in to New York City and to the cruise terminal. I hope the details might prove useful for others researching their own transport and accommodation options - please feel free to ask any questions (I will subscribe to this thread, so will see any in the future too).

 

David

[Cotswold Eagle]

Time Square in the fog

 

Lower Manhattan from the ESB

 

Views across the Hudson from Jersey City waterfront

 

 

[138east]

Terrific report and photos. You did an excellent job of figuring it all out. I went by public transit to Bayonne and back from north of NYC - MetroNorth train, NY subway, Path, light rail and cab. The Path/light rail/cab piece of the journey was very easy as well as the train. The subway was more difficult with luggage - if I did it again I would splurge on a cab from Grand Central Station to Path at 33rd St.

[megr1125]

Excellent..thanks for the great report...you sound like a native!!!

 

Glad it all worked out for you!!!