Public Transport Google Style
My desire to wander is unsupressable. I am dealing with it in two ways. First is the big Moving Overseas exercise. 2nd, I’m planning my next trip. So pause all the home improvement posts for a sec and let’s talk logistics.
New Jersey and New York public transit. All I have to say is, “Thank goodness Google has a public transit route planner!” I have the perfect storm of obligations occurring next month all in one-week that will have me flying into Newark, going to Philadelphia, West Point New York, New Brunswick New Jersey, and New York City. The turn around times just don’t make renting a car feasible. Its too expensive to rent, park, navigate and the trains just seem way more convenient. But it does take pre-planning of routes, trains, back up plans, coordination and flexibility. A car just goes with you when and where you want it to.
Tale of two methods of travel.
Take the first leg of my trip for example, Newark Airport to Langhorne, PA to visit my Grandparents.
- My parents: land +1 hr to collect bags and get to rental counter, +1 hour to pick up car and arrange family and bags in car, +1 hr stop for dinner once safely outside of airport pricing zone, +2 hours to drive to Grandparents if all goes well. This works for them, there are 4 of them to worry about now that 3 of us are grown and its more cost effective and less stressful for them. (arrival time at Grandparents 11pm)
- Me and hubby: land carrying our bags, +1 hr to get to train station in time for 6:40pm train after grabbing a quick bite to eat when we land at the airport or eating prepacked snacks; arrive train station where Grandparents are waiting to pick up 7:57pm; arrive Grandparents house 20 minutes later) (arrival time 8:20pm, cost $14.75 each train ticket)
Next up I have to figure out trains from PA to Grand Central Station, NY then on to Garrison, NY to meet the ferry to West Point. Then ferry back from West Point, train to New Brunswick, then train back to New York and once more back to Newark for the flight home. Hopefully it will all work out smoothly, and thankfully if the plan doesn’t work and I have to adjust things as we go along, we don’t have pre-purchased Italian train-tickets and no Italian language skills.
Even with English not being a barrier, do you know how hard it is to figure out public transportation in American cities sometimes? There are exceptions like DC’s metro, but even then have you tried using Metro buses? Its like a secret club, once you figure it out, you’re in and party to some good, cheap transportation, but its not really accessible to tourists or travelers without a lot of effort on their part. Of course, I’ll admit, by the time I figured out metro buses, I was glad those obnoxiously loud Hard Rock Cafe clad tourists weren’t crowding my metro bus like they were my Foggy-Bottom metro stop during certain hours. I just wanted to sit in peace with my headphones wearing my business suit (but no flip-flops or sneakers so I wasn’t a completely assimilated to DC commuter).
Wow, now that digression came out of nowhere. Here’s hoping for the best.
