Where to park outside Manhattan for an overnight stay?
 

We are making a last minute trip to NYC to see all the holiday lights. First thought was to take a train from our suburb to downtown PHL, then take Amtrak. Between the times, local parking and last minute train costs, that does not look attractive.

Next idea is to drive from home to somewhere where we can park overnight for a reasonable cost and take transit into Manhattan. The long term parking near EWR is affordable, but not sure of the transit logistics from there to 57th St.

Where would you park? I'm definitely not interested in driving into Manhattan, as I don't have all day to spend in traffic, but equally don't want to complicate things too much with multiple transit changes.

Other options?

I don't know the area well at all, but in your situation I would try to park near Journal Square PATH station. The next place I would look is Port Imperial ferry. (Its probably not even called that anymore)

I agree youd do best parking in NJ, at least it will save you the Tolls of crossing over the NJ/NY border

A friend from Southern NJ parks in Secacus and trains it in from there , dont know if they allow overnight parking. Id try and find a place near to a Path train station

These threads may help

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-y...n-parking.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-y...ny-philly.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/new-y...y-parking.html

Park your car at Metropark. It is easy as it is right off the Garden State Parkway maybe a mile or so after the Garden State intersects with the New Jersey Turnpike. You can catch a NJ Transit train right into Penn Station which is at 34th Street. You have access to several subways that will get you to 57th Street so you won't waste money sitting in a taxi in gridlock as the meter keeps increasing as you sit and sit and sit....

Metropark cuts your driving nicely and keeps you away from northern NJ traffic.

Go into Philly and take the bus. Boltbus, Megabus, New Century and Eastern Travel all offer ~$10 tickets from Philadephia to NYC.

For 57th St Boltbus or Megabus would probably be best.

and the winner is...
 

We ended up driving to Staten Island, where we parked at the Staten Island Yankees ballpark. For $7/day, we got a gated lot, with overnight parking privileges, and only a 5 minute walk to the SI ferry terminal.

By driving that far, we got a lot of flexibility in terms of when to leave home/NYC, and avoided dealing with taking the train into downtown Philly - our parking charge was less than RT to downtown would cost.

And why is full-serve gas 40¢/gallon less in NJ than NY or PA self-serve?:confused:

Because NJ has some of the lowest taxes in the country on the stuff. It has something to do with all those tanks that dot the state, particularly around Newark. ;)

Gas sales tax (cents per gallon)

PA - 32
CT - 36
NY - 43

New Jersey - 14

The state also produces quite a bit of oil and refines it there, it's like the 4th or 5th leading state in oil production. I think the main reason is unlike at least here in Connecticut, a good percentage of the stations are independent, so the Mobils and Shells can't fix the pricing across an entire region. The competition factor plays a huge role.

Now if they ever did away with the silly full service requirement, then prices would be even lower :D