brushspin

Bus?
Train?
Rental?

Honestly first time so I'm curious how everyone else gets to their destination before travelling out.
Already read that thread about Greyhound being terrible.

Here I was just a week ago thinking that would be a good plan

indyfabz

What, exactly, is the question? Are you trying to get out of NYC with a bike or in?

In general, and when not starting from home, I have gotten to tour starts via planes, trains and automobiles.

brushspin

Jesus I just noticed how badly I butchered that title!
Must have been sleepier then i remember.

I want to know what forms of transportation I can take to make a bike packing trip possible in the greater NYC area (I live in NJ and therefore can use all of the mass transit systems that connect to it). So far after doing some thread searching Grey Hound looks like the worst option. I'm looking to figure out what everyone else does for bike touring, especially those of us who live car free!

Steve B.

You still haven’t answered the question. What are you wanting to do ?. Because you state you live in NJ it sounds like you want to know how to get out of the. NYC metro area with your bike ?. Or I assume some form of trip in and around the metro area ?.

Help us here

th0

Amtrack and LIRR all accept bikes, just gotta make sure you take a train that allows for it

dmark 

NJ Transit bus I know accepts bikes below the seats.

th0

gotta say though, while looking up how to get to cumberland from NYC, I didn't find any trains on amtrak website from NYC to Washington DC that have the bicycle icon next to it.
However it does have the bicycle icon next to the transfer from DC to Cumberland. Not sure if that means if no bikes are allowed on NYC - DC section, or if you just cant book in advnce.

axolotl

It's easy to take a bike on BoltBus which operates between NY & DC, and tickets are a helluva lot cheaper than Amtrak.

th0

Gotta hassle around and pack it up though

axolotl

No you don't, at least not when I took my bike on a BoltBus. I loaded it myself, as did another cyclist on my bus. No box or any other packaging was required.

th0

How do you protect your bicycle from damage then?

axolotl

Are you serious? I was careful when I loaded it and unloaded it.

It sounds to me like you're looking for excuses. In that case, it's probably best to stay home. There won't be any damage to your bike that way.

th0

Im not. I'm just asking how you prevent damage if you just put it in there without strapping it or putting it in a box. Seems to be it can move around quite a bit if a bus is driving. but I never did it so i was just curious. sorry for asking

indyfabz

Bunges cords. I just drove SAG for our club's ride to Brooklyn. Must have loaded closed to a dozen bikes in the hold of the charter bus. There were vertical supports the bikes were bungeed to.

indyfabz

Still don't understand the question? You live somewhere in NJ and want to "bike pack in the greater NYC area?" How much many bike packing opportunities are there "in the greater NYC area?"

Want a nice ride? Take the Port Jervis line from Hoboken, etc., to Port Jervis, NY, then ride down the Delaware River to Trenton, NJ, then take NJT back north. Take the Vermonter north from NYC and ride south.

Without more information I can be of no further assistance.

ridingfool

In all fairness do u put it in the bottom department if so I sure as hell wouldn't put one of my expensive bikes down there unless boxed in some way

th0

this doesn't looks very good tbh

adventurepdx

There are trains that take bikes, but only a couple:

• The Vermonter (between DC to St Albans VT via NE Corridor, then up along the Connecticut River Valley)
• Northeast Regional train 66, the overnight train on the NE Corridor

adventurepdx

Additionally, here's all the pertinent info for taking bikes on Amtrak:
https://www.amtrak.com/bike
https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/bring...bike-faqs.html

And a handy-dandy graphic for what bikes take unboxed bikes, and how:

axolotl

Punctuation is a good thing. Try it.

What exactly are you afraid of? I've toured a lot on my expensive bike. That's why I bought my expensive bike. It's gone on buses in several countries in Latin America, including in Colombia this year. It's gone on buses and on the roofs of vans in SE Asia. Once it was tied down on top of a cab of a pickup truck in Laos. It was on its side on the bottom of a tiny flat-bottom boat not much bigger than a canoe, in order to get it, me, and the boat owner across the wide Mekong river. Putting it twice by myself into large empty baggage compartments on a BoltBus and removing it twice by myself, was the easiest and probably safest way I've ever transported my bike on public transit.

But that's just me. Feel free to box your bike and somehow get it to the BoltBus bus stop. Or you can hand it over to an Amtrak baggage gorilla to put it on the Carolinian, or to an airline baggage gorilla. I'll keep using BoltBus (and other well-run bus companies) if I need to get my bike to and from somewhere their buses go. I may be a primate, but I'm not a gorilla.

axolotl

What exactly are you afraid of? I loaded my own bike twice on BoltBuses, and removed my own bike twice. Easy, quick, & free. Miraculously, the bus didn't flip over and my bike survived unscathed.

th0

Aight Ill try it

indyfabz

Again, our club transported a bunch of bikes in a bus hold on Sunday. Some of them were quite nice. If you bungee them upright to those supports shown in that photo they are fine.

staehpj1

My thoughts on this...
I generally think that it makes sense to pick what specific route I want to ride and then work out the best transportation to accomplish that. That can be car, bus, train, plane, whatever. I might modify the route end points a little based on available transportation.

In your case I might decide I want to plan a one or two week fall foliage tour in Vermont. I'd research possible routes and look into transportation when I have a pretty good idea of where I want to ride and need to evaluate feasibility of the logistics.

I guess you could also go the other way and say I want to ride the Amtrak (or bolt bus or whatever) XYZ line to point B and ride back to point A. I've never done that, but have considered it with a Fall color steam train excursion and a hike back rather than a bike tour.

indyfabz

Exactly. While the OP has not clarified, I am going to assume he lives in north Jersey, somewhat close to NYC. There are many train options alone from that area. MTA, Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, Long Island RR.

Don't want to ride all the way into the city? Take Amtrak's Vermonter north, ride south to Wassaic, NY, on ACA's Atlantic Coast route and catch MTA's Harlem Line back to NYC. For a weekend getaway he could take the Harlem Line to Wassaic, pick up the Harlem Valley Trail right from the station parking lot, ride to Millerton and then head a short distance to Taconic State Park. So many options.