<p>We're visiting NYU later this month, taking the train into Penn Station. Know other parts of the city pretty well - but not the area around NYU. Wondering how long we should give ourselves (on a Friday morning - need to be at 194 Mercer St at 11am) to get there from Penn Station? Also - what do you think is our best mode of transportation? Taxi? Subway? Walk?<br>
Thanks for the advice!
Congrats to all those who are heading to NYU in the fall!</p>
<p>i do this commute all the time. my bf lives in Montclair, NJ. i take a Montclair Boonton train to NYP. </p>
<p>i usually allot myself 45 minutes to comfortably get myself to campus. i can do it in half an hour but then i get winded, hahaha.</p>
<p>subway is really easy. take the A/C/E to west 4th street. then you can walk down west 4th street and pass all the glorious sights of NYU to get to Mercer Street. (the park, Kimmel Center for Student Life, Bobst Library, the Welcome Center, Stern, Courant). you’ll hit Mercer Street, make a right and then keep walking a few blocks. you’ll see Coles Gym and right across from it is 194 Mercer.</p>
<p>taxi is easiest. you can come out the NJ Transit-side entrance and there’s a taxi stand there.</p>
<p>The taxi is easiest, but on a weekday morning it may not be any faster than the subway.</p>
<p>Are you staying overnight in a hotel? If you don’t have any luggage that you need to ditch then take the subway. You can use hopstop to look up directions on the subway system.</p>
<p>[HopStop.com</a> - Subway Directions and Bus Directions for New York City (NYC)](<a href=“http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork]HopStop.com”>http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork)</p>
<p>Start out going East on W 33rd St towards 7th Ave
Turn left onto 6th Ave
Subway Entrance near intersection of W 34th St and 6th Ave</p>
<p>Take the B train from 34 Street - Herald Sq station heading Downtown / to Brighton Beach.</p>
<p>Pass W 4 Street - Washington Sq
Get off at Broadway - Lafayette St
Exit near intersection of E Houston St and Broadway
Start out going West on W Houston St towards Mercer St
Turn right onto Mercer St</p>
<p>Should take about 22 minutes</p>
<p>At Penn Station, you can catch the A/C/E and take it downtown to West 4th. On a Friday morning, they’ll be running frequently, so you’ll have no trouble grabbing one. The A/C is express and will get you down to NYU in about 10-15 minutes (there is only one stop between Penn Station and West 4th). The E is local and will take about 15-20 minutes. Those times are the longest I think it’ll take, but they might take more or less time depending on several circumstances. If you want to be even more risk-averse, give yourself up to 30 minutes.</p>
<p>Once you stop at West 4th, get out of the car and turn right (if you’re on the E) or left (if you’re on the A/C). Walk all the way to the end of the platform to the West 3rd exit. Go through the turnstiles and immediately turn left to go up the stairs. You should come out near basketball courts. Turn right and start walking down West 3rd (the first few things you should pass are a McDonald’s and the Blue Note jazz club). Continue walking for five blocks (passing Macdougal, Sullivan, Thompson, and Laguardia–you’ll notice that you are behind many NYU buildings) to Mercer, which be will the street before Broadway. Cross Mercer and turn right so that you are walking down Mercer. Pass Bleecker Street (the next cross-street down) and continue walking until you reach #194 (you’ll see the NYU flag).</p>
<p>If you take a cab, which I don’t suggest as they never seem to understand how to efficiently get past 34th Street, ask to go to “the southwest corner of Mercer and Bleecker.” That will drop you off a few steps above #194.</p>
<p>**Edit: You won’t want to take the B as the above poster said (taking directions from HopStop) because you’ll have to actually leave Penn Station to catch the B. The A/C/E is right underneath the station.</p>
<p>I should also clarify that the West 4th stop does not have an exit onto West 4th, hence why I gave you directions starting on West 3rd.</p>
<p>fyi, make sure you when you go into a subway entrance if it says uptown or downtown. If you pay your fare and then realize you made a mistake, then you’re out that fare. I speak from experience on this!</p>
<p>Hopstop.com is your friend.</p>
<p>
If this happens to you, and you really don’t want to lose that fare, you can go in the wrong direction to a major station and cross over.</p>
<p>hopstop sometimes gives convoluted ways of getting to places.</p>
<p>if you know ur way around penn station, take one of the yellow lines (r,w) downtown and it will be 3 stops. get off at 8th street(NYU) station. that will take you about 10 minutes if you know ur way around. the Q and N (also yellow) are express and will skip the 8th street stop.</p>
<p>another way is take the 6 to astor place going downtown. 5 and 4 are express and will get you to Union Square but miss Astor (Astor is 1 stop after Union Square)</p>
<p>If you wanna walk it, get off at Union Square. the R/W/N/Q/4/5/6/ all go there</p>
<p>Mercer street is a few blocks away from 8th. when you get off, just ask someone</p>
<p>^You can’t take the R or W directly from Penn Station though (the station is 34th Street-Herald Square, as opposed to 34th Street-Penn Station). To get there, leave Penn Station through the 7th Avenue Exit (the biggest exit right by the newer NJ Transit area), cross the street, and then walk down W. 32nd Street and there should be a subway entrance at the corner of 32nd and Broadway. </p>
<p>Taking the A/C/E is probably a better bet, since it’s right in Penn Station and still leaves you close to NYU.</p>
<p>You also can’t take the 4/5/6 from Penn Station.</p>
<p>Just take the A/C/E and use my walking directions. I assure you they’re easier than HopStop.</p>
<p>Use this:</p>
<p>[HopStop.com</a> - Subway Directions and Bus Directions for New York City (NYC)](<a href=“http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork]HopStop.com”>http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>^ this. 10char</p>
<p>Hopstop may not give awesome directions, but it gives you area maps so if you’re smart you can figure it out on your own. It’s a much better way to learn the area than just following someone else’s directions blindly, imo. Also if you print the map out you’re less likely to get hopelessly lost.</p>
<p>Except, depending on how you input directions, Hopstop doesn’t always tell you where exits are, so you may get off at the West 4th stop thinking you’re ON West 4th and then suddenly realize you’re actually on 9th street walking towards 7th Ave or on West 3rd walking too far down 6th. Maps are always good to print out, though, particularly since the area around NYU isn’t all numbered blocks.</p>
<p>We’ll be making the trip on Friday - I will let you know how it goes when we get back.
Thanks again.</p>
<p>Never did reply and let you know how it went - but the directions were great. Did the route with A/C/E from Penn and found where we were going with no problem. Also made it back - so all was good.</p>
<p>Heading to the same place next week (Friday for an afternoon appointment) except this time will also be attending an event at Jacob Javits Center before and after the appointment at NYU. Wondering if walking from Javits back to Penn is the easiest way to do the trip or if there’s a better route. I have looked at hopstop - and it did give me a plan -but after the mixed feelings regarding hopstop the last time I asked - I thought I’d ask the experts again.</p>
<p>So trip this time is into Penn Station(10:30am) - to - Jacob Javits - to - 194 Mercer St(2:00pm appt) - to - Jacob Javits - to Penn Station(6:30 train home).</p>
<p>Thanks to all for your help!</p>