New york is serviced by 3 major
airports,
JFK,
Laguardia
and
Newark.
here are some of the simpler/cheaper ways to get to Columbia from the
airports (all options can be
found at the individual airport links above)
Super Shuttle
(All Airports to Columbia, 116th and Broadway)
Super Shuttle provides
door-to-door shared van service from all the major airports to any
address in Manhattan. Approximate fares are $13-$22, discounts
for
riders to the same address. From any airport, there should be a
desk near baggage claim or ground transportation where you can call to
arrange a ride.
Reservations
are required for return trips.
Buses to the Port Authority/Penn
Station
From
JFK or
Laguardia:
Take
New York Airport
Service Express Bus
lines to the Port Authority Bus Terminal (41st and
8th Ave) and take a cab or the
subway to
Columbia. To catch the subway, exit the Bus Terminal and walk one block
east on 42nd street to the Time Square Subway station. Take the
upwtown 1 or 9 lines and get off at 116th street. (cost of Bus is $13
one way + $2 subway). You can also take the Bus to Penn Station
(34th street) and catch the 1/9 from there.
From
Laguardia, you can also take the M60 Bus (New York
City transit) directly to Columbia (116th and Broadway)
From
Newark: Take the
Olympia
Airport Express to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and then cab or
subway to Columbia. (Cost is $12 Bus + Subway).
Trains to Penn Station:
Yes! New York has actually joined the rest of the
civilized world and you can now actually get from JFK or Newark to
Columbia entirely on trains...but you do have to change a few
times. AirTrain
service from JFK connects JFK to the Long Island Railroad to
Penn Station. AirTrain
service from Newark connects Newark to Amtrak/NJ transit trains to
Penn Station. From Penn station take a cab or subway. I've
taken the trains from Newark and they work fine.
Cabs:
By far the easiest (but not cheapest) way to get
from JFK or LaGuardia to Columbia is to catch a
yellow cab from the official taxi rank (don't accept offered
rides). From JFK, cabs are a fixed fare of $45 + tolls ($4) +
tip. LaGuardia will be about half of that without traffic.
Cabs from Newark are impractical, take the bus, train or
super-shuttle.
By Train:
Amtrak
trains all arrive in New York Penn Station. From there take the
Subway or cab.
By Car:
A car in New York? What are you
crazy?...Actually driving is no problem...it's parking you need to
worry about. Garage parking around Columbia is reasonably
scarce. Street parking is quite safe, however, you need to
understand the "alternate side parking rules". Be warned: a
parking ticket in NYC will set you back about $100 these days.
But if you have any questions, send mail to CMG2004@ldeo.columbia.edu.
The Subway (NYC Subway map [html, pdf])
The subway is your friend. . .
From the Columbia area, most of New York
is easily reached from the 116th and Broadway station on the
1 and 9 line.
Downtown trains go south to the interesting parts of NY.
Uptown
trains
go North. The express trains
(2 and 3 lines)
runs on parallel tracks from 96th street to Chambers street near Ground
Zero but only stop at 96th, 72nd, 42nd (Times Square), 34th, 14th
and Chambers streets.
General rules for taking the
express
Downtown:
If you’re going to Times Square or beyond, take the express (but you
usually only win if it’s waiting in the station).
Uptown: make
sure you get off at 96th street and change to the local 1/9. Otherwise
you’ll
end up in Harlem or the South Bronx (interesting...but probably not
where you wanted to be).
Fares: $2 a ride
using a standard pay-per-ride
MetroCard.
With MetroCard, you get free transfers between subways and buses.
MetroCards are
available from MetroCard machines in all subway stations. The
machines take cash, credit cards and ATM cards. There are two
kinds of fares.
Pay-per-ride
has no time limit and a 20% discount for 5 or more rides purchased from
a machine
. Unlimited-ride
cards have time limits from the 1-Day-fun pass ($7) to weekly ($21) or
monthly passes, but give an unlimited number of rides. Comparison
of the two types of cards can be found
here
Some standard routes for
standard places
Upper west side to
South Ferry 1/9 or 2/3 train. Upper west side (Zabars, Central
Park, Natural History Museum), mid-town, Chelsea (galleries), Greenwich
Village, TriBeca, World Trade Center site/Wall Street, Battery Park,
Staten Island Ferry/Statue of Liberty.
East Side and museums Take
the M4 bus south on Broadway. It goes across 110th Street and down 5th
Avenue. Useful for Museum Mile (Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Cooper-Hewitt). Go east 1 block to Madison Ave. for the return bus
(M4).
East Village/Soho
For the trendoids—take the downtown 1/9 or 2/3 to Times Square and
change for the N/R lines. Continue south to 8th Street for the East
Village, Prince Street for SoHo, Canal Street for Little
Italy/Chinatown. Other places You’re smart. . . read the
subway map or
take a cab (although not recommended for those with weak hearts
or small wallets).
So many restaurants...so
little
time...
New York prides itself on being one of the great gastronomic
centers of the Universe. If you want it, we probably have it from
street vendor Hot dogs to $500 a plate prix-fixe dinners it's all here
if you know where to look. Here is a
reasonably
biased guide to some of our
favorites including most of the
eating establishments in the general Columbia area. For further
afield or more upmarket fare, I suggest consulting
Zagat's restaurant survey.
40,000 lawyers on expense accounts can't be wrong. Other sources
of reviews are
New
York Magazine Restaurant Guide
(
$25
and under guide) and
New York Times
Dining & Wine Section
If you have some additional time
before or after the meeting and you believe culture extends beyond
eating, NYC has much to offer. The offerings are endless but some
useful resources are
If there is sufficient interest and people around on Saturday the 19th
we will probably arrange for some excursions to some major NYC
attractions.
June
15: Nabucco
June 16: Madama Butterfly
A true New York tradition. On 8pm
Tuesday and Wednesday there will be free concerts by the metropolitan
opera on the great lawn of central park. Take the train to
79th street...put together a gourmet picnic at
Zabar's and go listen to one of the
great operas of the world with 30,000 of your closest friends.
Get there early if you want to stake out territory. Sometimes you
even get fireworks.
