Advice please - Lodging & Transportation - for NY baseball tour

[Wheelz]

Next year's annual Baseball Trip is likely to feature New York City. The idea is to attend four games in four boroughs: Yankees (Bronx), Mets (Queens), and the Minor League Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones. (It's never too early to start planning these things!)

If we can arrange it, it would be nice to park the car, stay at a single hotel the whole time, and rely on public transit to get to and from the games and around the city. After some preliminary research, I'm somewhat optimistic that this will be possible. The questions I'm throwing out to Dopers fall into the categories of lodging and transportation.

Lodging:
I sort of have an area in mind, but I want to hear some suggestions before I divulge it. Where should we stay?
- Under $200 per night (this pretty much rules out Manhattan)
- Close to a subway stop
- In a decent, safe neighborhood, ideally with a few bars (not dance clubs) within walking distance
- Located such that getting to any of the above four ballparks won't take more than, say, an hour and a half.

Transportation:
- How much is a subway or a bus ride in NY?
- Is there a daily or weekly pass rather than paying per ride?
- Do the trains run all night?
- How dangerous (or not) is it really to be riding the subways late at night? (We're two larger-than-average guys, but not really tough)
- Any general tips for getting around for clueless tourists?


(Mods: I thought about putting this in the Game Room, but it's not really about baseball, so I thought I might get more eyeballs here in IMHO. Move it if you see fit.)

[LawMonkey]

Can't help you on lodging, but for transportation:

A standard subway or bus fare is $2.25, which in the case of subways, includes essentially all transfers (perhaps barring a tiny handful of weird stations where you can't get from one platform to the other without going outside). I believe there are express buses that are $5, but I'm not really sure. It's not likely you'd need to ride one, anyway.

There's a 7-day unlimited MetroCard, which would probably work well for you. It's $29 currently; you can do the math on whether that's more or less cost-effective than paying per ride.

The system runs all night, but individual lines might not. There are also both regular and construction/maintenance-related changes in service at night. Finally, late-night service can be rather... sporadic. If you don't want to be standing around for half an hour on the platform, you might want to just suck it up and take a taxi home at 3am. (Since you mentioned the Staten Island Yankees, I'm not sure if the ferry runs all night or not. It's free, by the way. And you can buy a beer on board!)

I don't generally ride the subways very late--like I said, it's easier just to grab a taxi. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Not to say nothing ever happens, but I've never felt uncomfortable on the train.

If you happen to have a smartphone, the HopStop app will be invaluable--it takes into account service changes automatically. Just tell it where you want to go and you'll be on your way in no time.

[Wheelz]

Thanks for the info, LawMonkey. I'll definitely get that app.

For lodging, I was looking at a cluster of affordable hotels along 39th and 40th Avenues in Long Island City. Anybody familiar with that area?

[doreen]

I'm not familiar enough with that specific area of LIC to give you much advice right now ( i'll look around when I'm in the area)- but do make sure your hotel has parking. Not free parking- any parking. Some hotels in that area don't. The Quality Inn on 40 Ave has this on the website

Public parking located within walking distance of hotel at nominal expense Cab service is available through the front desk.

[friedo]

Transportation:
- How much is a subway or a bus ride in NY?


The base fare is $2.25 per ride, but...


- Is there a daily or weekly pass rather than paying per ride?


Yes. Get them at any MetroCard machine in the subway stations, and you'll save a significant amount if you take more than two rides per day. Note that you can't share these, so you need to get one for each person.


- Do the trains run all night?


Yes, but not all lines run all night, so you may have to take a local instead of an express.


- How dangerous (or not) is it really to be riding the subways late at night? (We're two larger-than-average guys, but not really tough)


You'll be fine.


- Any general tips for getting around for clueless tourists?


Get a subway map. Don't block the turnstiles (there are people behind you); get your MetroCard out before you get there. Don't block stairs and escalators (there are people behind you.) Don't stand in front of the subway door (there are people around you.) Do ask strangers for directions. New Yorkers love to show off. But make sure your questions are not stupid.