How do I get from Penn Station in NYC to White Plains Metro North station? I checked amtrak and there is nothing there and the MTA site doesn’t seem to allow me to go past the Bronx. I don’t want to show up at the train station with no idea which train(s) to take or what time they run and I cannot seem to find this information anywhere!
So has anyone made this trip before and know how to get there? Or possibly know what site I can go to to get this information? This is important as a potential job rides on my being able to navigate my way northward to White Plains!
There are like, 17 white plains stops, but I am less confused now. Also, who decided that naming a city within a burrough within a city makes logical sense? I seriously had no idea that White Plains was in the Bronx until I started looking for it. Is the Bronx part of NYC? Is White Plains part of the Bronx or considered separate, kind of like Vatican City in Italy?
pbbth, I think you’re suffering from some serious confusion. There are two White Plains train stops, called White Plains and North White Plains. Both of these are accessible via Metro-North Railroad, which runs into Grand Central, not Penn Station.
White Plains is not in the Bronx. It is several miles north of the Bronx, and is its own independent city within Westchester County, which borders the Bronx directly to the north.
The Bronx is a borough of New York City, located north of Manhattan.
Here is a map of the Metro-North system. The White Plains stops are on the Harlem Valley (blue) line, north of Hartsdale and south of Valhalla.
That map does not clearly show the border between The Bronx and Westchester County, but it’s somewhere around Wakefield.
Sigh. Maybe I shouldn’t try to get directions and figure this kind of stuff out at 2 in the morning. My map makes it look like white plains is in the bronx and there are many, many stops along white plains road at the very tail end of the bronx which is why I was confused I guess. Thanks for the map though!
From Penn Station, that’s the 1-2-3 line uptown one stop to Times Square, and the S (shuttle) to Grand Central.
White Plains has a big train station with lots of cabs and buses to get you where you’re going, it’s also pretty walkable to a lot of the commercial buildings, but check the map closely.
Or, you could just get out onto the street and walk about a mile. Taking two trains for one stop each is only going to be about 15 minutes faster than hoofing it, especially since there’s still a fair amount of underground walking and the 1-2-3 uptown trains don’t all stop on the same platform at Penn Station… You could be waiting for the 1 train while one or more 2/3 trains arrive on the other track, or vice versa, which always pisses me off. And I wouldn’t advise a new to NYC person to wait in the underground connecting tunnel between the two platforms ready to run up the right set of stairs upon hearing a train come in.
Plus you’d have to figure out how to buy and use a MetroCard for one ride, either navigating those touch screen machines or lining up at the “token booth”, and then also spend some time getting the right rhythm to swipe it through the turnstile without getting a SWIPE AGAIN beep.
On the other hand, if the weather is nice, you’ll get to see some of the major tourist intersections of NYC en route to White Plains, which may or may not interest you. Right outside of Penn Station is 34th St. and 7th Ave.; walk east on 34th St. (such that the avenue numbers go downwards) and you’ll go by Macy’s and Herald Square, where the Thanksgiving Parade ends every year. Then turn uptown onto Broadway (left/north, so that street numbers go upwards) to 42nd St., Times Square, Crossroads of the World, where the New Year’s Eve ball drops every year. Then turn right again (east) to walk past Bryant Park and the NY Public Library (with the two lions in front) and eventually get to Grand Central Station, past Park Ave.
Oh, yeah, no. White Plains Road is in the Bronx and you are probably seeing Subway stops along the red line. Ignore, ignore. You’re looking for White Plains the city.
Thanks to everyone who helped me figure this one out! I got to my interview on time and they loved me so much they offered me the job on the spot. I will be making lots and lots of money and I get to ride on a comfy train to work!
For those of you who have made this trek before, can you just show the tickets guy your metrocard and not pay the fare to White Plains? I paid the fare ($12 or so) and negotiated my salary with this company based on a $12 round trip daily commute, and then on the way back some woman next to me just showed the ticket collector her metrocard and he nodded and moved on. Is this normal? Did I accidentally get myself and extra 4 grand a year for transportation costs that won’t exsist?
Nah, you still have to pay. They offer tickets that come with Metrocards on the back. You pay for both the ticket and the metrocard fares. Get yourself a monthly commuter pass, it should be about half the peak fare if you take the train every day.
Congrats on the gig. I expect that the woman had a monthly rail pass, which these days can be combined with a metrocard. If you are commuting, you will want to get a monthly pass. The Metro North website seems to say that a monthly ticket will be $184.00, and you can get them via the web or by mail
Also, if you buy your monthly from a machine, it comes printed as a metrocard on the back, even if you don’t load any value (my LIRR monthly pass is printed on a metrocard). You might have just seen the “back face” when she flashed her card. The cheapest way to buy is over the internet, you save another 2%, and postage is free. Fianlly, MANY NYC area businesses offer a variation on the “flexible spending account” for transit where you put away cash for transit costs and it lowers your taxable income.
You buy monthlies towards the end of the month, if you need to start sooner buy a 10-trip which is more expensive than the monthly on a per-ride basis but much cheaper than a single ticket (about $5 per ride). Even if you don’t use it up, its good for a year.
So, congrats on the “bonus” and the sweet counter-commute. I counter-commute to school on Long Island from the city and its nice always having plenty of seats.
Congratulations, that sounds amazing!