Parking in and around New York City

February 17, 2005 11:36 AM

Hi, i'm looking for a place to keep a rental car in or around New York City. My friends {travelling from toronto} and i will be staying at a hostel on 891 Amsterdam Ave and will be staying arriving Friday, overnight Friday and Saturday, leaving early sunday.

Leaving the car outside of the city is fine so long as it remains secure.

Is it better to pay to keep the car in the city? the hostel people say that we should be able to pay 15 to 25 dollars per day at a nearby garage depending on the size of our car.

Is it better to park outside of the city and "commute" in by transit? if so, any suggestions as to where to keep the car?

any and all help would be appreciated, and thank you in advance.

posted by striatic to travel & transportation (15 comments total)

you could park it in brooklyn no problem and take the subway to manhattan. parking in manhattan isn't so bad on the weekend, but it might be easier to just park it in some close part of brooklyn like williamsburg or cobble hill.
do you know the city OK? that makes a big difference cause if you don't know the city at all you might could pay for the garage and not worry about it. But if you have some friends in brooklyn or jersey or queens you could drive there and park it.
i assume you know you shouldn't take a rental car to ny and have some reason why you are.
posted by alkupe at 11:47 AM on February 17, 2005

Never tried ZipCar... saw ads for it while I was in DC
posted by bamassippi at 11:48 AM on February 17, 2005

i assume you know you shouldn't take a rental car to ny and have some reason why you are.

there's three of us splitting it and it is much cheaper than the bus.

round trip bus from toronto to new york city is about 221 dollars per person.

the car, rented for three days is about 221 dollars split between three people {this includes taxes and insurance and everything}.

we'd much rather take the bus or travel some other way, but it just isn't as inexpensive as the car.
posted by striatic at 12:14 PM on February 17, 2005

Long term parking at JFK is usually cheaper then most parking places on Manhattan.

Find the rate info here.

However, factor in AirTrain and Subway fair...
posted by toftflin at 12:20 PM on February 17, 2005

if you know the city at all, i'd say park in williamsburg, brooklyn on the street. i've had a car there for almost 5 years and have yet to have a break in or anything serious happen to it. one stop on the L train to manhattan.

jfk parking isn't expensive but its a real pain the ass to get back and forth from on the subway.
posted by m@L at 12:25 PM on February 17, 2005

Just garage it. The hostel people know about the garages in that neighborhood and their price estimate is about right. I used to live a few blocks away from the hostel, and now when I visit I usually have no problem finding a garage. One thing you don't want to do is park a car with out-of-state plates on the street. Then you're asking for trouble.

Garaging it will save you hours of getting to and from a car parked outside the city.

Be sure to have steaks at Pampa while you're in the 'hood! Yummm...
posted by mds35 at 1:46 PM on February 17, 2005

One more thing: if you park outside the city, say in Yonkers or in New Jersey, and commute in, say via bus or commuter train, your tickets will be about $10 per person each way. So you won't really be saving any money.
posted by mds35 at 1:49 PM on February 17, 2005

You could try to park at one of the airports, I would suggest La Guardia though - it is a $25-30 cab ride from the airport to Manhattan, and if you split it, that is pretty cheap and quicker than from JFK. Not to mention you wont have to go crosstown to get to JFK. I would second trying in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, or parts of Bushwick along the L line. But really, you might just want to pay the money for peace of mind and ease of use to park in a manhattan parking garage. You could try some Lower Manhattan Parking Garages, and here's a list of Edison Parking Lots. The more I think about it, forget parking in the outer boroughs or Jersey and just split the parking fees. It will cost maybe $20 more apiece and save you a bunch of time and heartache.
posted by plemeljr at 1:56 PM on February 17, 2005

There's an awesome garage at the intersection of 125th and 129th Streets just east of Broadway (I know, those two streets have no right to intersect, but they do); that linked map is to the address of MTP Parking, which I'm pretty sure is the right one. (There are two garages essentially next to each other right there; the one that I'm talking about is the one further east, closer to the river.) I parked my car there for a year, and their rates are significantly better than any other garage I've ever used in NYC. When I lived on the Upper West Side -- three blocks from that hostel, actually -- we'd frequently stash visitors' cars there for the weekend, and as I recall, it's incredibly reasonable.

And take mds35's advice -- eat at Pampa! There's another great steak (and lots more) restaurant on Broadway at 105th named Carne, which is by far my favorite restaurant in that neighborhood. (It's also where my fiancee and I ate just after we got engaged!)

Good luck!
posted by delfuego at 5:54 PM on February 17, 2005

And every time I said "east" there, please ignore me completely and read west. That is, the garage is at the intersection of 125th and 129th just WEST of Broadway; out of the two garages, the one I'm talking about is the one further WEST, closer to the river.

I've been out of NYC too long!
posted by delfuego at 5:55 PM on February 17, 2005

Hey, I live just a couple blocks from there!

If I were you, I would park in the garage, just because it's so close to the hostel.

However, if the $15-$20/day garage fees are too much, parking on the street is no big deal -- it's a safe neighborhood. Finding a parking spot on the various streets can be tough. I do think it'd pretty easy for you to find parking on Riverside Dr., a couple blocks west of the hostel, though.

Leaning out my window right now (~11pm, so everybody's home with their cars parked) I can still see 10-12 parking spaces available on Riverside.
posted by event at 7:57 PM on February 17, 2005

You may want to check out this similar (though not identical) question.
posted by Vidiot at 8:43 PM on February 17, 2005

If I were you, I'd also take some time to investigate the street parking rules nearby. We've both rented a car and had guests come to stay (weekend and weekday visits) and have had almost no trouble figuring out a plan to park with minimal costs-- we're in Hell's Kitchen (Midtown West). Really, it's just the 4-7 p.m. window that is difficult, and if you can find a local street that allows you to park during that time, you should be fine. Barring that, I'd try putting the car in a garage someplace near a subway stop in Brooklyn, as mentioned above.
posted by yellowcandy at 10:48 PM on February 17, 2005

Park on the street. As long as you obey the rules about what side to park on, it is free and reasonably safe!
posted by reverendX at 11:10 PM on February 17, 2005

Aside to delfugo: Do you know any of the folks who work at Carne? Mr. Roy or Mr. Stone? I used to tend bar with Stone at Soha, back in the day (the pre-skank era).
posted by mds35 at 12:50 PM on February 18, 2005