Driving EWR-JFK-EWR

[Jetdriver787]

I understand this is a “how long is a piece of string” type question, but…..

we are sailing out of Bayonne this weekend and (sensibly) flying into EWR on Thursday. My son is joining us but flying into JFK at around 5pm on Friday. Don’t ask “why?” But I have agreed to drive from EWR-JFK and then pick them up and drive back from JFK-EWR (Elizabeth NJ.) 

 

I know I am going to regret this, but it is what it is! Can anybody with local knowledge give me any advice or tips for likely journey times, parking or pick up at JFK (T8) and best times to try and aim for (assuming pick up JFK around 6pm at JFK)

 

Any help is much appreciated.

[princeton123211]

2 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

I know I am going to regret this, but it is what it is!

You will. 

 

2 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

Can anybody with local knowledge give me any advice or tips for likely journey times,

A little bit less than an hour with normal traffic flow. This can easily take hours with heavy traffic. Friday is an awful day for this and traffic will be significant starting around 2:30pm and going straight through the normal commute into the evening. 

 

2 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

parking or pick up at JFK (T8) and best times to try and aim for (assuming pick up JFK around 6pm at JFK)

Parking is easy enough in short term lots or you can just try and time it for their approximate arrival time. 

 

To be perfectly blunt, you are going to have to rent a car to do this and rental costs, plus fuel, and your mental sanity it might cost about the same or less to just put them in a car service. Uber is going to cost about $150. A full car service like through an app called Blacklane will run around $200 and include a driver meet and greet in the terminal. 

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

Can anybody with local knowledge give me any advice or tips

I agree 100% with @princeton123211 . Don't do what you're suggesting. Book an Uber or car service to pick him up at JFK. If you don't want a higher end car service from Blacklane or similar you can book Carmel Limo, which should cost about the same as Uber.

[Jetdriver787]

Thank you both for the confirmation, I appreciate the reinforcement of what I guess I already knew. The last time I drove from JFK to EWR was 1989! My (soon to be wife) and I had booked a rental car. We were lucky enough to fly in on the Concorde and since the flight only took 3:30 (those were the days!) My Champagne input precluded me being the driver. As best as I recall the stop start drive around the beltway took longer than the flight from London!  We were very nearly divorced before we ever got married!

 

I was hoping you were going to laugh and tell me that 35 years later, things were much better! Indeed I recently saw a video clip of some chap driving from the airport to the Manhattan Central court and he and his entourage just flew through! 🤣🤷‍♂️

[navybankerteacher]

6 hours ago, Jetdriver787 said:

I understand this is a “how long is a piece of string” type question, but…..

we are sailing out of Bayonne this weekend and (sensibly) flying into EWR on Thursday. My son is joining us but flying into JFK at around 5pm on Friday. Don’t ask “why?” But I have agreed to drive from EWR-JFK and then pick them up and drive back from JFK-EWR (Elizabeth NJ.) 

 

I know I am going to regret this, but it is what it is! Can anybody with local knowledge give me any advice or tips for likely journey times, parking or pick up at JFK (T8) and best times to try and aim for (assuming pick up JFK around 6pm at JFK)

 

Any help is much appreciated.

All right, I won’t ask “why” ;  I will simply suggest you modify your deal - a pick-up at JFK at any time is tough. Getting to and from between mid-afternoon and early evening on a Friday will be worse than tough. 

[Got2Cruise]

You can’t do this. No no no. Lol. 
 

When exactly is the cruise? You’re going to be sucked into traffic going to the Jersey Shore or Atlantic City especially on a Friday evening also. 

[Jetdriver787]

Thank you folks. I have definitely got the message that if Dante had lived long enough the Beltway would have been his “Tenth circle!” 
 

looking like it’s going to be a warm weekend as well, which will likely only make it even worse! 
 

I really appreciate all of the tips, so once again, thank you! 🙏🏻 

[mjkacmom]

Friday at rush hour, the absolute worst rush hour of the week. You will be sitting in traffic for hours. Car rental, tolls, gas - an Uber from jfk would be faster and cheaper. My 5 young adult kids Uber to and from airports here very often by themselves. On occasions when we pick them up, we never park, just pick up at the curb.

[Jetdriver787]

As an epilog to this story, my son has booked a limo’ in order to impress the girlfriend! 🤷‍♂️ So they can enjoy adding to the congestion whilst we await their arrival stress free! 🙏🏻

[princeton123211]

1 hour ago, Jetdriver787 said:

So they can enjoy adding to the congestion whilst we await their arrival stress free! 🙏🏻

And you get your day back!

[megr1125]

And you can get a head start on some fizz!  😄

 

[Nitemare]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:21 AM, Jetdriver787 said:

As an epilog to this story, my son has booked a limo’ in order to impress the girlfriend! 🤷‍♂️ So they can enjoy adding to the congestion whilst we await their arrival stress free! 🙏🏻

As long as HE is paying, then more power to him.

 

I was going to suggest you give him the simple directions to take public transit into Manhattan, and then discuss the steps from there to NJ afterwards

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, Nitemare said:

As long as HE is paying, then more power to him.

 

I was going to suggest you give him the simple directions to take public transit into Manhattan, and then discuss the steps from there to NJ afterwards

“simple directions” is putting it deceivingly simply. Yes, public transit into Manhattan is possible - The AirTrain to Jamaica then change to LIRR, or AirTrain to Howard Beach and change to A Train, but hardly ways to impress an inamorata.

[Badatz2]

14 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

“simple directions” is putting it deceivingly simply. Yes, public transit into Manhattan is possible - The AirTrain to Jamaica then change to LIRR, or AirTrain to Howard Beach and change to A Train, but hardly ways to impress an inamorata.

There is also another way if you want to save a few dollars-  Take the Airtrain to Jamaica and then take the E subway into the city instead of the LIRR. It also can give you more flexibility depending on your final destination.

[Jetdriver787]

PS. The “stress free” day was spent being dragged around 1,245 “outlet stores” by my wife. I was tempted to throw my credit cards on the floor, knowing that whoever found them was unlikely to ever spend as much as she was on them! I’m now thinking of walking there to meet him! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Edited April 26 by Jetdriver787

[#55worktoplay]

15 minutes ago, Jetdriver787 said:

PS. The “stress free” day was spent being dragged around 1,245 “outlet stores” by my wife. I was tempted to throw my credit cards on the floor, knowing that whoever found them was unlikely to ever spend as much as she was on them! I’m now thinking of walking there to meet him! 🤦🏻‍♂️

But you still love her😀. Kudos to you, my husband would not join me to an outlet mall and that is fine by me as it saves us both a whole lot of stress. 

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Jetdriver787 said:

PS. The “stress free” day was spent being dragged around 1,245 “outlet stores” by my wife. I was tempted to throw my credit cards on the floor, knowing that whoever found them was unlikely to ever spend as much as she was on them! I’m now thinking of walking there to meet him! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Next time consider pre-trip activity contemplation.  
 

Who in his right mind would budget spending a day in an outlet mall?  

 

Were you ambushed, or did you knowingly schedule it?   I need to know your level of sanity before thinking of responding to you in future.

[Mr. Click]

JetDriver787, that long wait for immigration at EWR is just payback for me having to wait 2 hours at LHR the last time I was there to visit family...in the US I get to just my Global Entry and I am out in about 15 minutes.....oh, It was also the weekend of Harry and Megans wedding......

 

On the serious side, the tolls alone from EWR to JFK  are now over $30 for the two bridges and that was 5 years ago before I abandoned EWR for LAS.  The Belt Parkway is a nightmare almost anytime of day and the shopping, no sales tax on clothing bought in NJ so the folks in NY come over to shop at those outlet malls....

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, Mr. Click said:

JetDriver787, that long wait for immigration at EWR is just payback for me having to wait 2 hours at LHR the last time I was there to visit family...in the US I get to just my Global Entry and I am out in about 15 minutes.....oh, It was also the weekend of Harry and Megans wedding......

 

On the serious side, the tolls alone from EWR to JFK  are now over $30 for the two bridges and that was 5 years ago before I abandoned EWR for LAS.  The Belt Parkway is a nightmare almost anytime of day and the shopping, no sales tax on clothing bought in NJ so the folks in NY come over to shop at those outlet malls....

Yes - New York has to do something about those New Jersey folks - who think they have the right to add to New York’s traffic congestion by driving into work - because they live in a state with too little economic activity to employ them, and lack the smarts to realize how much more driving costs (in time and money) than public transportation.

Edited April 27 by navybankerteacher

[Mr. Click]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

Yes - New York has to do something about those New Jersey folks - who think they have the right to add to New York’s traffic congestion by driving into work - because they live in a state with too little economic activity to employ them, and lack the smarts to realize how much more driving costs (in time and money) than public transportation.

Very true but for me taking public transportation into NYC while hauling a ton of photo and lighting gear was not a real option....and working all kinds of crazy hours did not help either.  The good news for NYC and for me is I retired and bailed the land of high taxes, lousy traffic and crappy weather.....