August 18,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Any of readers notice the giant steel structure being erected next to the Ridgewood Park & Ride?Also, what are they doing at the Ben Franklin Middle School? They ripped up most of the grass around the front and side of the school.
In case you are unaware This bus stop is extremely convenient for anyone who commutes into work, or just wants to go into NYC for the day. The Shortline bus will pick you up here, and drop you off right at Port Authority, which is located in Midtown on 42nd St. and 8th Ave. The trip takes exactly 35 mins from Ridgewood Park & Ride to Port Authority, and vice versa as long as there isn’t heavy traffic.
If you take a bus before 7 AM it is a 35-40 minute ride on the shortline, however, if you leave even half an hour later at 7:30 AM you can probably tack another 10 minutes onto that (and probably another 5-10 minutes more if you leave around 8 AM). These times are for the bus ride only.
During rush hour buses going into the city have their own dedicated lane into the tunnel so you don’t have to deal with the traffic that someone driving a car does, but there is traffic at the entrance to the bus lane off of the turnpike as all of the buses merge into that lane. Hence the later you leave the more likely you are to get caught at the entrance to the bus lane and the additional time I quoted above. For what it is worth accidents in the bus lane are very rare so large delays are unusual if you are on a 7 AM bus .
You can find the link to the bus schedule online (coachusa.com/info/shortl…) or at the little trailer located at the Park & Ride, which is also where you can buy tickets. The tickets are $9 either way, though you can buy a month’s worth of tickets that amount to $6 per ticket. If you want to park your car here, you need a pass which I believe you can purchase at the same trailer. Otherwise, you can just opt to do metered parking with quarters. Either way, get here early in the morning on weekdays, since most of the parking spaces get taken before morning rush hour is over.
Also, we recommend you arrive at least 5 minutes earlier than the expected time on the bus schedule, because the drivers don’t always match the time correctly. Sometimes they run a bit late, but worse is when they get here early and decide to leave early. Just account for that if you’re on a tight schedule.
The AirBrook shuttles to Newark Airport also run from the park and ride there is the ticket trailer all the way in the back behind the parking lot.
Please note to be careful when you’re driving in to the Park & Ride, because the entrance is also right next to the Park & Ride exit; and just before that, is another ramp that leads onto route 17. People often dart out onto Route 17 without even checking so be very careful when entering/exiting.
One more note ,the helix that approaches the Lincoln Tunnel is going through a multi-year construction project. The delays magnify during construction periods which is thankfully not often rush hour . Rush hour for NYC is traditionally thought of as 6:30 am to 9:30 am.
