Brooklyn to Newark
 

Hi there,

I'm visiting New York for work and was planning to bike from Brooklyn to Newark.

Using Map my Ride it says that it's only about 16miles which would be no problem at home in London.

However, I've been trying to find a route online but everything I come across says it's not possible and that you really have to take a train to do this journey 'cause there isn't a bike path over any of the bridges.

Is this the case? And if so, could I bike to the train (what's the closest one) and cycle at the other end?

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers.

It can be done. Brooklyn to George Washington Bridge..then down to Hoboken..
Just break the trip up into 2-legs.

The only way to bike across the Hudson River is via the George Washington Bridge up north in Manhattan. You would then have to ride south to get to Newark. Probably not the best riding in rush hour traffic, but I will leave that to the locals.

If you take the PATH train from the World Financial Center stop it terminates in downtown Newark. Note that there are time restrictions as to when you can take your bike on the PATH train. Same with New Jersey Transit trains from Penn Station to Newark.

Where in Brooklyn will you be?

what others have said. your only path is over the GW. the tunnels don't allow bikes to cross nor does the verrazano.

you could take a ferry from Manhattan to NJ so you don't have to make such a big loop just to cross the Hudson.

so BK to Manhattan, then take ferry near World Trade/Battery Park to NJ (paulus hook). then map your ride from the ferry in Paulus Hook in NJ to Newark.

Going from Park Slope.

Round trip via the GWB is 60 miles so probably not going to do that every day.

What other routes would people recommend?

Bike to WTC and PATH to Newark? What are the bike lanes like from Brooklyn to WTC?

Thanks!

New York City is built around tidal estuaries of the Atlantic Ocean, in a lot of places crossings are limited or non-existent. The Brooklyn to Newark corridor, unfortunately, passes through a lot of this inland water, and so necessitates a trip at least into Manhattan, and solely by bicycle as far north as the George Washington Bridge.


Brooklyn to lower Manhattan has well-developed bicycle routes. If you're traveling during regular commuter hours, the PATH is off-limits. The ferries between Manhattan and New Jersey allow bicycles at all times. Probably the best ferry connection (lowest price and most frequent) would be from Pier 11 (East River, downtown) to Paulus Hook, Jersey City.


Understand also that few bicycle between Jersey City and Newark, it's not well-developed for bicycling. The best route between the two is via NJ 7 which veers slightly to the northwest, and then approaching Newark from the north on NJ 17. The route across the Kearny peninsula on Truck-US 1-US 9 is a little hectic, if straight-arrow direct.

Path train no bike restrictions: M-F; 6:30am-9:30am + 3:30pm-6:30pm.

Unless you have a folding bike; then you're welcome anytime. :D
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/539/1...751d509d_z.jpgNY-NJ Pathtrain by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

Here's a link to the NYC Bike Map page. NYC DOT - Bicycle Maps

The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade is very crowded with pedestrians. You will probably save time by using the Manhattan Bridge bike path.

N.B. NYC permits bikes on subway trains at all times.

Here's a link to PATH's bike rules. Bicycles on PATH - PATH - The Port Authority of NY & NJ

Here's a link to the East Coast Greenway map for NJ. It shows a route between the Hudson River and Newark. http://www.greenway.org/pdf/nj_guide2013.pdf The adjacent roads are likely to be crowded with cars because the Pulaski Skyway is closed for repairs. The result is that many cars are using the local roads leading to Truck Routes 1 & 9.

You ain't kidding. The Sunday before Labor Day I did my club's annual New Hope, PA to Brooklyn ride for the 16th time. The bridge was more crowded than I had ever experienced it. At one point I had to duck under a selfie stick a couple was holding up over the bike lane.

Another option for the OP is to ride to Brooklyn Bridge Park, take the ferry to Pier 11 and then ride to the PATH train. If he will be travelling during times when bikes are prohibited on PATH, he could lock up at the station.

Others have addressed some of what I am about to say, but I will respond anyway.

1. Brooklyn -- I suggest avoiding the Brooklyn Bridge at all times except for late night and early morning. The bike lane and pedestrian lane are side-by-side with no barrier, so pedestrians regularly spill over into the bike lane. This makes riding the bridge very difficult and no fun at all.

Take the Manhattan Bridge instead. It is inherently less beautiful than the Brooklyn Bridge; but bikes are on one side of the bridge and pedestrians are on the other. (There are a few pedestrians who turn up on the bicycle side, some due to ignorance, most out of selfish intransigence.) So the ride is much better.


2. Manhattan -- The only way to bike from Manhattan to New Jersey is over the George Washington Bridge. The best way up there is to take Hudson St. / Eighth Avenue / Central Park West / Frederick Douglass Blvd. (that's all one street) to where it hits St. Nicholas Ave. where the streets are in the 120s. (There's a tricky bit at Columbus Circle at 59th St.)

Bear left to continue north on St. Nicholas (another tricky bit at 163rd St. where St. Nicholas crosses diagonally with Amsterdam Ave.) until it hits Broadway at 168th Street. Bear left to continue north on Broadway.

Make a left off Broadway at 177th St.; go west past two corners; make a right at Cabrini Blvd. There you'll see the entry to the bridge.

If you want to avoid all of that, and also the ride back south in New Jersey (probably 40 kilometres in total), you can take a ferry. I think the best one is the one that leaves from the World Financial Centre on the western shore of Manhattan at Vesey St. going to Paulus Hook in Jersey City. It's run by the company called NY Waterway, and costs $7 (I think) on weekdays and $5 on weekends. (Don't forget to tell the person at the ticket booth that you have a bike.)


3. New Jersey -- I won't get into the route from the bridge down to Jersey City. Whether you get to Jersey City by riding all the way or by using the ferry, it's from there that you'll go to Newark.

But they don't make it easy. There are two bridges and a peninsula between Jersey City and Newark, and all three of these things are a bit unpleasant.

Jersey City itself is cool. Take Montgomery Ave. west, and turn left at Bergen Ave. Then, two corners later, make a right at Duncan Ave. Take Duncan west until you see the entry to Lincoln Park on your left.

In order to get to the first bridge connecting Jersey City with the Kearny (pronounced "carny") peninsula, you have to go through this park. And this is hard to describe. But I shall try.

After you enter the park from Duncan Ave., bear right on the park road. This will lead first west, and then it will curve south. Take that road until you see a bridge within the park on your right. (No, this is not one of the two bridges spanning water that you'll have to cross; it's just a small bridge inside the park.) Turn right to go onto that bridge, and continue on the road on the other side as it curves left to go south. This road ends at a baseball field; just before that field, on the left, is a gate. Go through that gate and the follow the small walking path in a rightward direction. This, finally, will lead to the first bridge.

Stay on the sidewalk to cross this bridge. And stay on the sidewalk after you land in bleak industrial Kearny. Continue straight west, being extra careful at those places where you have to cross streets.

Soon you'll get to the second bridge, connecting Kearny with Newark. Again, stay on the sidewalk. When the sidewalk ends, you will have to ride down a small helix ramp to get to the streets of Newark.

You are now officially in Newark, but still nowhere. In order to get to the centre of town, you will have to continue south (the direction you are facing as you come off the ramp) on Doremus Ave.

Make the first right at Roanoke St. Take that street west; it then curves left, taking you south, and changes name to Avenue P. Make the first right at Foundry St. This takes you first west then north as it curves to the right. Foundry St. eventually hits Raymond Blvd. Turn left to go west. Now you're really in Newark.


4. Coming back -- Take the PATH train from Newark Penn Station, either back to one of the stations in Jersey City, or all the way back to New York.

That bridge/peninsula/bridge thing between Newark and Jersey City is even worse in the other direction. Do yourself a favour and give it a miss in the reverse direction.


So there are my tips for you. Have fun!

I work in Newark and go to Park Slope in Brooklyn periodically, typically on Friday nights. I'm guessing the OP sees a 16 mile trip that would be fine in other cities, and the bicycle is useful transportation on the Newark end of the trip. To go from Brooklyn to Newark, it's easy to take your bike on the PATH train outside of rush hour (I have a folding bike I can bring on any train), but bicycling via the GW Bridge will require 30-60 miles riding in congested traffic.

To go to Brooklyn, I take the PATH train from Newark to the World Trade Center, and take the subway (I think N train) to Park Slope. It's only 4-5 miles from WTC to Park Slope, but I've found Friday evening traffic to be very slow, and I still find the one way streets to Brooklyn more difficult than the reverse trip.

Returning later in the evening, Park Slope to WTC is an easy ride so I bicycle. (I bring the bicycle on the PATH and NYC subway.) I take 9th St and Smith St. to the Brooklyn Bridge. While there are some bike lanes, traffic is not very fast or heavy and for many parts of the ride I use the regular lane to avoid pot holes, pedestrians, door zones of parked cars, etc. The Brooklyn Bridge is very close to the WTC in Manhattan, and I ride it late at night (Ferdinand's comment #1 - the bike/ped walkway is very narrow and very crowded at other times).

I believe there are quite a few recreational rides that use the GW bridge to get to more scenic areas on NJ for 50-80 mile rides, but adding 30-60 miles makes this impractical for an evening trip after work, compared to 30 min on the PATH train for $2.75.

In Newark, I find many of the roads are very wide but now have little traffic, so bicycling in Newark is very easy. I've found drivers in Newark remarkably polite to pedestrians and bicyclists; from what I read this may not be true in all parts of Newark (and many of these drivers may not be insured or licensed).

If you’re going to do this trip on the weekend, forget the George Washington Bridge. Last year I created a thread about a bike route from Jersey City to Newark and it was a revelation! I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed discovering a new bike route that was impassable just 3 years ago!

Newark and Jersey city spent a small fortune clearing this path and it’s used by a number of organization that run and bike through this industrial section of Kearny and Jersey City. I cannot recommend going through this area during weekdays or nights because there is too much truck traffic during business hours. It’s also too dangerous at night.

You can read the entire post and Ferdinand posted some a very accurate Google pictures of the route through those bridges. I posted pictures of an undisclosed route under the Pulaski Skyway! Yes, I’m quite brave! LOL!

I think traveling all the way to the GW Bridge to get to Newark NJ is crazy! Take the Path train and be done with it in 30 minutes. However, if it’s a Sunday and you want an adventure to tell your friends, use my route that starts at Lincoln Park in Jersey City. It’s a protected bike lane all the way to the first bridge that’s named after 3 police officers who were killed when their car went over the draw bridge by accident. You don’t have to ride the highway but use the sidewalks all the way to next bridge.

I know it’s dirty and could be cleaner but this is all part of the fun! It’s much faster than going over the GWB where you have to ride over the Hendricks causeway into Little Ferry, South Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Woodridge, Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Rutherford, Lyndhurst, North Arlington, Arlington, Kearny, Harrison and finally Newark!!! No thanks.

http://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/...ng-happen.html

I just want to be clear that I enjoy riding from Jersey City to Newark, and even back. I know that I said in this thread that the bridges connecting those cities are unpleasant; but I was trying to speak from the point of view of a visitor.

The Jersey City-Kearny bridge and the Kearny-Newark bridge are fine for those of us who live around here. But, if you've only got so much time to spend in the New York area, you don't want to spend it negotiating those crossings, and then riding through the industrial backwater of Newark in order to get anywhere interesting in that town.

So I will echo Steve's advice to just use the PATH train to get to Newark.


Regarding the George Washington Bridge (which is an issue entirely separate from the bridges connecting Jersey City, Kearny, and Newark) -- crossing that bridge is a worthwhile trip in its own right, even if the rider doesn't later go down towards Jersey City and/or Newark. I would encourage a visitor to New York to check that out; this is why I gave detailed information about how to get up there. The view to the south is spectacular, as the bike path is on the bridge's south side. The view to the north is impressive as well, even though it is obstructed by the bridge itself. Also, the George Washington Bridge is much higher than other bridges in the city; so that helps in giving a great view.


An aside to Steve: I recently went to Newark approaching it from the north, rather than from the east via Jersey City. But I didn't hit most of the locales that you mentioned.

After going over the George Washington Bridge, I went a bit north through Leonia, then west through Teaneck. I then rode in a southwesterly direction through Hackensack, Lodi, Garfield, and Passaic; and then Clifton, Montclair, and finally the Oranges. I came back east on Park Avenue through West Orange, Orange, and East Orange until I got into Newark.

Of course, this was not what I would hold up as a way to ride to Newark; it certainly was not an efficient route to get there. It was more of a jaunt through North Jersey that happened to take me through Newark.

The OP really needs to visit Newark NJ during the weekend. I spent this summer getting the bikes on the bus racks and taking them to the last stop. Then heading right back to Newark only to do this all over again on another bus. It was a blast!

Ferdinand: You should try my route some time because North Arlington, Arlington, Kearny and Harrison are great to ride on. The street from NA is wide and there's a lot of shade provided by the trees.

Okay so I have to be in New Jersey for 10am so that kind of rules out using the PATH train, right? Or do they not strictly enforce the whole bike during rush hour thing? If they do, what are my other options? Ferry? Does the train from Penn have the same restrictions on bikes?

Thanks!

NJ Transit trains from New York Penn Station to Newark Penn Station restrict bicycles during the rush hours, but in the opposite direction of travel to yours. Weekday trains arriving New York 6-10a and departing New York 4p-7p are off-limits to bicycles; there are no such restrictions on the reverse commute. There are some less-than-intuitive rules about holidays (i.e., no bicycles day BEFORE Yom Kippur, day AFTER Thanksgiving, etc), so be sure to be aware of those in advance of any planned travel.

Note that each train system has its own particular set of restrictions. The NJ Transit restrictions were quoted above, though not completely. Bikes are not allowed weekdays on trains arriving in New York, Hoboken, or Newark (not just New York) between 6:00 and 10:00am or leaving from New York, Hoboken, or Newark (not just New York) between 4:00 and 7:00pm.

Furthermore, there are weekend restrictions on NJ Transit: on weekends bikes cannot be brought onto trains terminating in New York (in this case only New York, no mention of the other cities) between 9:00am and noon, or onto trains originating in New York (again, only New York) between 5:00 and 8:00pm The full rules are found here.

So I think that this makes it impossible to take the bike on a NJ Transit train from New York to Newark on a weekday morning in time for a 10am appointment. To get an authoritative ruling on this, call NJ Transit at 973-275-5555.

The PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) system is a separate system. So it has its own rules, found on this page.

Those rules state that no bikes are allowed weekdays between 6:30 and 9:30am and between 3:30 and 6:30pm. This applies to all directions of travel. There are no restrictions on weekends. This, too, would rule out the use of these trains for your 10am meeting in Newark on a weekday.

The ferries have no bike restrictions at all. The schedules and list of fares are here. But that will get you only as far as Jersey City, Hoboken, or Weehawken. You'd still have to bike over to Newark. (Refer to point no. 3 in my long post above.)

It's unfortunately not completely clear from just looking at the timetables, but the following page contains the clarification about "weekday inbound" and "weekday outbound" trains. Inbound is eastbound, outbound westbound.

New Jersey Transit

I would strongly advise against riding to Newark. It's much harder than we can describe. Jersey City is hard to cross on a bike, and the bridges over the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers are bike unfriendly and brutal. Do you have a reason for doing this?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, getting to Newark from Jersey City by bike is a bit unpleasant for a newcomer, and not a particularly good use of limited time in the New York area. But, if Themonkey has to be in Newark at 10am, and if he wants to go there by bike, there is no other choice.

Crossing Jersey City is not the hard part at all. Just go straight west, first on Montgomery St., then on Duncan St.

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ijxyrvm.png

The complex part starts when you get into Lincoln Park.

To Themonkey, I will emphasise the need to stay on the sidewalk the whole way through, starting from the exit from the park in Jersey City, all the way through to the sidewalk's end at the circular ramp leading down to Newark. Do not use the street -- there is no room; and trucks ride in all lanes, including the far-right lane.

Anyway, this picture will illustrate the route.

http://i1242.photobucket.com/albums/...psx08ug2t7.png

As you can see, it's a mere 7 miles from the ferry in Jersey City to Raymond Blvd. in Newark. The first 4 miles is nothing special, no different from any other urban riding you would have done. It's only those last 3 miles, starting from from the exit of Lincoln Park in Jersey City, that are a bit problematic. But, if you only have to do it once, it's not such a big deal.

Even if you cannot see the details on these pictures, you can go to Google Maps and compare, and see what I was indicating.

Coming back, it will be after the restricted hours; so you can get on the PATH train with your bike.

The PATH restrictions end at 9:30am; so, if you don't mind cutting it close, then I suppose that you could conceivably get on the PATH train at 9:30 in Jersey City (Exchange Place, Grove Street, or Journal Square), and get to Newark with just minutes to spare before 10am.

I've ridden my bike in a huge variety of conditions, and the crossing from Jersey City to Newark is the worst. If he doesn't know what he's getting into, I can't recommend it. It is brutal because it's dangerous, confusing, loud, dirty, and sinfully ugly. I've been a cycling advocate for years, so I hate to tell someone not to cycle a particular trip, but that's what I'm doing now. At least have a backup plan. If you do decide to ride this, allocate 60 or maybe 90 minutes extra for the first trip to recover from a dozen things that will go wrong. I think it took me over two hours to ride from Hoboken to Maplewood once. And know where the train stations along the way are so you can bail yourself out.

Is there a safe place to leave my bike at either Penn or WTC? I'm getting the sense that riding my bike is going to be a bit of a bust. Cannot believe that the bike routes are so poor!

Crime has come way down in NYC except for bike theft. I hate to say this, but leaving a bike locked up all day involves risk. Some do it, but the better bikes don't survive. What kind of bike is it?

I believe that there are bike racks at the ferry terminal at Paulus Hook in Jersey City. It might be good to take the bike on the ferry to Jersey City, lock it up at the ferry terminal, and then just walk over to the PATH station at Exchange Place and take that train to Newark.

Or else you could lock the bike up before you get on the ferry in Battery Park City. I'd bet that Battery Park City is probably the safest place in all of New York City to leave a bike for an extended period.

I've bicycled on the Newark - Jersey City Turnpike from Harrison to Jersey City 3 times, on Sundays, manageable with light traffic. The first time back I followed Google directions on Route 1/9. It was not pleasant; admittedly it never occurred to me to ride on the sidewalk on the bridges. (Entrances are blocked by guard rails, sidewalks on local bridges I've seen are obstructed by sheds and access staircases).

The other times I've been in Jersey City or Hoboken, the thought of negotiating unfamiliar cloverleafs and entrance ramps in the dark with motorists driving twice the speed limit has put me on the PATH train every time.

You're confirming my suspicion that it really is just plain ugly - speed limits may be 30-35 mph, but the roads are built like interstates and radar signs show motorists goimg 60+ mph. I guess I'll be dealing with the PATH service.