New Yorkers, how much would it cost in train and bus fairs to go from JFK airport to Philedelphia?

9 comments

1. Can you fly to Newark? That’s WAAAAY closer.

2. You can take the airtrain from JFK to the subway for not much money, then take the subway to Penn Station. That trip will cost less than $10 probably. Then buy a train ticket on Amtrak at Penn Station which might be $100 at most, probably less.

3. You can take Amtrak directly from Penn Station to 30th St Station in Philly, I’m sure you can use the subway or whatever to get from JFK to Penn.

   But you can also take NJ Transit from Penn to Trenton, and then transfer to SEPTA to get to Philly. More complicated and almost certainly will take longer but also probably a lot cheaper. Or I guess you could do a Megabus or something like that, too.

4. I don’t think there’s a direct train other than Amtrak which would be ~40 bucks I would think.

   You can take a train from NYC to Trenton, take an Uber from Trenton to the West Trenton train station (it’s not that far) and take NJ transit to Philly, which would cost about $20. Probably ~7 for the train tickets and something more than 10 bucks for an Uber.

5. Not a New Yorker, but I live in southern New Jersey outside Philadelphia.

   Like others have said, get from the airport to Penn Station and you’ll have lots of options. Here’s their guide for getting to public transit from JFK: https://www.jfkairport.com/to-from-airport/public-transportation

   Once there, you can take an Amtrak train for somewhere between $38 and $166, depending on the time of day and what ticket/train you get it for.

   Another option is to take NJTransit from Penn Station to Trenton, then SEPTA from Trenton to Philadelphia is $16.75 for NJTransit + $10 for SEPTA regional rail one-way currently – I think it does vary a bit by time frame though. Here’s their trip planner: https://www.njtransit.com/trip-planner-to?origin=Penn%20Station%20New%20York&destination=Philadelphia%2030th%20Street%20Station&timeOption=D&date=04%2F22%2F2022&time=6%3A50%20PM&accessible=false&travelMode=BCTLXR&maxWalkingDistance=1.00&minimizeTime=T&originLatLong&destinationLatLong

   You end up at the same start and end locations (Penn Station in NYC, 30th Street Station in Philadelphia). If you can get an equally priced flight to Newark (EWR), there’s a train station right at the airport that you can catch that same train from and you could skip the first part of needing to get to Penn Station from JFK.

   If you want to avoid SEPTA but still do the NJTransit option instead of Amtrak, you can take commuter light rail (River Line) from Trenton down to the PATCO station and take that train in instead. That approach has the advantage of being able to get off right in Center City rather than going to 30th Street Station which is where the NJTransit and Amtrak trains go. (PATCO is a separate rail line, you’d be transferring at the City Hall station, here is the link : http://www.ridepatco.org/stations/cityhall.asp) That would be $16.75 to get from Penn Station to Trenton, $1.50 to take the River Line, then like $1.50 for the PATCO train.

   Generally cheaper than Amtrak if budget is a concern but there is a transfer so probably slower. But some of the Amtrak trains are like $68+ for non-refundable coach depending on the time of day which is pretty pricey imo.

   If you plan to take the subway within Philadelphia, it is very important that you understand what lines/stops to not go past at certain times of day unless you want to experience some next level fucking crazy. Regional rail is generally fine though especially during commuter hours. (NYC subway is generally fine from what I understand but Philadelphia is… well, just don’t get on the Market-Frankford Line at 11pm past Girard Ave and expect it to go well…)

   There are also tons of buses that go between Philadelphia and NYC, fares vary by time of day but that will generally be way cheaper than trains but also subject to traffic etc. $14-30 depending on what time you book for – FlixBus is I think the main private bus. https://shop.flixbus.com/search?departureCity=c0a47c54-53ea-46dc-984b-b764fc0b2fa9&arrivalCity=fd509c08-0a3e-4a44-b933-79f4a9db13da&route=New+York%2C+NY-Philadelphia%2C+PA&rideDate=24.04.2022&adult=1&_locale=en_US&features%5Bfeature.darken_page%5D=1&features%5Bfeature.enable_distribusion%5D=1&features%5Bfeature.train_cities_only%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.add_return_date%5D=0&features%5Bfeature.add_return_date_only%5D=0&_sp=cf984b85-0307-4ec9-97be-da2c7fe17db1&_spnuid=57e87598-f1f6-4ca5-a1f2-7cf13b889834

   There are NJTransit busses too, but that would take a lot of transfers and probably be really annoying.

6. I don’t think much. I can’t give you an exact amount but I remember taking a bolt bus from penn to philly and I was surprised at how cheap it was

7. Why don’t you put it in Google maps and choose the public transit option. Or train button

   It will plan the whole trip with costs

8. Why not just take a connecting flight from JFK to Philly?

9. Why don’t you look for a connecting flight that gets you to Philadelphia instead of trying to take a train?