Hi, I am looking at doing the TriRock Philly next month and was planning on taking the train from NYC. Information on Amtrak’s website is not that clear regarding which trains I could just carry my bike on. I can also put it in a bike box, but none of the trains from NYC to PHI allow checked luggage. Would anyone here have any experience/tips with this? Thanks!
Highly unlikely you’ll be able to take it on that route, but you could put in a soft case and throw it in the not-quite-checked luggage area at the end of every car. I used to do this often between New London, CT and Trenton, NJ when I was in college, so it’s the same Northeast Corridor route.
From NYC to Philly, you could do NJ Transit down to Trenton, then swap over to SEPTA FROM Trenton to Philly. As long as you’re not at rush hour, both of those commuter networks allow bikes for sure. It’ll take longer, but cheaper and you’ll know you have no issues with the bike.
I’ll second the NYC to Trenton via NJ Transit, then Trenton to Philly via SEPTA. Not too bad at all and much more bike friendly.
It will be a lot slower but also a lot cheaper. I did this frequently in college living in Philly and it wasn’t miserable, even on a few times per week basis.
Hi, I am looking at doing the TriRock Philly next month and was planning on taking the train from NYC. Information on Amtrak’s website is not that clear regarding which trains I could just carry my bike on. I can also put it in a bike box, but none of the trains from NYC to PHI allow checked luggage. Would anyone here have any experience/tips with this? Thanks!
Just leave the day before and ride down.
A third for NJ transit (my daily commute) to SEPTA. Grab an express… only 2 stops before Trenton (Newark and Princeton Junction) so it really isn’t too slow. Just avoid a weekday rush hour… barely room to stand let alone hold your bike.
A third for NJ transit (my daily commute) to SEPTA. Grab an express… only 2 stops before Trenton (Newark and Princeton Junction) so it really isn’t too slow. Just avoid a weekday rush hour… barely room to stand let alone hold your bike.
and last I checked, bikes weren’t allowed on rush-hour septa trains anyway. you should check septa.org for their policies if you’re going this rout. and it might even be worth printing them out and bringing them with you. i’ve seen enough bikes on septa trains that i’m guessing the conductors have all figured it out by now, but early on in the policy there was a lot of confusion about it and not all conductors would let peopel bring bikes even when policy said they could. that’s probably a problem of the past but still worth having the policy handy. not that showing a conductor the printed policy will necessarily earn you a lot of brownie points.
I spent a fair amount of my recent life commuting between NYC and Philly, daily. Box your bike up and you can bring it on the train. As one other has stated, theres room at the end of each car for larger pieces of luggage. Just set the box in that area and try to sit close. You’ll be fine.
They’re not going to allow you to roll it on - but wont be a problem in a box or bike case of sorts.
thanks everyone for the input. Found it easier to recruit a fellow teammate to go race with me so we will just split a car rental and drive to/from. The info is great for the future though, much appreciated!