How To Get To Rochester

Looking to get away? See Excursions.

By Car From Buffalo From Philadelphia From Toronto From New York City By Plane By Train By Boat Erie Canal By Bus Greyhound MegaBus Trailways NY Chinatown Bus Unconventional Means

By Car

From Buffalo

(about an hour trip)

• Take the NY Thruway (East 90)
  

• merge into 490 East
  

• pick the street of your choice (ex. Goodman St.)

From Philadelphia

(about a 5 1/2 hour trip)

• Take the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) west out of Philadelphia
  

• Take exit 331B for I-476 N ("Blue Route")
  

• Follow I-476 N onto the PA Turnpike Northeast Extension
  

• At the end of the turnpike, exit 131 (Clarks Summit), follow I-81 N
  

• North of Syracuse, take the exit for NY Thruway (I-90) W
  

• Follow 90 until Rochester Exit 45 (490)
  

• pick the street of your choice (ex. Monroe Ave.)

From Toronto

• Take the Gardiner Expressway W
  

• Merge onto the QEW
  

• Take the Lewiston Bridge (that's the easiest bridge; although the Rainbow Bridge often has shorter waits)
  

• Take the 190 S across Grand Island
  

• Pick up the 290
  

• Get on the 90 E headed towards Rochester
  

• Rochester area exits are 47 (490 E), 46 (390 N), and 45 (490 W)

From New York City

• about 350 miles give or take....

By Plane

Rochester has a small but newly-renovated airport that goes by the rather grandiose title Greater Rochester International Airport, and its airport code, ROC, inspired the name of this Wiki. The advantage to being out here in the sticks is that the airport is small and generally uncrowded. The disadvantage is that you'll have to fly first to a larger hub.

The airport is served by Air Canada, AirTran, American Eagle, Continental, Delta Connection (service to Cinncinatti), JetBlue (service to JFK airport in New York), Northwest, United, and U.S. Airways. ROC is probably best connected to Chicago.

• Jetblue has six flights daily to their hub at JFK. One class seating on an Airbus A320. The flight is roughly one hour and usually costs between 50-80 dollars (One Way). Can be as expensive as $130+tax each way.
  

• American Eagle operates 6 regularly scheduled daily non-stop flights from Chicago (ORD) to Rochester (ROC), departing between 7:31am and 9:25pm on an Embraer RJ145 Amazon. The flight time is slightly less than two hours. American recently started flying once daily to Dallas/Fort Worth.
  

• U.S. Airways flies from Rochester to their hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and also flies direct to LaGuardia, Boston, Washington National, and Hartford. (http://www.trvlink.com/download/us/usaschedules.pdf)
  

• United flies to their hubs at Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles (many flights are codeshared betwen U.S. Airways and United) (http://www.uatimetable.com/United.pdf?linkTitle=Worldwide+timetable+PDF)
  

• Continental (http://timetable.continental.com/sitea/co.pdf) flies to their hubs in Newark and Cleveland, and has commuter flights to White Plains and Albany.
  

• Northwest flies to Detroit (frequently) and Minneapolis (once daily).
  

• Delta flies to Atlanta and Cincinnati.
  

• AirTran flies to Baltimore, Atlanta, Boston, Orlando, and Tampa.
  

• Air Canada flies to Toronto twice a day for about $400 round trip (why didn't we buy an airplane instead of a ferry?).

Here is the list of non-stop destinations.

Information on arrivals and departures; as well as flight search.

The closest airports outside of Rochester are:

• Buffalo (served by Southwest)
  

• Syracuse
  

• Toronto (for direct flights to Europe and the West Coast)

By Train

Amtrak takes about 6 hours to New York Penn Station, and costs about $70 each way. Rochester's Amtrak station is served on the following routes:

• Empire Service: New York City to Buffalo/Niagara Falls (2 trains daily each way)
  

• Maple Leaf: New York City to Toronto (once daily)
  

• Lakeshore Limited: New York City to Chicago (once daily). This train also has a connection in Albany to Boston.

The complete route of the Lakeshore Limited:

• Chicago, IL Union Station (CHI)
  

• South Bend, IN (SOB)
  

• Toledo, OH (TOL)
  

• Cleveland, OH (CLE)
  

• Buffalo-Depew, NY Depew (BUF)
  

• Rochester, NY (ROC)
  

• Syracuse, NY (SYR)
  

• Rome, NY (ROM)
  

• Utica, NY (UCA)
  

• Schenectady, NY (SDY)
  

• Albany-Rensselaer, NY (ALB)
  

• New York, NY Penn Station (NYP)

a travelogue: http://www.trainweb.org/amtrakpix/travelogues/50104A/50104A.html

By Boat

Erie Canal

• Erie Canal System

By Bus

Greyhound

Greyhound takes 6 to 7 hours to New York City (arriving in the basement of Port Authority) and generally stops at Syracuse or Ithaca and Binghamton along the way. The station is located downtown at the corner of E Broad and Chestnut Streets (officially "187 Midtown Plaza").

As of October 2008, cost to NYC is $46 one-way with 14-day advance purchase ($61 and $78 one-way for 7-day and refundable purchases respectively). Advance ticket purchases are non-refundable but may be changed for a $15 fee. All online purchases require pickup at the terminal (can be before your day of travel) with the credit card used for the purchase (otherwise a $15 fee applies).

The route from NYC is as follows: Lincoln Tunnel->Rt 3->Rt 46->I-80W->I-81N->I-90W->I-490W. (The Ithaca route skips Syracuse and cuts across diagonally from just north of Binghamton).

MegaBus

MegaBus is a low-cost bus service that is a cross between a Greyhound coach and a double-decker sightseeing bus. The earlier you book, the cheaper the fare, which ranges from $1 - $50 (approx). The ride is about 7 hours long. Currently, there is only one trip available daily from Rochester to NYC and vice versa.

NYC bus stops are at Penn Station and the Port Authority.
The Rochester bus stop is near entrance #3 (near Sears) at the Eastview Mall.

MegaBus rides are also available in other Western NY cities, certain Northeast and Midwest states, and Canada.

Trailways NY

Bus Info
Destinations are:

• Albany
  

• Buffalo
  

• New York City
  

• Syracuse
  

• Rochester

Note: Bus schedule is identical to that of Greyhound and likely just tickets you on a Greyhound bus. Fares as of October 2008 are $5 more for 14-day purchase, $8 more for 7-day purchase, and the same for regular fare purchases.

Chinatown Bus

A "Chinatown Bus" (GoNYCBus) to New York City picks at 733 Monroe Ave at 1AM every day but Friday scheduled to arrive at 7AM. The trip is $60 or $50 with a student fare.

In New York City, the bus leaves at 5PM every day but Friday at 59 Canal Street (no longer under the Manhattan Bridge) heading through Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. It is scheduled to arrive in Rochester at 11PM.

The Chinatown Bus was awarded "Best Way to Get to NYC at 1 a.m." in City Newspaper's 'Best Of Rochester' Critics' Choice Awards in 2008.¹

BusJunction is a search engine for discount bus tickets with routes to/from Rochester. Its listings include tickets from Megabus, Bolt Bus, and several of the Chinatown bus lines.

Bus Info-Buy Online with PayPal

Unconventional Means

• Hopping freight trains
  

• Hitchhiking