We decided on Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station to start our journey. It has two key benefits for our trip and similar trips – it’s accessible from multiple points via different modes of transportation (train, car, etc), and it’s almost directly on the East Coast Greenway. It would serve as a great start or end point for anyone that wanted to tackle a significant portion of the East Coast Greenway, as you could head north to Trenton, New Brunswick, or New York, or south to Delaware, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.
Since this was where our actual bikepacking trip began, I want to share our experiences related to getting to and from our starting and ending points.
Starting in DC
Two members of our “team” began their day in Washington, DC and the remaining member in the Greater New York City area. We looked into all the transit options, but Amtrak has so few bike slots, we weren’t all able to get the segments we needed. So we began our journey in the car, bikes and packs in tow, and were able to reserve discount parking online just a few blocks from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.
For our eventual return from New York we pre-booked Amtrak and paid for the bike storage. We were on the Vermonter line. There are two key types of Amtrak bike storage for this section of the East Coast Greenway. You can find some trainside checked bike storage (an actual bicycle rack in the baggage car offered on a select few Northeast Regional Trains). Or perhaps more likely you’ll get Carry On Bicycle Service as we did (3 bicycles per train on the Vermonter, which we booked). We only took Amtrak on our return, but we were nervous not knowing how and where to store our bikes. Despite several inquiries on the phone, at the station, and eventually trainside, we were offered absolutely no help, direction, or assistance of any kind. For what it’s worth, I’m a huge Amtrak fan despite all this, but we definitely got a different result than what these two explorers experienced with Amtrak on their Greenway trip(white gloves!).
tips For taking your bike on Amtrak
- Bike lockup spots are at the front of each train car and hold just one bicycle per car. You will have no idea which are already taken and which are free, so get ready to explore narrow walkways full of people with your bike and gear until you find one (exciting!)
- Expect zero help from Amtrak engineers or station managers, who offered us no assistance in terms of where to find them, how to use them (we were actually just told to board the train and figure it out – nice!) But wait, when you find one it will have a sign that says “please have a member of the crew assist” (at this time you can take a deep breath and laugh to yourself while balancing a bicycle, your gear, and at least 3 annoyed nearby passengers)
- Your fellow passengers will already have used these bike storage locations to instead store their luggage items, despite ample nearby overhead space, so get ready to move other people’s belongings
- Once you find one you will have to remove your wheel right then and there, some aspect of it will probably be broken (mine was broken and missing the tie downs that keep your detached wheel in place), and there is precious little room between where the back wheel hooks at the top and the ceiling of this compartment so anything over a road bike tire might present you with issues even getting it onto the hanger
Aside from that excitement, don’t you agree that trains are the most relaxing way to travel?
Starting in New York
Team New York found a late, unexpected loophole for moving bikes between New York and Philadelphia that didn’t involve Amtrak. So here’s one tip and a great option for getting to your starting line if you’re traveling from that area.
New Jersey Transit operates the Northeast Corridor route, which can get you from New York Penn Station to the Trenton Transit Center. From that point you can transfer to SEPTA to reach Philadelphia 30th Street Station. A very simple ~$16 alternative to Amtrak fares, which can range from $32 to $96 each way (plus $10 for your bicycle each way if the limited space is available and you have steeled yourself for the carry-on “procedures”).
NJ Transit’s current rule on bicycles allows them on the trains, provided it isn’t already full or crowded. While a station manager initially expressed some concern about taking the bike on the train during “rush hour”, in the end he directed our New York rider to a specific car of his choosing (and the train was not busy at all.)
Sure, you’ll be the person on the commuter train carrying a bike and two bags full of camping equipment on a commuter train, but that’s a small price to pay for the convenience of moving along points on the East Coast Greenway with relative ease. Maybe one day the Maryland Transit Administration will open up to a similar approach and allow bicycles to travel on the one train line (MARC Brunswick) that aligns perfectly with major sections of the C&O Canal Trail (more on that in a future post).