Atlantic City Transportation

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My grandfather rented us some sedan chairs to go along the boardwalk. These were quite different from the ones that they have now.

There are two rental companies for rolling chairs.

Royal Rolling Chairs and Ocean Rolling Chairs
CHAIR RENTALS

Winter rentals
$10.00 daily M-Th
$25.00 Saturday
$15.00 Fri & Sun
$50.00 weekly
$75.00 monthly

Summer rentals
$15.00 daily M-Th
$40.00 Saturday
$25.00 Fri & Sun
$75.00 weekly
$300.00 monthly

Holiday rentals
$40.00 daily M-Th
$50.00 daily Fri & Sun
$100.00 weekly

There is a great new way to get to Atlantic City from New York City without the added stress or hassle of the New Jersey Shore traffic tht you can encounter at the Garden State Parkway.

Currently the train is only available during the weekends (Fri-Sun) at a really cheap one way fare of $29. The ride takes about 2 hours 45 minutes from New York Penn Station making one stop at Newark Penn Station before arriving in Atlantic City.

I personally have not taken the train as I always drive, but this seems like a good idea for those individuals that do not want to deal with the hassle of driving, or the buses to AC and those who do not have a car.

Check out their website for more information.

We always drive to AC and the best and easiest route from NYC is the Garden State Parkway, exit 38 (not 38 A), which takes you to the Atlantic City Expressway directly into Atlantic City. There is a toll plaza as you approach the AC Expressway.

There are signs indicating the location of your hotel, either uptown, downtown and the marina, so pay attention so you won't be going around in circles.

I've taken the Casino Buses from Port Authority numerous times, especially during my "no-car" era and I found them to be very efficient, cheap and comfortable.

In Port Authority there is a designated area to purchase and board the many buses that take you to AC for about $22 which includes some sort of voucher redemable for either cash (depends on the casino you decide to go to) or for slot plays equivalent to the purchase price of your ticket on the bus.

The is a very popular and inexpensive way to spend some time in AC especially the price of the bus would be "free".

There are many many buses going to Atlantic City like Greyhound and private buses operate by different casinos there.
Greyhound will be from NYC Port Authority Bus Terminal (42st & 8 ave).
You can find Hilton, Ceasars & Taj Mahal has their own fleet going.
I got a ride by car from my friends & it took 2hour 15 min to go there from Manhattan.
On my way back, I randomly checked with one of the bus at Ceasears Casino bus terminal and found out they took my tips & let me get on the bus without tickets since they have seats left .
I was told Chinatowns in NYC draws the largest crowds to these casinos in Atlantic City. My friend told me Hilton Atlantic City offers Round trip bus fare from chinatown sales center for $18 and about $22 cash to play plus $20 match-play coupons to attract players. Some other casinos give food coupons from chinatown plus $10 chips to play. The buses are usually not well maintained but for budget travelers, its a good option to use. In my case, its cheaper than riding Greyhound .

People seem to have a hard time figuring out which airport to fly into when visiting Atlantic City. Of course there is the very small Atlantic City Airport, but that really only helps you if you are traveling from Florida, Myrtle Beach, Detroit or Cincinnati. Spirit Airlines (www.spiritair.com) is the main airline at ACY, Delta does 2 flights a day to Cincinnati. Most people fly into Philadelphia Airport, it is a large airport with most major airlines flying to/from it frequently. It is only a 1-hour drive from Atlantic City, which is not bad considering that Atlantic City Airport is 15 minutes away from Atlantic City because the airport is actually a few towns away from the city. Newark Airport would be your second choice; it's a little less than 2 hours away. These three airports are your best bet, do anything you can to fly into any of these three airports. JFK, BWI & LaGuardia are all about a 3-hour drive from AC, but are a pain in the neck to deal with, but are still accessible to Atlantic City. International travels usually have very little choice other than flying into JFK because it is the largest international airport on the east coast with the most choices of Airlines. BWI is the furthest from Atlantic City.

2) Airport Shuttle & Limo service
Contrary to popular belief there are no free casino shuttles from the Airports to the Casinos. In fact there are really no shuttle services at all to Atlantic City. Most people choose to use car service & limo companies. Using a company like this is exactly what I suggest if you need ground transportation from any of the above airports or NYC, DC, or Philly. The company I work for uses Airport Chariot (www.airportchariot.com) 609-748-3506 to get people between the Airports & the Atlantic City area. I use their sedan service personally and so far they've done a great job. They also seem to have the cheapest prices in the area. They have sedans, Limos & charter buses for large groups.

The Jitney is AC's reliable means of transportation. Catch a blue Jitney bus every twenty minutes or so on any corner fof Pacific Ave. for a minimal cost of $2 and hop off when you want. It runs from the casinos downtown to the Marina district and down to the neighboring town Ventnor.

If you get to AC early and the sun is out, try going out from your hotel to Pacific Ave. and catch a blue Jitney. They are like $2.00 one way and will bring you anywhere within AC (Not to Ventnor or downbeach or Brigantine and not off the island). If you can get familiar with the system, they are great to take day or night.

In AC, with your car, you are allowed one free transfer - That means if your car is parked at Bally's you can move it to Tropicana without paying the extra cost. Most casinos honor this unless something has changed that I don't know of. On busy weekends though to find parking, it could be tough and since you're probably in AC to kick a few back anyway, it doesn't hurt to get familiar with the jitneys and leave your car where it is.

The routes are color coded as to where the jitney goes, but it may be best to know where each AC casino is located geographically. For instance, the Borgata and Trump Marina is a popular destination, but those are not on the boardwalk and not all jitneys go there.

The only problem with them is that there is only 13-15 seats I think and they get full some weekends pretty quickly. I remember having to walk to the Hilton to get a step up on all of the people waiting to go north from the Tropicana.

If you're in AC late, and get familiar with the system early, it will pay - the taxis usually charge you an arm and a leg. And it's pretty safe for AC.