Best route to Park Slope from lower manhattan..

[Princess Turandot]

I have to meet some people in Park Slope this weekend to then drive to a wedding in Philadelphia. I live on 14th Street & almost the East River. I'm debating between taking the subway or a cab. I checked mapquest, which showed a route which took the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which seemed like over-kill to me. It looked like the Manhattan Bridge to FlatBush to Prospect Park west (which is where these people live) was the most direct. Does anyone have a thought on how long that might take?

[Infomaniac]

1. Transit Information

There are a few different ways to get to different areas of the Slope from where you are in Manhattan. For example, the F will leave you at 7th Avenue and 9th Street and the D will take you to Flatbush and 7th. Depending on where you ultimately want to go, will determine which line you take. You can take the local from Union Square Southbound one stop and catch the D or F at West 4th. I would advise calling NYC Transit at 718.330.1234 with the address of where you need to go. The train should take you about 30 to 45 minutes.

[Princess Turandot]

2. I can get the F on 2nd Avenue and Houston..

(I really do live almost in the East River and can walk there almost as quickly as to Union Square.) I'm just reluctant to take the subway into Brooklyn at 10AM dressed up, although the F is convenient to where they live. I'm more leary of that station then the subway altho I havent been in it in years. I don't know if it is staffed by a clerk these days.

(I tend to walk every place that I go, if it is under 4 miles. The only subway I take with any frequency these days is the R/N lines, or the broadway BMT as I stll think of them.)

I'm tempted to just wear shorts and change when we get to the place in Philadelphia. That might be the best idea and I wouldn't feel uncomfortable on the subway!

[Infomaniac]

3. 7th Avenue Stop

I lived there for years and walked through that same station a thousand times. I can't for the life of me now think of where the token booth is located. I do know that this station was always busy and I always felt safe there. Another option is to take the D to 7th Avenue which I know is staffed, exit the station and catch the bus down 7th Avenue.

[HamdenRice]

4. Take the F train ...

If you live near the 2nd Ave station, it will take you to the heart of Park Slope. But it also depends on where in PS you are going.

And I wouldn't worry about being well dressed. Every neighborhood in Brooklyn you will be passing through, and your destination neighborhood are all much safer than the east village/lower east side area you are coming from.

[Princess Turandot]

5. I took the train..

I was more concerned abt being on the subway, not out on the street, since the subway is not a neighborhood. I'm never overly concerned when I'm out on the street anywhere. I just don't like being dressed up on the subway, going to an area that I don't know. I also had not been at that stop in years, literally, and thought it was not staffed. (The only hitch was walking to 2nd Ave only to discover that the entrance was locked, despite the sign, and having to walk back to First Ave to get in.)

I might debate the safety of the neighborhoods, at least Park Slope, and the notion of them being 'much safer' (altho I haven't checked COMSTAT lately) but people always feel safer with what they know.I grew up on the Lower East Side.I was going to 16th street in PS, a block from the park, which certainly looked a bit more run down than several streets in the East Village these days.

I was robbed at gun point once in Manhattan. But that was in Gramercy Park, while en route to the East Village.

[HamdenRice]

6. Glad you were able to find your way ...

I realize we all feel safer in our own neighborhoods. All I meant was that all the neighborhoods the F passes through to Park Slope are extremely gentrified or busy commercial areas -- Brooklyn Heights, Downtown/Borough Hall, Caroll Gardens and Park Slope. If you went to 16th St., you actually went into South Slope, which is a lot less gentrified than Park Slope.