Marathon Sunday Transit: Extra Metro-North Trains, Ferry Shuttles and a Closed Verrazzano
The MTA has laid out how New York moves on marathon Sunday: the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge closes to non-emergency traffic from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., runners ride the subway to the Staten Island Ferry and shuttle buses to the start, and Metro-North adds early trains arriving at Grand Central between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has published its service plan for the TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 1, and it starts with the bridge the race starts on. MTA Bridges and Tunnels, in coordination with the New York City Police Department, will close the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to all non-emergency vehicular traffic between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, and motorists traveling between Brooklyn and Staten Island must use alternate routes. On Staten Island, the Bay Street and Lily Pond Avenue exits close at 3:00 a.m. and reopen at approximately 4:00 p.m., and drivers can call the Verrazzano-Narrows Marathon Traffic Hotline at (718) 692-5656 for closure information.
For runners, the route to the start runs through the subway and the ferry. The MTA says runners traveling to Staten Island by ferry in the early morning can take the 1 train to South Ferry, the R and W trains to Whitehall Street, or trains to Bowling Green, then walk to the Whitehall Ferry Terminal. On the Staten Island side, shuttle buses will carry runners directly from the ferry terminal to School Road at Bay Street, at the edge of the start area at Fort Wadsworth.
Spectators get added rail service. Metro-North Railroad will operate additional early-morning inbound trains on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines, arriving at Grand Central Terminal between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m., giving runners and spectators a direct connection to downtown-bound trains for the starting line and the course.
Inside Manhattan, the Central Park Transverse Roads at 65th, 79th and 96th Streets will be closed for most of the day, and buses will not be permitted to cross Fifth Avenue during the race, with numerous other bus diversions along the route. The MTA advises riders to use the MTA app or mta.info for last-minute subway and bus diversion details as the race progresses.
