All Points West | Ferry in, ferry out

I opted to buy into the advice of the festival organizers and ride the ferry, not out of deference to the "green" cause (though it doesn't hurt) but more because they made it difficult to get to the festival any other way. Carpooling, while more economical, is a royal pain, made even a bit tougher if you don't own a car. Riding the NJ Transit has never been a good idea for me on a normal day, let alone a Friday afternoon during rush hour where 30,000 people are trying to converge on Jersey City.

So the ferry cost $30 for most of us (the earlybirds paid $20 + $8000 in Ticketmaster fees) which is definitely steep for a grungy NY Waterway ferryboat that takes a whole 7 minutes to get to the park. Organizers argue that you also get a nice harbor cruise as a bonus, which I guess can be construed as true but it goes by in a New York minute.

All in all, though, the ferry was a relatively well-organized effort and an efficient method of transport. The line at Pier 11 at 5:30pm today was minimal and the ride was comfy. The return trip we were all fearing also wasn't so bad. The hike to the pier is quite a long one and it dispersed the crowd in a way that there wasn't a mile-long pileup near the boats. Radiohead ended at about 10:45pm and I was on a ferry by 11:30pm, which is reasonable, given the scenario. I'd have no qualms about doing it again tomorrow.