MetLife Stadium from Long Island:Car Service & Game Day Guide

Getting from Long Island to a Giants or Jets game in East Rutherford means crossing New York City and the Hudson. Here are your options, the routes a chauffeur takes, and when to leave.

1. 01Your options from Long IslandPrivate car, driving yourself, three trains or the Jets fan bus, and what each means on game day.
2. 02The routes we driveThrough Manhattan, over the George Washington Bridge or through Staten Island, chosen on the day.
3. 03When to leaveAbout 2.5 to 3 hours before a 1:00 PM kickoff from Nassau, earlier from Suffolk.
4. 04Why a private carDoor to door, nobody has to drive home, and a planned pickup after the game.

The Real MZ RIDE Fleet

Our own vehicles, photographed on the job.

01Escalade ESVPrivate Travel02Escalade CabinComfort on Board03GMC YukonPrivate Travel

Your options from Long Island

MetLife Stadium is in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on the far side of Manhattan from Long Island. Whether you start in Valley Stream, Garden City, Huntington or the Hamptons, every route has to cross New York City and the Hudson River, so game-day planning matters more for Long Islanders than for almost anyone else in the crowd.

There are four realistic ways to get there:

• Private car service. A chauffeur picks you up at home, drives you to the stadium and brings you back after the game, door to door.
• Driving yourself. You control the timing, but you need a parking pass, you deal with game-day traffic both ways, and someone has to stay sober for the drive home.
• Trains. The LIRR to Penn Station, an NJ TRANSIT train to Secaucus Junction, then the event shuttle train to the Meadowlands Rail Station by the stadium.
• The Jets Long Island Fan Bus. A round-trip bus for Jets home games with advance registration, leaving from a few fixed stops on the Island.

The routes a chauffeur uses

There is no single best route from Long Island to the Meadowlands. Your chauffeur picks one on the day based on where you start, the kickoff time and live traffic:

• Through Manhattan: the Long Island Expressway to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, across Midtown and out through the Lincoln Tunnel to Route 3. Often the most direct line from western Nassau, but Midtown and tunnel traffic can be heavy.
• Over the George Washington Bridge: the Throgs Neck or Whitestone Bridge, the Cross Bronx Expressway and the GWB to the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 3. Common from the North Shore.
• Through Staten Island: the Belt Parkway, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and the Goethals Bridge to the New Jersey Turnpike north. Useful from the South Shore when the bridges into the Bronx and Manhattan are jammed.

Game days add traffic on Route 3, Route 120 and the Turnpike near the stadium, especially in the two hours before kickoff and right after the final whistle.

When to leave Long Island

For a 1:00 PM kickoff, most of our Long Island riders leave about 2.5 to 3 hours ahead from Nassau County, and earlier from central and eastern Suffolk. If you plan to tailgate, add that time on top. Night games on Thursdays and Mondays meet the evening rush, so leave earlier than you would on a Sunday.

Tell us your kickoff time and pickup address when you book, and we plan the pickup time with you. See the full MetLife Stadium schedule for fall 2026 for game dates and kickoff times.

The train option, step by step

If you would rather take the train, this is the usual chain from Long Island:

1. Take the LIRR to Penn Station in Manhattan.
2. Take an NJ TRANSIT train from Penn Station to Secaucus Junction.
3. At Secaucus, transfer to the event shuttle train to Meadowlands Rail Station, which NJ TRANSIT runs for major events and puts you right by the stadium.

It avoids traffic, but it means three trains each way, crowded platforms after the game and a late ride home on the LIRR. Check the NJ TRANSIT MetLife Stadium page for event-day times and tickets before you go.

The Jets Long Island Fan Bus

For Jets home games, the team lists a round-trip Long Island Fan Bus that needs advance registration, with pickups at Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel, the Melville Park and Ride and Christopher Morley County Park. It is a good value if one of those stops is near you and you are happy to ride on the bus schedule. Details are on the Jets transportation FAQ.

Why a private car works well from Long Island

• Door to door. No drive to a train station or bus stop, and no transfers in Manhattan or Secaucus.
• Nobody has to drive home. Everyone in your group can enjoy the game.
• Room for the group. A luxury SUV or a Sprinter van fits families, friends and clients, with space for jerseys, coolers and bags.
• A planned return. We set the pickup after the game and your chauffeur follows the end of the event, so you are not fighting for a rideshare in the lot.
• Hourly option. Keep the car by the hour if you want it to wait for you between drop-off and pickup.

Where we pick up on Long Island

We drive to MetLife Stadium from anywhere in Nassau County and Suffolk County, including Valley Stream, Garden City, Great Neck, Manhasset, Huntington, Smithtown and the Hamptons. See all Long Island car service areas.

Concerts and other events

The same planning applies to concerts and other big events at MetLife. Concert crowds tend to arrive closer to showtime and leave all at once, so the drive out of the lots can take longer than after a game. We schedule the return pickup around the expected end time and adjust if the show runs late.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages: MetLife Stadium car service · Long Island car service · Major events