Transportation

I had it down with the old MetroCard fares, buy a $40 card and get the 15% bonus for an extra 3 free rides and the card would empty out perfectly. Now with the $2.25 fare and a 15% bonus, I find I never know how much to buy in order for it to come out even. What? The MTA is making me multiply and divide fractions now? Don't they know I went to NYC public school?

Across New Jersey fun Halloween Railroads combine festive Fall fun like corn mazes, pumpkin patches and festivals with train rides from the scary to the not too scary. Whether you've got wee ones or older kids ready for a thrill there's spooky Halloween fun on the rails of NJ.

All Aboard!  Your train loving kid will flip over these trains--eight miles of miniature railway track, old fashioned train trips, a ride through the Allaire State Park and kid sized trains in parks.  Put away the that Thomas video and check out the real deal--bring your child (and your inner child) to the trains of New Jersey.

The MTA approved it's "doomsday budget" yesterday, which includes fare hikes and service cuts. But no worries, because the MTA Service Specialists have been deployed. Find out about the details of the new budget and the humorous stunt women who are commenting on the fare hike by taking to the rails dressed as retro airline stewardesses and offering riders the "service you deserve."

Kick scooters are great for New York City kids. We do a lot of walking, which can be hard on little legs and wearisome. I have one of those little guys who would whine with every step and I'd find myself dragging him down the street having to laugh off all the people that were giving me those bad mom glares (oh if they only knew). Got him a scooter and viola, now I can barely keep up with him.

But finding the right scooter took a while. At three we got him a three wheel toddler scooter that didn't work very well and at four, while he was too big for that, he still couldn't handle a two wheeled scooter. Then we discovered the Micro Mini Kick and the new Micro Maxi Kick Scooters.

Read on to find out how you could win a new Micro Maxi Scooter or get one for your school fundraising auction or raffle.

As a grown up I don't pay nearly as much attention to the asphalt as I used to when I was a kid. As a kid growing up in Manhattan, the asphalt was like an entire eco-system, full of magical discoveries waiting to be made and questions to be solved. Like seeing a dime completely embedded into the street, oil slicks from leaking cars that created beautiful rainbows or, when it would rain, gutter streams that we would sail trash down (ah, the bucolic 70s in NYC).

One thing that always fascinated me was when you would happen upon a railroad spike sticking out of the street. My mother explained to me about how they were from old trolley lines that had been paved over and then the movement of the earth forces them back up through the pavement.  Really? This whole idea rocked my world because obviously the pavement is the ground and solid and there can't be anything under there, especially not stuff that can move and come up through the solid ground. If history can just push itself back up into the present, what else is under there waiting to turn up?

If you've been reading this blog for a long time, you know about my love of ZipCar, the car sharing service that lets you rent a car in New York City by the hour. While ZipCar has been adding more cars and locations, there's a new competitor on the road, Mint.

Just like ZipCar, Mint offers car rental on demand and by the hour. Gas and EZ Pass are included. Even the rates are identical, except for an introductory promotional offer that allows you to rent a Mint car for just $2 an hour Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 5pm.

Dunkin' Donuts is trying be buyin' your business with free MetroCards. For the next 4 Mondays, they will be handing New Yorkers their morning commute at a different station each week.

Between 6:30 and 9:30 am look for your free Dunkin' Donuts metrocard at these subway stations:

What do the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Prospect Park and the Prospect Park Zoo all have in common? They're wonderful NYC cultural institutions that you almost feel guilty for not going to more often (or ever). You know they're great, they're just a little...inconvenient.

But now, they all have something else in common too...they're all stops on the brand new FREE Heart of Brooklyn cultural shuttle. The Heart of Brooklyn Culture Shuttle is a free hop-on hop off service running three different programs:

Riding the subway is the fastest, easiest way to get from point A to point B in NYC. And it's a great way to travel with kids. But if you're not 100% familiar with the subway system, are traveling with a stroller, or hit schedule changes, it can really stink. We've rounded up the best online resources to make it easier to get around NYC by subway, especially with kids.

There are now a few sites that give accurate subway directions. Just type in your starting and ending addresses and they will tell you the best routes.