West 66 Street & West End Avenue

West 66 Street & West End Avenue sits where the 66th Street corridor meets Riverside’s quiet edge. Long strings of charter buses idle here with yellow school cruisers and double-decks, the only steady noise a backdrop to morning coffee runs. The flower stands on Amsterdam flutter more than the traffic, but that’s the rhythm—buses threading through the Upper West Side like vertebral arteries, carrying whoever needs to get down to Midtown or up to the George Washington Bridge without hopping the 1 train.

If you’re double-checking an out-of-town charter schedule or waiting for a ride share outside the main shelter, the spot is New York, NY 10023—right at the fork where West 66 Street intersects West End Avenue, steps from the Riverdale border. Closer to Riverside Park than Lincoln Center, the location earns its stripes by default: a crossroads for suburban commuters, airport shuttles, and late-night tour groups heading back to Queens.

Call ahead if your bags tilt past airline size; 212-580-5550 is the line they keep printed on the printed timetables tacked to the shelter glass. You can also text instructions to your ride, since cell bars are strong between the two splayed trunks of West End and Amsterdam. No reservations system worth memorizing—just show up, find the right bay, and watch the next departure flicker on the overhead boards.

Forget curb-side navigation; use the map at directions on Google Maps to drop a pin between 66th and 72nd Streets, then walk the straight line south of the No. 77 bus depot. Sidewalk space is thin, so angle toward the doors earlier rather than later.