Commutation from LongIsland - Babylon to Bloomfield - CT (West Babylon: construction, living)

[arunavijay]

Hi,

I would like to know the place that would be easy for people commuting to Babylon in LongIsland and Bloomfield near Hartford - CT everyday.

Please help

[brahmos]

A midway point between these two places? This is crazy! Neither of which are close enough. Realistically, the two places (Hartford and babylon) are around four hours apart, so anyway which way you look at it you are commuting 2 hours each day if you are looking for some sort of midway point, which I would assume to be Bridgeport or Norwalk.


Actually, I do have a suggestion, but it is not a cheap solution. Since Babylon is in suffolk county, your best bet would be to live around Bridgeport Ct and whoever commutes to babylon take the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson ferry and then drive to Babylon from there.

This is the only solution I see, otherwise you either have to pick one or the other.

*FYI I am assuming Hartford and Babylon are about our hours away. i have made many a trips to Boston courtesy the Fung Wah and have found Hartford to pop up at the 3 hour mark...and that is from downtown NYC, so I assume since Babylon is an hour out from NYC that it would factor in at about 4 hours. But I imagine with traffic we could be looking at 5 hours.

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Do you mean having one person in the family who has to commute to Babylon, and another person has to commute to Connecticut?

If so, you're definitely limited to Nassau County. Logic would dictate that if one person has to head south in the morning, and the other north, someplace in the middle of the island would be a good choice. However.....

It depends hugely on your method of commute. To have to drive from LI to CT every day would be a nightmare. Bloomfield is, I believe in central to north-central CT. If I were making the trip, I'd take the ferry from Pt Jefferson (Suffolk County, LI, north shore) to Bridgeport and then drive to Bloomfield. However, the ferry itself takes 1 hr 15 mins to cross the Sound, then it's another almost 70 miles to Bloomfield. So depending on where on LI you lived, you'd be looking at a 3-hr commute EACH WAY by car.

To use mass transit, you'd need to first go west into the city and then take ConRail. I've never done this so have no clue as to times, but can't imagine that it would be any faster than by car.

As far as getting to Babylon, you'd have a choice of car or train (LIRR) but you must be aware than the rail system on LI runs ONLY east/west. There are no north/south lines. So if you lived north of Babylon you'd have to either drive or take a bus which I would not recommend; there are very few north/south lines for them either. If you lived east or west of Babylon you could take the train. The Babylon station is right in the middle of town so if you worked in the village you could probably walk it. But if you're talking "Township of Babylon" that's different -- could be West Babylon, North Babylon, whatever -- and in that case driving is probably your best (maybe only) option.

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Originally Posted by brahmos

and that is from downtown NYC, so I assume since Babylon is an hour out from NYC that it would factor in at about 4 hours. But I imagine with traffic we could be looking at 5 hours.

You're right; the LIRR train from Penn Station to Babylon takes about an hour to an hour and a quarter, depending on whether it's an express or a local.

I've made it from the Babylon area to Pt Jefferson in about 25 minutes but that was with serious risk of getting a ticket, and not during the peak traffic hours of 7-9:30 am. To be sure of getting there in time, you should give yourself at least 40 minutes from Babylon and cross fingers for no accident/construction/traffic delays en route.

You also need to get to the ferry at least 15-20 minutes before departure. 20-30 mins is better, because there is always a line of cars waiting to board.

There is also the cost. Currently the one-way ferry fare for a car and driver (no passengers) is $40 each way. That's $80/day just for the trip across the Sound. I'm sure they have discount monthly tickets just like the LIRR does, but that is a hefty chunk of change not even counting gas, tolls once in CT, if any, etc.

If this is a must-do situation, then my best suggestion would be to live as close-in (western Nassau County) as you can afford, and then take the train into NYC (Penn, I think) and take ConRail into CT (depending on their service to Bloomfield, which I have no clue about). It will be expensive and time-consuming but at least you won't be sitting in endless traffic jams on bridges and I-95.

A Catch-22 is that while central or northwest Nassau County (thinking like Hicksville here, and please don't laugh, that really is the name of the town!) would be best for driving or rail to CT, it would definitely require a car to travel to Babylon from. Living on the south shore of Nassau County along the LIRR south shore lines would let you get to Babylon by train, but would immensely complicate a commute to CT.

I don't envy you, that's for sure. :-(

[arunavijay]

Thank you very much for your responses. They stay near west babylon and very close to LIRR and so I think taking train to PENN station would be a better option. Thanks for your suggestions.