Questions about University Heights (Newark) and commuting from NYC (Washington: crime, transfer to)

[ElevateMeLater]

Hey,
I will be attending NJIT starting in Jan 2011 and I had a couple questions about the area. First, I will be commuting from Brooklyn and was wondering what the best method would be to get to the University Heights area.

My options are: 1) take MTA to PATH, then PATH to the Newark Penn Station, then transfer to the Newark Light Rail and get off at Warren St., or 2) MTA to NJTransit, take NJTransit to Broad St. station north of UH, then walk to NJIT. Mostly my concern is with how safe either of these commutes are, day and night. Is the light rail between UH and Penn Station safe at night? Is walking to and from Broad St. safe, day or night?

Also, how safe is UH in general? Can I deviate a few blocks from campus to run errands or eat without being bothered? Is there actually a lot of crime in this area? or are the empty lots and run down buildings causing me to assume things?

I've visited the campus and everything seems bearable in the daytime, I'm just curious if there's more than meets the eye.

Thanks

[stressedCollegeGirl89]

Take the MTA to PATH to Newark Penn Station to Newark light rail. You can use your metro card for the PATH, I believe. I have never taken the path, so I'm not sure if it's speedy and efficient(I will assume so)

In the daytime, its generally safe to walk from the Broad. St station in Newark to NJIT. I did this for Rutgers: walk down Lackawanna Ave to the RU campus; NJIT is nearby. There is also the Washington St. Station that's near University Ave and a block from the corner of University Ave and Warren St. I can't speak for at night, since I don't stick around Newark late enough to find out.

There are the Rutgers Campus shuttles that make some stops a a couple of NJIT buildings. There is a shuttle to Newark Penn Station on the weekdays b/w 4pm and midnight to the NJIT and other college campuses. That may take care of the nightly walk to the Light Rail Stations.

[Marv95]

Basically what you get at NJIT is the environment you would experience around Temple, Columbia, Fordham, USC, etc. Off campus you will encounter some blighted areas and some riff-raff in a couple of areas NJIT's in the process of redeveloping MLK Blvd and a part of Central Ave so it looks shabby. But whatever you do, avoid anything west of campus(Lock Street) or north of Central Avenue and you should be fine. I'd be more worried about being in Brooklyn late night though.

Broad Street has limited trains to NYC compared to Penn Station, so I'd use the latter. Take the PATH to World Trade Center, then take the A, C or R and go from there. NJT costs to much and it takes longer to get home. The light rail downtown fare is 75 cents from Penn Station to Warren St.