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Me and my girlfriend are looking to move into our first place together and have come across a little dilemma. First, let me give everyone a little background to our situation. We are both fresh college graduates who have landed jobs right out of college (very thankful for this). My girlfriend works at an interior design firm in Hamilton, NJ, while I work in midtown manhattan (Rockerfeller center). Currently she has about a 15 minute drive to her office, while I have about an hour and 40 minute commute one way, door to door taking the northeast corridor NJ transit from Princeton junction to Penn station NY. We want to move someplace that will make our commute as even as possible (45 mins max for my gf, and hopefully 45 minute train ride for me). In addition, I will not have a car so hopefully any places mentioned will offer some sort of shuttle service to and from the train station in the area (or within a mile walking distance is fine as well). We just looked at some apartments yesterday in Woodbridge and really liked one of them (they even offer free shuttle service to the Rahway train station), but its about a 55 minute drive which my gf doesn't want to do. My question is, does anyone have a suggestions on a good, affordable location that could potentially make our commute as even as possible?
I have thought about this but it appears that the train times for some reason are longer going out of New Brunswick that Princeton Junction. I am also taking the cost of the monthly train pass into consideration, (while NB is a bit cheaper per month, Princeton Junction has a more accomodating train schedule), thus making Princeton Junction the more fabvorable choice out of the 2! Thanks for the suggestions though, any others?
Update: I found this apartment complex through some searching and it appears to only be a 40 minute drive and they offer shuttle service to and from Metro Park. Autum Hills: http://www.bestrentnj.com/Communities/Autumn-Hills
Has anyone heard of this complex?
Last edited by FinancialManiac88; 02-17-2013 at 03:26 PM..
Me and my girlfriend are looking to move into our first place together and have come across a little dilemma. First, let me give everyone a little background to our situation. We are both fresh college graduates who have landed jobs right out of college (very thankful for this). My girlfriend works at an interior design firm in Hamilton, NJ, while I work in midtown manhattan (Rockerfeller center). Currently she has about a 15 minute drive to her office, while I have about an hour and 40 minute commute one way, door to door taking the northeast corridor NJ transit from Princeton junction to Penn station NY. We want to move someplace that will make our commute as even as possible (45 mins max for my gf, and hopefully 45 minute train ride for me). In addition, I will not have a car so hopefully any places mentioned will offer some sort of shuttle service to and from the train station in the area (or within a mile walking distance is fine as well). We just looked at some apartments yesterday in Woodbridge and really liked one of them (they even offer free shuttle service to the Rahway train station), but its about a 55 minute drive which my gf doesn't want to do. My question is, does anyone have a suggestions on a good, affordable location that could potentially make our commute as even as possible?
While googlemaps may indicate that the time it takes to drive from Woodbridge to Hamilton would be ~55 minutes, having done the drive during rush from Woodbridge to the greater Trenton area a few times I will tell you that it took roughly 1.5 hours. (and that was without weather issues or major accidents)
A good general rule of thumb is to take whatever googlemaps/mapquest etc indicates as the travel time and multiply it by 2 and add 10% to get a realistic idea of actual time considering traffic in NJ.
I am afraid that in order to get your commute to ~45 min, there is no way your gf's commute will be under an hour. Perhaps since your gf has less of a commute, she might be amenable to doing some of life's errands for you such as shopping, banking, picking up items at the cleaners, pharmacy etc? It would make your life a little easier and free up some of your time (that is already taken up by the long commute) so that you can have more time to spend on things you'd like to do, rather than have to do.
i dont think you're going to do better than your PJ commute unless you move somewhere REALLY close to Metropark. The PJ expresses to Newark. Every train out of NB goes to Edison, Metuchen, Metropark before Newark. So in order to get a fster commute you pretty much need to be leaving from Metropark. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, that commute driving to Hamilton everyday could easily take 1.5 hours in traffic.
If i were you, id try renting in that new development at the Hamilton station. You could roll out of bed and walk to the train. Your wife will have an easier commute. Yours is only slightly longer. Happy wife, happy life.
I would still consider New Brunswick. I am guessing you are both still young and want to go out once in a while. NB might just make that worth it for both of you
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I will take New Brunswick into consideration! As for the drive from Woodbridge to Hamilton during rush hour, is it really 1.5 hours? The last apartment complex I found in Woodbridge, (right by Fords Park) appears to be right off the turnpike which shows on Google maps as a 35 minute commute with light traffic and 48 minutes with heavy traffic.
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I will take New Brunswick into consideration! As for the drive from Woodbridge to Hamilton during rush hour, is it really 1.5 hours? The last apartment complex I found in Woodbridge, (right by Fords Park) appears to be right off the turnpike which shows on Google maps as a 35 minute commute with light traffic and 48 minutes with heavy traffic.
And those same google maps say it only takes 12 minutes to drive from the UN to Lincoln Center in Manhattan. (15 min with heavy traffic) Anyone who has ever been in Manhattan knows that to be to be absurd estimate. All of the mapping sites use a simple algorithm to estimate travel time, only taking into consideration the speed limit posted for the road and the distance being traveled. In real life there are things you encounter such as traffic, stop lights, stop signs, speed reductions for turns in the road, and in this case the additional slow downs for the toll plazas. Yes the commute from Woodbridge to Hamilton will be ~1.5 hours.
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