Why is Public Transport So Expensive? (Hoboken: real estate, homes, transfer)

[eastguy]

I'm from washington dc area and even though it's expensive buses/trains cost less than 1.50 with 4 hours bus transfer. Now am about to move in weehawken in a couple of weeks but the stupid ferry cost $7 each way which is insane. Buss cost $3....WTF...in a day u could spend $20 only transport alone. I don't even wanna know the cost of ridin those light trains.

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by eastguy

I'm from washington dc area and even though it's expensive buses/trains cost less than 1.50 with 4 hours bus transfer. Now am about to move in weehawken in a couple of weeks but the stupid ferry cost $7 each way which is insane. Buss cost $3....WTF...in a day u could spend $20 only transport alone. I don't even wanna know the cost of ridin those light trains.

Welcome to New Jersey, bend over.

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by eastguy

I'm from washington dc area and even though it's expensive buses/trains cost less than 1.50 with 4 hours bus transfer. Now am about to move in weehawken in a couple of weeks but the stupid ferry cost $7 each way which is insane. Buss cost $3....WTF...in a day u could spend $20 only transport alone. I don't even wanna know the cost of ridin those light trains.

How often do you use them?

You get a discount when you buy passes, makes it more reasonable. My monthly train pass is $320 (I'm going pretty far). Each way, if I bought a one way ticket (have to during commuter hours), its $20. Which would be $40/day, figure 20 trips a month - $800! $320 on the other hand comes to $16/day, $8 each way. Not too shabby for a 60 mile trip.

[lammius]

Plus there's a difference between a "local" bus and a commuter bus. "Local" buses in NJ cost $1.35 for a 1-zone ride, actually cheaper than DC. The cost to NYC is greater because it's a greater distance than most "local" trips (nationally the average urban bus trip is about 3 miles), the bus comes back empty (non-revenue) or near it, and the transit company rents gates at the bus terminal. All of this makes the cost of your trip to NYC quite expensive, relative to a trip down the street.

If you think transit is expensive, try driving into the city.

The light rail is $1.90, and the PATH is $1.25 (with SmartLink). So you can take the light rail to Hoboken and the PATH to NYC for $3.15 each way, but that generally isn't the fastest way in. Take your $3 bus and be glad you have it so easy.

[doc1]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

Welcome to New Jersey, bend over.

And don't expect a hug when they're done.

[DessertRat]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

Welcome to New Jersey, bend over.

Well, New York is just as bad as soon as you get out of New York City. My wife and I considered moving to Cold Spring, because we found a few nice homes there that were affordable for us, and we love that area, but we need to commute to Manhattan for work, and once we factored in the MetroNorth commuting costs, it was no longer affordable.

The cheapest and easiest way to commute from NJ to NYC is the PATH, so if you need to save on that, move somewhere that you can walk to the PATH trains, or look further out in the boroughs of NYC so you get more affordable real estate, plus relatively cheap subway rides--just note that you're going to be spending more time on the subway every day than if you take the PATH . . . on the positive side though, the New York subway is usually less crowded. With the exception of the Hoboken line, the PATH's policy seems to be "time departure times so that trains do not tend to run unless they're uncomfortably crowded".

[frogman68]

Originally Posted by eastguy

I'm from washington dc area and even though it's expensive buses/trains cost less than 1.50 with 4 hours bus transfer. Now am about to move in weehawken in a couple of weeks but the stupid ferry cost $7 each way which is insane. Buss cost $3....WTF...in a day u could spend $20 only transport alone. I don't even wanna know the cost of ridin those light trains.

In Dc the minumim Metro (subway) is 1.65 depending how far you are going buses are 1.25. Ny Subway last time I was on them was 2 dollars no matter how far you went. Nj Transit is more expensive but you have more trains than the MARC or VRE. Each area has its good and bad points for public transport but NY NJ has a much better system than the DC area so you might pay a little more but will get better services (ie more frequent trains, subways etc)