living around Edison, NJ and commute to Phily (Trenton, Camden: budget, travel)

[kawp]

Me and my wife are planning to rent a 2 bedroom aptt around Edison, NJ. We have 2 kids( 5 year). I have to daily commute to 30th street station Phily. We want to get some information regarding decent appts complexes closer to some good elementary school in and around Edison. Obviously I also want to live closer to train station so that I can easily and quickly drive to it.
My budget is around $1500-1600.
Does anybody have experience in daily travel to Phily?...how is it and how much time does it take??

Kaw

[BobKovacs]

I had a co-worker who drove to Philly every day from South Plainfield (next to Edison), and it was a painful 1.5-2 hour+ commute depending on the time of day. Taking the train isn't much more fun- you either need to take NJ Transit to Trenton, switch to the River Line to Camden and then change to PATCO, or take Amtrak to 30th Street. The first option would be a royal PITA, with two train changes (and probably over 2 hours with the changes), and the Amtrak option would cost a fortune and have limited trains per day.

I've gotta ask- why Edison? You're setting yourself up for a really nasty commute, and on your budget, you're not going to afford the nicer areas/complexes anyway.

[veuvegirl]

What Bob said. Is there a reason you have to move to Edison? That is going to be a really bad commute.

[NJGUIDO]

Listen, my friend. Edison is almost 70 miles from Philly. On a good day, it used to take us close to an hour with no traffic. Why put yourself through this kind of stress? Find a place in South Jersey, Cherry Hill or some place closer.

[john_starks]

i had a co-worker who lived in New Brunswick and commuted to Cherry Hill (which is 20 mins closer than Philly) for work. hated it. he quit. and i believe Edison is north of NB.

yeah, that's not going to be fun.

[yCf]

I am in southern part of East Brunswick right now and pretty close to NJ Tpk 8A and I commute 4 times a week to Moorestown/Mount Laurel. It takes me 45-50 mins each way pretty and consistent most of the time barring huge accident on the turnpike. Been doing if for 6 yrs...

Commuting to Philly would add at least a good 25 - 30 mins to that.

Edison really doesn't make sense for you in a commute standpoint. If you want decent schools there are plenty of towns south of Edison that have decent schools.

I think if I have to commute into Philly the "northest" I would stay in NJ is Princeton. Anything north of Princeton I would consider too far to commute into Philly.

[kawp]

I appreciate all your comments. Please let me know how long with it take for a person to reach Englewood( North jersey) if he leaves at 6. 30 AM through NJ turnpike on a weekday from Edison/ North plainfield

Kaw

[john_starks]

Originally Posted by kawp

I appreciate all your comments. Please let me know how long with it take for a person to reach Englewood( North jersey) if he leaves at 6. 30 AM through NJ turnpike on a weekday from Edison/ North plainfield

Kaw

hmmm, i'd say about 30-40 mins, not factoring in the GW bridge traffic.

[Dangerous-Boy]

always take the train. From metro park station, take the njtransit's Northeast corridor line to trenton. Transfer to Septa's R7 line in trenton. This will take you straight to 30th street station in philly. You can't sleep in your car. You can always sleep on the train. Edison is a great location because you have good train service to both nyc and philadelphia and it's on the northeast corridor. You can also take amtrak for a oneseat ride but that's really exspensive.

[syncmaster]

I know a guy who has commuted from Cherry Hill to midtown Manhattan for the last 15 years.

It's crazy but people do it.