Quote:
Originally Posted by ccthealias
We currently live in south brooklyn and are considering move to NJ. I currently work in Jersey city but plan on looking for a new job once covid is over and I foresee that I will be somewhere in Manhattan and not wfh permanently.
My husband works in south brooklyn and have zero option to wfh. I m used to a door to door commute of 1 hr but it seems to me it’s rare to get that in NJ. (And google estimated time is wrong). My husband’s commute however is only 15 mins now.
I heard NJ transit is horrible. I know it’s been over a year since Most people commuted but realistic what does the commute look like. I was originally thinking of moving out for better school and cheaper housing but prices have been insane in commuter towns so just wondering if it’s really worth it for longer commute.
I m looking mainly at Westfield, Rutherford and Metuchen. Can someone weigh in on how bad are daily commute and what should I expect most of the time? Does Nj transit break down often?
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I did it for almost 40 years. The trains are on time most of the time. They don't "break down often". What does happen is that the tunnels going into Penn NY do not have the capacity to manage train traffic if one goes down; for example if a train does break down or there is a problem with the signal system in one of them.
If the tunnels are OK, 20 trains per hour from NJ can get in and out of Penn. If one tunnel is down, that number goes down to six because now one tunnel is handling the traffic in both directions.
The tunnels need replacement, as we all know.
Now, some train lines do not go to NY Penn, they go to Hoboken, where they connect with PATH. Other commuters get off their trains at Penn Station Newark and connect with PATH there. Those are the best commutes for lower Manhattan.
The Brooklyn commute will always be longer from NJ. A casual glance at a map will tell you that. The best bet would be to focus on commuting to WTC, where you can pick up the subway at the hub there. That same commute would likely be best for J.C. (depending on WHERE in J.C., of course).
Your issue down the road will be if you have to work in Midtown or higher and the spouse in Brooklyn.
An hour commute is unlikely and not really realistic, but that will all depend on your budget and what type of environment your are looking for. Big house and yard further out, longer commute, obviously. Older, closer-in burbs or urban, shorter commute.
I don't know how the trains run on the other two lines/towns you mentioned, but the Bergen County line runs well, and since Rutherford is the last town stop on that line, that's a fairly fast commute to Hoboken. 20-25 minutes, IIRC. Then from there the Light Rail or PATH to J.C. or PATH to WTC.
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