Wife works Downtown Manhattan, I work in Cranbury, NJ. Where to live? (Newark: apartment, city hall)

[ashu911]

Hi guys,

My wife works downtown Manhattan on Water Street and I work in Cranbury, NJ. Currently, we live in Edison and its great for me (30 min drive on the NJ Turnpike) but it takes her 1 1/2 hours (NJ Transit + Subways: A & 4). Its ridiculous.

- We have no children
- We really really stress on a safe "young family" place.
- We have One car that I will use. Wife will be taking the public transportation (train/ferry).
- No pets
- Currently spending $1600/month in rent on a 2-bedroom apartment. Would like to keep it the same.
- Trying to avoid the $10 NJ-NY toll for myself since wife will use public transportation anyway.

I would like someplace good to Rent starting Jan of 09. What places do you recommend? Staten Island seemed to be an option but it looks like its a long drive for me.

Thanks!

[CuCullin]

Go further north along the train lines, should work out nicely that way.... Rahway perhaps?

And is she going into NY Penn then hitting the subway, or is she taking the PATH at Newark?

[ashu911]

She's taking the NY Penn - and then the 2 subway connections (A & 4) at the moment.
Edison to Penn takes 55 minutes. 50 is the best it can do. And adding the 2 other subways and the walk, you get the idea.

[rosa0175]

Elizabeth, NJ has some good parts, and supposedly the school are good. I live in a gray area of Elizabeth and i pay 1500/month for a 3 br. the train station is 4 blocks away from me, just take the train to newark penstation then transfer to a train for downtown NYC, and Elizabeth may only add 10 minutes to your drive on I-95. look at some adds on craigs list.

[shannybannany]

I haven't been in that area for quite awhile but I worked with a girl who commuted from Woodbridge. I don't remember how she commuted but she said it took 1 hour door to door and we worked in midtown.

Again, that was awhile ago.

Hope that helps!

GL!
Shanny

[spotlight114]

I was also going to suggest rahway, maybe westfield

[CuCullin]

Originally Posted by ashu911

She's taking the NY Penn - and then the 2 subway connections (A & 4) at the moment.
Edison to Penn takes 55 minutes. 50 is the best it can do. And adding the 2 other subways and the walk, you get the idea.

Ok, before you do anything drastic like moving, suggest your wife *not* go into NY Penn first.

She should instead get off at Newark Penn, and take the PATH. This will bring her to WTC. I'm assuming she's getting off the 4 at City Hall - getting to WTC from Newark takes about 5 minutes more than getting to NY Penn from Newark, so she'll effectively be cutting out the A train right there. Then, I think the M22 bus will take her pretty close, only a few minutes walk.

Try that out first, imho.

[Irish Eyes]

Is there a bus she can take? We're moving to Hazlet and I work on Water Street. I'm going to take the Academy bus that stops by Battery Park. I don't like the idea of having to drive to a station and take multiple trains.

[ashu911]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the responses. She infact works on Water Street as well.. and gets off at Bowling Green.

Today we did the NJ Transit till Penn station + The "W" Subway (from Herald Sq) till Whitehall station. On the clock it took us 1 hr 45 minutes including the walk. Even though its quite comfortable as we do get to sit etc., time-wise it's a real killer.

Any suggestions? We plan on moving in Jan anyway since we're not particularly fond of Edison.

Thanks!
Ash

[ashu911]

I have gone through a lot of posts here about Staten Island. I see tons of posts of why it isn't the greatest place to live, but then I also see many posts of why its a good place for younger people. I am 25 and my wife is 23. We're not big on clubbing but we like to go out every once in a while.

The primary reason I am interested in it is because of the ferry. It would drop her right to the door step. As for me, I'm still going through the forums on rent and travel to Cranbury. I expect the rent to be around the same as I pay right now but travel..... big $$$?