Public Transporation? (Newark, Hoboken, Scotch Plains: apartment, rental, house)

[halfmoonbaygal]

Hello New Jerseyites,
Well, my daughter, her hubby, and baby have settled on an apartment rental in Scotch Plains; they move in a couple of weeks. I'll be flying out to help them with the move. They are currently living in South Philly and it's so easy to fly in, grab a taxi and you're at their house in 10 minutes and $14. I've done a Google search for public transportation between Newark airport and Scotch Plains, but I'm getting bupkus. I can see that it's only 19 miles or so, but I know that can be a far piece, depending. Is there a bus? I'll bet a taxi is big $$... is this even possible without renting a car? Thanks!

[mead]

Hey,

Cool. I remember your post about your kids and their move from South Philly. I'm glad that they found a place. Actually it is possible to do this on public transportation. It will cost $10.50 one way and will take about 50-60 minutes by train. It might be easier to do this by taxi (they have taxi stands outside of the airport terminals) but here goes.

Once you get off the plane and get your bags you are going to want to look for the AirTrain. There are signs around, but Newark Airport can be somewhat confusing so you might have to ask someone who works there. The AirTrain is a monorail that will take you to the NJ Transit/Amtrak station for Newark Airport. Once you get off the monorail and arrive at the actual train station, purchase a ticket or you will be charged extra by purchasing on board the train, and then take a NJ Transit train, either the North East Corridor line or the New Jersey Coastal Line, and take it to NEWARK Penn Station (there are two Penn Stations, Newark and New York, get off at the NEWARK station and not the New York station). Then once you are in Newark Penn Station you need to walk to the main waiting room and look at the big board with all of the different train lines and what time they depart. Find out when the next train on the Raritain Valley Line is leaving (towards Raritain, not NY/Hoboken) and what platform it is leaving from. Then take this train and you're probably going to want to get off at the Fanwood station as this is closest once to Scotch Plains, but there are a couple of train stations in that area, so ask your kids to make sure this is the right one. Hope this helps.

[BobKovacs]

As Mead said, AirTrain the airport stop, train to Newark, then to either Fanwood or Cranford. Of course, changing trains three times is a royal PITA, so a taxi ride might not be that bad of an option. I've taken taxis from the airport to Woodbridge and it ran around $35-40, so you'll likely be able to get to Scotch Plains for around $30-35. There's a fixed rate board posted at the taxi stand, so you'll know in advance what it will cost and you can decide then whether to take the train route instead.

Bob

[halfmoonbaygal]

Thanks so much for the detailed message about the trains/transfers, etc. Our public transportation is so limited here that us Californians don't really know how to deal. When the kids were in Philly, I was there all summer and never even used a car, so I can figure things out when necessary.

I think the taxi option sounds pretty good because of the luggage issue. I thought it would be much more expensive. $40-45 is very doable. I travel fairly light, but I still need a suitcase and I'm thinking that would be a hassle. I wish I could figure out how to pack everything in a backpack and be done with it, but I'm a little higher maintenance than that, I'm afraid...

Thanks again and I'm getting so excited for my visit in a couple of weeks! I fly standby (my husband worked for United Airlines for 35 years) so I never really know when I'll get there, but there are three non-stops a day from San Francisco, so my chances are pretty good. I list myself on the computer, show up early, and look pitiful and I usually get on. Nah, pity has nothing to do with it--it's all seniority. I seem to have good grandma karma though, because I show up for flights that I know are oversold and I somehow always get squeezed in the last seat.