Great public schools and short commute to Wall St? Does it exist? (Newark: school districts, to live in)

[brittcpa]

To echo Lusitan, commutes are more likely to be at least an hour and a half each way, at a minimum. From Union County towns with good schools (Westfield, Cranford), the commute is easily an hour and a half once you switch trains in Newark. Frequent delays often stretch the commute to closer to two hours.

[Lusitan]

No problem. I think it's important to keep it real when it comes to talking about commuting to New York from New Jersey. Many people who live in Jersey think that because they live in/near a town with a ~30 minute train trip to NY Penn Station, that this means a commute to NYC under an hour; the people who think this don't commute to NYC.

There are circumstances where, for some people, a long commute might be OK. I do it every day. But everyone should go into it with their eyes wide open, because it is a major drag.

[SuburbanNJRltr]

Originally Posted by Lusitan

Brief (and frank) answer: NO

You won't find any town in NJ with "great" (public) schools that will give you a 1-hour-or-less door-to-door commute to Wall St.

But if you're willing to expand your definition of "short" to between 75 and 90 minutes, you have many options.

Although you can get to New York in roughly 30-40 minutes from many nice towns with good public schools in NJ, when you live in NJ and work on Wall St., "getting to New York" is only half the fun. New Jersey Transit trains run either to Penn Station (NYC) or Hoboken. To get to Wall St. from either of those terminals, you'll need to take the subway (if your NJ Transit takes you to Penn Station) or you'll need to take the PATH to WTC and walk down to Wall St. Either way, you're looking at roughly another 30 minutes at least.

When you add in the time it will take you to get to the NJ Transit train station in your hometown each morning, the cushion you need to give yourself, the inevitable (and frequent) minor NJ Transit delays, connections and further wait times for the subway or PATH ... well, you're most likely looking at 75 minutes on a good day, longer if you're traveling during off-peak hours or if there is some snag on the trip.

You can make the best of it with reading/music/etc., but the commute is draining and it definitely cuts into your free time that you'd rather be spending with your family. Trust me -- if I sound like a jaded NJ--Wall St. commuter, it's because I am. :-)

Everything is a compromise in this area. Good luck.

See my post on Glenm Ridge, a one hour commute is totally doable.

[SuburbanNJRltr]

Glen Ridge is about as close as you can get to the city commute wise and live in a single family home while living in wonderful community with superb schools. An hour door to door is very doable. A lot of my neighbors commute everyday to Wall St. withut an issue.

Many of the other towns mentioned are great options as well, but in many cases, you'll be adding at least 1/2 an hour each way to your commute and in most cases, the schools aren't as highly ranked (per NJ monthly magazine). Convenience does come at a price, of course! The property taxes in GR are some of the highest in the state and housing isn't inexpensive, but it is more affordable than towns such as Rumson, Short Hills etc...

[Lusitan]

Originally Posted by SuburbanNJRltr

See my post on Glenm Ridge, a one hour commute is totally doable.

No, it's not. Your inaccurate post is exactly the type of response to which my earlier post referred.

Glen Ridge to New York on NJ Transit is, at best, a 33 minute ride. To get to Wall St. you need to add at least another 30 minutes onto the commute. And then on the front end you've got to add the commute from home to the Glen Ridge train station, factor in the cushion time you need to make sure you catch your train, and then factor in all the inevitable little delays you will face when you commute day-in-day-out (heck, it sometimes takes minutes just to exit the train and get off the platform in New York).

There's no way that commute will be under an hour "door to door" as the OP asked about.

As you said, it's "doable" of course, meaning many people do it every day. I'm one of them. But we should be clear about what exactly is being "done" in a commute like that. And it's not an hour door-to-door; it's more likely between 75 and 90 minutes each way.

[SuburbanNJRltr]

Originally Posted by Lusitan

No, it's not. Your inaccurate post is exactly the type of response to which my earlier post referred.

Glen Ridge to New York on NJ Transit is, at best, a 33 minute ride. To get to Wall St. you need to add at least another 30 minutes onto the commute. And then on the front end you've got to add the commute from home to the Glen Ridge train station, factor in the cushion time you need to make sure you catch your train, and then factor in all the inevitable little delays you will face when you commute day-in-day-out (heck, it sometimes takes minutes just to exit the train and get off the platform in New York).

There's no way that commute will be under an hour "door to door" as the OP asked about.

As you said, it's "doable" of course, meaning many people do it every day. I'm one of them. But we should be clear about what exactly is being "done" in a commute like that. And it's not an hour door-to-door; it's more likely between 75 and 90 minutes each way.

Ah, but there are 2 train options from Glen Ridge. One goes to NY Penn and the other to Hoboken. Most folks who work on Wall St. take the train to Hoboken and then hop on the PATH or ferry from there and that puts them downtown in about an hour. As for getting to the train, Glen Ridge is a very small town and it takes approx. 10 mins. from almost any house in town whether it's on foot, the jitney or parking near the station (which, unlike most towns you CAN get a parking permit). In addition, there's the option to drive to Harrison via 280 and take the PATH. I'll give you that it may take a tad over 60 mins.to get all this in, but I haven't found a single other town in NJ that has a comparable school system and (relatively affordable) housing stock with such a convenient commute.

[Newarkbomb]

Nutley and Lyndhurst have good schools. But i have friends who went there and they said there was a lot of teasing and harrasing that went on over in that area.

[Lusitan]

Originally Posted by SuburbanNJRltr

Ah, but there are 2 train options from Glen Ridge. One goes to NY Penn and the other to Hoboken. Most folks who work on Wall St. take the train to Hoboken and then hop on the PATH or ferry from there and that puts them downtown in about an hour. As for getting to the train, Glen Ridge is a very small town and it takes approx. 10 mins. from almost any house in town whether it's on foot, the jitney or parking near the station (which, unlike most towns you CAN get a parking permit). In addition, there's the option to drive to Harrison via 280 and take the PATH. I'll give you that it may take a tad over 60 mins.to get all this in, but I haven't found a single other town in NJ that has a comparable school system and (relatively affordable) housing stock with such a convenient commute.

I have done the commute via Hoboken for many years, so I know all about it. You're still looking at the same commute.

I don't know Glen Ridge, but I'll take your word for it that you'll need 10 minutes to get from home to the train station (of course, you'll need to factor in some cushion time, if for no other reason than the fact that trains sometimes arrive/leave a couple minutes ahead of schedule, and your options are very limited from Glen Ridge).

Trains from Glen Ridge to Hoboken are on average 30 minutes; then you have to catch the PATH train from Hoboken to WTC which is a 10 minute trip itself, with at least 5 minutes worth of connection/waiting time (most likely more); right there you're at 55 minutes.

Ever walk from WTC to Wall St.? It's at least a 15 minute walk, nowadays generally even more based on where the WTC exit is located and the massive crowds there during morning rush hour. But say 15 minutes to be an optimist. And it's lovely when you have a minus 20 degree wind chill (which is why many people won't do it, and instead take the NJ Transit train to Penn Station and the subway down to the Wall St. station, at least from November thru March).

You're already at 70 minutes with nothing going wrong. Do the commute every day and see how often that happens.

The fact is, Glen Ridge may be a very nice town, but you need to plan for a commute between 75 and 90 minutes each way, every day. Anyone considering living there needs to go into it with a realistic idea of what the commute will be like; it's not an hour door-to-door.

I'm not trying to sell anyone anything.

[Newarkbomb]

Oh Secaucus would be a good idea too.

[veuvegirl]

Look at Maplewood/SO and Millburn. These are all an hour door to door for most of my friends that work in various part of NYC.