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I was thinking of moving to New Jersey - somewhere along the so-called Midtown Direct train. So I recently tried a sample commute back and forth from Summit during rush hours. My god was that thing slow - stopping, starting. Came in late, left late - I guess that's par for the course. And maybe it's manageable but... Penn Station is a bloody horror show! It's packed, dirty, smells awful, looks terrible, has a bunch of low-rent looking businesses, homeless everywhere. All these commuters standing around staring at screens waiting for train assignments, sweaty, tired, and anxious - and then dashing like a pack of rats to these narrow rat holes that lead to the platform. What a terrible waste of a life. And what a difference from Grand Central Station. Shame. Can't believe people use this facility, day after day, year after year.
Hey, there's a strategy for staring at those screens! I've been doing that commute everyday for 9yrs. Depending on what time you are commuting, there is an express train that goes from NY Penn and doesn't stop till South Orange. From there it's about 4 or so stops to Summit.
"Dirty", "Smells Awful" - Really? I find it to be okay. I regularly see building maintenance cleaning and doing their thing. They just installed new 2-way escalators at the 8th and 31st street entrance.
All in all, it beats driving or taking the NY buses. And at least we have a job to commute to
Haha I commute through there but I never have to waite because my schedule fits perfectly with my work. The only part u see bums are on the benches just outside the amtrak/greyhound area. The trains can be slow some days, like when a train in front of it is stalled a few minutes or they have to waite for a faster train to get in front, but I'm yet to have a train break on me. Just a week ago, there was a train that broke down at Newark Penn, and the train behind it (my train) was told to make room for 600 passengers from the other train, going into NY, luckily Newark was where I had to get off. I didn't know these things held 600 anddd some?
Well that's good to hear I guess. Maybe I should try it again. It wasn't the commute that bothered me as much as Penn Station. Place feels clausterphobic. Swarming ants everywhere. But I guess you just get used to it. The price you pay I suppose.
I was thinking of moving to New Jersey - somewhere along the so-called Midtown Direct train. So I recently tried a sample commute back and forth from Summit during rush hours. My god was that thing slow - stopping, starting. Came in late, left late - I guess that's par for the course. And maybe it's manageable but... Penn Station is a bloody horror show! It's packed, dirty, smells awful, looks terrible, has a bunch of low-rent looking businesses, homeless everywhere. All these commuters standing around staring at screens waiting for train assignments, sweaty, tired, and anxious - and then dashing like a pack of rats to these narrow rat holes that lead to the platform. What a terrible waste of a life. And what a difference from Grand Central Station. Shame. Can't believe people use this facility, day after day, year after year.
I don't like Penn Station NY either and avoid it if possible (I take NJ Transit to PATH to the WTC currently). Because I've twice had to haul ass out of a building hit by terrorists, I am always aware of exits and evacuation strategies. Disembarking on one of those dungeon-like platforms with trains on either side of me and the "swarming ants" packed so closely that moving up the stairs is at a snail's pace, I realized that if anything happens down there, a lot of people are dead. There's no alternate way out.
I go through Penn Station everyday from Long Island...yeah I agree, it's a dump...but I like where I live, so it's ok. I mean yeah I could move to Queens or Brooklyn or something but I wouldn't be happy there...so I just endure it for now.
Grand Central is beautiful. We had a company christmas party @ a bar there called Metrazur...such a classy nice place.
I hate Penn and the drone commute from there. I too live in LI, but unlike JDawg, I hate it. So I am moving to JC, where I only have to endure 20 minutes on the PATH.
It is amazing that people sit there, waiting to leap into action watching the screens, then there is the mad rush, and if you wait 2 minutes, you get a seat anyway. I always laugh at people. I just watch, when my track comes up, I walk, and then I sit. No reason to push, shove and be rude.
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