Commuting from Princeton to NYC (Dunellen, Princeton Junction: buy, living, professionals)

[labouche]

Is commuting from Princeton to NYC really terrible? I love the Princeton area, but my husband will have to commute to his job in Midtown East.

[Viralmd]

No, it's not that bad. But it's an hour or so to NYC (check the train schedule) and then he'll have to go crosstown. Lots of people do it every day. The problem comes with the Princeton Junction train station: there's a waiting list for parking that's several years long.

[kort677]

Originally Posted by labouche

Is commuting from Princeton to NYC really terrible? I love the Princeton area, but my husband will have to commute to his job in Midtown East.

your biggest headache will be finding parking at the train stations

[christina0001]

I think it is terrible, but a kagillion people do it so it can't be that bad.

[ehs]

Originally Posted by labouche

Is commuting from Princeton to NYC really terrible? I love the Princeton area, but my husband will have to commute to his job in Midtown East.

I know many colleagues doing so for many years... Princeton is a very nice town to live. You got brand new 3 story public library and numerous nice stores, and in particular, Princeton Univ, that has lots of seminars and concerts ...etc. Amtrak is faster than NJ Transit and fewer stops so timing wise not much difference.

[Viralmd]

But Amtrak is MUCH more expensive than a monthly NJ transit ticket and not all Amtrak trains stop at Princeton Junction.

[kort677]

Originally Posted by Viralmd

But Amtrak is MUCH more expensive than a monthly NJ transit ticket and not all Amtrak trains stop at Princeton Junction.

amtrak is more expensive and they no longer honor monthly tickets

[ehs]

True. In fact, many IT professionals no longer need to communte daily to office. e.g. one of my neighbor Raj at bldg 17 who working at Connecticuit, and when I asked him why he choose to live here. He said he only need to go to office once a week. one year later, I saw his BMW changed to Toyota Prius because he decided to drive than taking train because then his wife can go with him cheaper, and with priceline.com he was able to keep moving forward to visit many places there before coming home.

So, it should be similar to IT professionals living at Princeton area. So Amtrak monthly pass or not may not be that important.

One more case is at Dunellen Train Station, if you ride at off peak after around 9:30am you still see many IT professionals who dont buy monthly pass since they do not need to be offce by 9am.

I got an ex colleague at JP Morgan Chase living at Long Island only showed up once every two months!!! She never bought monthy pass ...

[nycrelo]

So for those without parking spaces at Princeton Junction - what are the options? Are there carpools, shuttle buses? A certain number of public spote? I am scared to take the leap, I hear nightmares of 7 year waiting periods....

[kort677]

Originally Posted by nycrelo

So for those without parking spaces at Princeton Junction - what are the options? Are there carpools, shuttle buses? A certain number of public spote? I am scared to take the leap, I hear nightmares of 7 year waiting periods....

people move there all the time and commute, maybe there are private lots or a black market in parking passes, some people also take the dinky from princeton.
A little local investigation would reveal the secrets the locals use to get parking