Tell me about Bay Ridge

[NYEconomist]

What do you want to know?

You can access the city via the R train. A little known system is also the commuter bus. This is different from the normal bus system. It costs $5 per ride and it was the way I got into Manhattan. Can't stand the subways!

You want to live as close to Shore Rd as possible. But, 86th Street is probably an area you want to avoid. There are nice little houses in the 70-80s between 3rd Ave and Shore Rd. South of 86th St is really considered Ft Hamilton, but most people just include it in their definition of Bay Ridge. South of 86th st are a lot more apartment buildings.

The food is overrated. It pains me to say that, but it's true. My father's family is from the area, and the food was a lot better years and years ago. A lot of the famous restaurants like Aerio's are a shell of their former self. Good pizza doesn't exist except for Goodfellas. Anyone who argues this usually hasn't been to the area in years or had their taste buds burnt off as a child. The main shopping area is 86th street, which used to be a beautiful place and is just full of run down thrift stores like Century 21 and Brand outlets like Verizon or Circuit City nowadays.

On the plus side, the parks that run parallel to Shore Rd are beautiful and the promenade is great for a nice walk during the warmer months. The views of the bridge are spectacular and the area isn't as ridiculously overpriced as some other areas of Brooklyn. Not a lot of vandalism, crime, or bad behavior except when the bars empty out. We moved there a few years ago, because it was the only part of Brooklyn where I felt my wife was safe to walk from the subway to my doorstep late at night.

A lot of older people live in Bay Ridge. It's what is know as an NORC, or naturally ocurring retirement community. Meaning there won't be a lot of loud noise and ruckuss going on, but people might complain you have your TV too loud at the ridiculous hour of 10pm at night

Access to Manhattan via car is quite easy. Jump on the Belt, get on the Gowanus, go through the tunnel. It can all be accomplished in 5 minutes without traffic.

[anders]

Originally Posted by tomonlineli

What do you want to know?

You can access the city via the R train. A little known system is also the commuter bus. This is different from the normal bus system. It costs $5 per ride and it was the way I got into Manhattan. Can't stand the subways!
...
Access to Manhattan via car is quite easy. Jump on the Belt, get on the Gowanus, go through the tunnel. It can all be accomplished in 5 minutes without traffic.

I can appreciate your enthusiasm for Bay Ridge ... but a bunch of us went over this (with varying degrees of 2-cents'-worth) -- and,
for the OP, at least, the transit hassle would outweigh pluses.

BR is terrific if you spend most of your time thereabouts, work at the bottom-tip of Manhattan, are self-employed/freelance, and-or have some great tradeoff for the transit -- a "wow!" home that you couldn't get elsewhere, or you grew up there, or inherited a house, or want to live there post-retirement, or can't imagine _not_ living there.

But the express bus stops aren't convenient for everyone; the bus is twice-plus the subway fare; some subwaying is inevitable if you work above Wall St.; and the subway waits can totally chew up time.
Plus, not everyone can, or wants to, drive in, then find and pay for a day's parking. Also -- "without traffic," tons of things in NYC would just take 5 minutes, but traffic _happens_! And at rush hour, that via-tunnel drive to lowermost Manhattan is at least 30 mins, barring complications.

Since the OP's husband works in the West 70s, his door-to-door commute would be an hour-plus with express bus plus subway. With subway alone, it'd be more like 90 mins -- with return trip of up to two hours if it was a late post-rush time or if there was some glitch.
BR also wouldn't be an A-1 idea if the family is heavily into "doing" Manhattan on weekends, since that's when the commute takes longer, and when the MTA does track work (with related reroutings or extra transfers).

So BR is fine in itself, and fine for many people ... but it didn't sound like what the OP was looking for, and I'd hate to lead someone astray.

[Irish Eyes]

Originally Posted by anders

BR also wouldn't be an A-1 idea if the family is heavily into "doing" Manhattan on weekends, since that's when the commute takes longer, and when the MTA does track work (with related reroutings or extra transfers).

Excellent point. I go to Manhattan more often on the weekends now that I live in NJ than I did when I lived in Bay Ridge. The R train often doesn't run at all on the weekends and the express bus schedule is shaky. Meaning they don't stick to the schedule at all. The MTA also tries to do away with weekend express bus service every year.

[anders]

Originally Posted by Irish Eyes

Excellent point. I go to Manhattan more often on the weekends now that I live in NJ than I did when I lived in Bay Ridge. The R train often doesn't run at all on the weekends and the express bus schedule is shaky. Meaning they don't stick to the schedule at all. The MTA also tries to do away with weekend express bus service every year.

I've found the weekend R to be okay within Brooklyn ... but in Manhattan, it might skip stations, get rerouted, or not run beyond wherever, depending on MTA-maintenance-of-the-moment. When other trains also are rerouted, a simple R-plus-another-train trip can become a four-(or-more)-train safari.

Whether weekend or weekday -- you can get used to the R-commute, to allowing extra time, and to staying on top of MTA changes. However, I'd never call it a fast hop, especially if it's to Mid or Upper Manhattan, and-or on weekends.