[random1y]

Hi everyone,

Apologies if this has been beaten like a dead horse at this point (and if it has, please let me know the best past forums on this).

My wife and I both work in NYC and are thinking of moving to lower Fairfield county. I'm interested in hearing the ugly (or maybe not so ugly) truth about how long it takes to get to Grand Central on a daily basis. Interested in any stories from Fairfield and west. Wilton, New Canaan, Stamford (Springdale, Glenbrook too), Greenwich are all possibilities.

Basically, how good or bad are the driving portions of commutes to each station? How reliable has the train been lately? And of course, how's the parking situation?

I've heard all sorts of stories when meeting people her and there and there's not always much consistency, which makes me think it's partly dependent on what time you leave. Looking to survery as many as possible.

Thanks!

[sesasheep]

I do Stamford to Grand Central ~2 times per week and it's a pretty reliable 47-48 minutes(Used to be 42-43 before all the restrictions and construction started a few years ago) on the express(if there aren't delays), and a few more if you end up on the semi-express(Usually more availability of seats on those though). Parking at the station is a mess though, the waitlist for a monthly in the main garage is years long, and daily parking will fill up sometime over the course of the morning. There are two other garages in the area(Metro Center and the newly opened Gateway) which have monthly parking, but both are much more expensive. Stamford is nice for commuting because basically every train from up the line stops there(there are a few exceptions, but not many), and then most of them run express to GCT, so you've got an express basically every 10 minutes during rush hour plus plenty more semi-expresses and locals, so if they're running late you can just hop on the earlier one that's late.

I live ~2 miles from the train so it's an easy drive, no complaints there. Takes me about 10 minutes at it's worst.

[jesse_f]

Might as well start from the East, so here it goes...

I've been doing the Fairfield Metro - GC commute for a little over two years now.

Parking is easy there, you'll get a spot no problem. Driving to the station will depend obviously on from where and when you're going. The MTA schedule tables are fairly accurate, maybe add an extra 5 min total for Metro - GC to what's posted. At least that's been my experience. Delays happen, but prob no less than what you'd experience via a driving commute to/from any other 70-80 minute commute. This past Friday sucked, with the SoNo bridge out for a bit, that put the trip home at 2.5 hours. Otherwise it's fairly smooth sailing.

Also don't forget to include the GC -> your offices time/variables. I have it easy, I live a mile from Metro and work an 8 min walk to GC, so that keeps things simple.

[NewJeffCT]

it's not always dependent on when you leave - I've been in NYC and leaving at 12:30/1pm in the afternoon and gotten buried in at least an extra hour of traffic. (And, no this was not a Friday afternoon in the summer...)

If you take the train from Greenwich or Stamford, it's usually pretty reliable (though, they've had some issues in the past year or so) and not a bad trip into Grand Central. From Stamford, you have a very busy schedule of trains that take anywhere from 45 minutes to 65 minutes to go from station to station.

But, you also need to account for time from your home to the train station, parking and then walking to the right platform. And, of course, going from Grand Central to your offices in NYC as well.

[Bluderby]

I live about three miles from the train station in Greenwich. It's an 8-10 minute drive to the train and $5 for the meter. I leave by 6:30 am so there's no traffic. Train usually arrives on time; no more than 3 minutes late on a normal day. I've heard if you live in North Stamford the drive to the train station may be 15+ minutes. Alternatively, I've heard if you live in South Wilton, you can get to South Norwalk train within 15 minutes.

[Mike 75]

How long of a commute are you willing to put up with? Obviously Greenwich will have a shorter train transit time than Fairfield, but you also need to factor in the transit time to and from the station, plus to and from your office and GCT. It can very easily get to 2 hours each way, depending on where you live. Lately, MN has had issues with its service, some of them severe. IMO, MN has gone downhill in the last 5 years, so much so that I rarely use it as a commuting option to my office in Stamford. YMMV.

Some things to consider

Parking - there are years long waitlists at many New Haven line stations. What this means is that until you are get off the waitlist, you will have to get to the station early enough to get one of the limited daily parking spots. This tends to be less of an issue on the New Canaan and Danbury branch lines.

Frequency of service - the branch lines may offer more parking and shorter commutes to and from the station, but they run less trains than on the main line, and outside of rush hour, you may have to switch trains to access these lines. This may not be an issue if your hours are predictable. The stations directly on the New Haven line have more service than the branch lines, but some have more frequent service than others. Smaller stations like Greens Farms, Southport and Rowayton have less frequent service than South Norwalk, Westport and Fairfield.

IME, South Norwalk is the station with the best balance of parking and frequency of service.

[DCTMOFF]

My better half has done Darien. Wait listed 10 years before we received parking pass. He is English, so he would say its Damn unreliable, hot or cold (depending what you do NOT want it to be), full of crazy drunks, and broken a lot of the time. When it works, He is at about an hour, an hour + 5. But, to get more choices, he sometimes parks in Stamford and grabs those trains. Then, he is stuck on 95 for the back 8 miles home for 30 minutes. Pick your poison. Driving in seems temping, then you do it and wish you hadn't because the President is visiting or the UN is in session. Oh, and they got rid of the booze cab.