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We are re-locating to NJ/NY to for a job in Midtown Manhattan, around E 66th St & Lexington. This board has been so helpful. However, I need help assessing total transit time.
For example, we looked at Summit, since it's 46 minutes one way, according to NJ Transit's timetable. However, I found an article that claims it's more like 90 minutes one way. A big difference!
The gist of the article is that you can't just look at time on train. There's also time spent getting above ground, catching a long red light and missing a train, finding parking etc.
For those of you who live this in real life, how much time do the above "incidentals" add to your commute? Can a 45-minute train ride really become 90 minutes and how often does that happen?
In addition, are there any quality of life things I should consider--for example, can you usually find a seat during rush hour? Are the trains mostly on time and nice rides?
Thank you very much for any insight. I will try to simulate the commute on a visit, but even then, I fear that summer vacation is not a great time to do so.
Ideally, I'd like to find something with a <60 minute door-to-door commute. Hoboken is also on the list, as well as Brooklyn. Though, this is probably something for another thread.
Well, sure. The train ride itself may be 46 minutes but you absolutely have to factor in getting to the station, then getting to work from NY Penn.
I don't work in the city at this point but I frequently take the train from Linden to NYP for things like ball games and general hanging out in the city. The ride is about 35-45 minutes. However, to get to Linden from my home in Cranford I give myself 20 minutes because there are a lot of lights in downtown Linden on the way to the station. Also, I have to pay to park and before I had the NJT app, buy train tickets. 20 minutes in advance is a solid and safe time for me, where I live and where I'm going. So yes factors like traffic getting to the station and parking and then physically getting to your job from the train do lengthen the commute, but this would be true no matter where you choose to live. If you chose to live in the city, a factor would be how far from a subway station do you live? How long is that walk? How far from work does the nearest train bring you? How's the weather today? etc.
90 minutes sounds like a lot to me from Summit but I gues it depends on where you're going once in the city.
When I lived in Harrison: From the Harrison train station, I could be door-to-door Midtown Manhattan in 35 minutes (catching all trains exactly on time... and, to be fair, I lived next to the train station). At most, though, it would take me 50 minutes. Average time about 45 minutes. (Harrison to WTC is 18 minutes).
From Ironbound (Newark). There's a bus (#108) that goes from Ferguson and Market street to Port Authority bus station in midtown (total travel time is 30 minutes).
Newark Penn station to WTC is 22 minutes. From WTC to midtown (depending on which train you take, and where you need to be) is another 15 - 20 minutes on the train. With the WTC transportation hub now open transfers are EXTREMELY easy.
Personally, if I needed to be in Midtown, I would stick to places in NJ that are close to the city and easy transportation (Newark, Harrison, Jersey City... Clifton, etc.)
Let's allow 15 min from the time you close the front door at your house til the time you board the train in Summit. In that time you'll have to get to the station, park (if you're driving to the station) and get on the platform with a minute or two to spare before the train you want arrives.
46 min on the train to Penn Station.
5 min to get off the train and walk slowly with the crowd up the stairs.
Then you have choices.
Let's start with choice 1.
Walk 7 minutes from Penn Station to 34/Herald Sq subway station.
Wait 5 min (more or less) for a Queens-bound F train.
Ride the F train for about 10 min to 63/Lex
5 min to exit the subway station, walk up to 66 St.
5 min to wait for the elevator, ride up, get to desk.
Total time: 1 h 28 min
Or, from Penn Station
Wait 5 min (more or less) for a Queens-bound E train and ride for 8 min to Lex/53.
Wait 5 min (more or less) for Bronx-bound 6 train.
Ride 6 train for 5 min to 68/Hunter College
5 min to exit the subway and walk down to 66 St.
5 min to wait for the elevator, ride up, get to desk.
Total time: 1 h 39 min (but a little less walking)
There are apps and Google Maps that will do these calcs for you and find the quickest option based on he specific time you're traveling.
Understand that so many people rolling up into the NJ forum want that magical <60-minute commute that it's become a joke. It's just not realistic in most cases. Simply put, you've got a big city on a small island with a finite number of ways to cross the water.
Your situation is even more time-consuming because you're going to the east side. Take time to study a map a bit, and you'll see that northern NJ runs west of Manhattan. Once you get into a train or bus terminal on the west side of Manhattan from NJ, you've got to figure out how you're going to get north and east to where you need to be.
Leave the denial stage and move to acceptance. An hour and ten, hour and twenty door to desk is not a bad commute at all. I did that for years, and it's very manageable. I've also done an hour and 45 and two hours. That sucks the life out of you.
Anyway, good luck, but go into your search realistically. Fooling yourself only leads to frustration down the road.
Since I commute every day from South Orange to Manhattan I can share my normal timetable:
7:44 AM - Leave house to catch Jitney on the corner
7:47 AM - Get on Jitney to train station
8:05 AM - Board train (assuming it's on time)
8:45 AM - Arrive Penn Station (it's supposed to arrive at 8:37, maybe arrives at that time once or twice a year. Usually gets in sometime between 8:45 and 8:50).
8:50 AM - Escape Penn Station. It can feel like it takes longer, but it's around 5 minutes.
9:10 AM - Arrive work. I work on 26th and 11th, so it's a long walk.
-
So my commute balloons from the '35 minutes' that real estate agents say to '86 minutes' in real life. And South Orange is quite a few stops closer than Summit. Obviously, it doesn't help that I work so far from Penn Station in an area without very good connections.
I could trim this a little by biking to the station (I could leave my house 10 minutes later), moving to the doors when the train is arriving (maybe save 3 minutes off the escape time) and taking Citibike to the office (can cut the 20 minute walk to 10 minutes). So if I really cared about being aggressive in the mornings I could probably make it in just over 60 minutes door to door. (I could also get a job closer to Penn Station!)
Fortunately, I don't have any problems getting a seat in the mornings. I have never had to stand on the way to work. Things can be a little different on the way back, but as long as you are at Penn when the tracks are announced you should have no problem getting a seat. If you're a late arriver or something is wrong with the train service then you might have to stand on the way home.
Needless to say, Summit to 66th & Lex is never going to be the world's shortest commute. Something on Metro North could be better.
As others have said, to that location you're almost assured of a 75-90 minute commute unless you're wanting to live in Hoboken/JC or a few other towns much closer.
Take the 88 minute option posted above and make it a best case scenario: you buy a house right near town in Summit so you only need 5 minute to get to the train, you learn which car to sit in and try to be one of the first ones off the train (save 2-3 min), you walk fast and become adept at dodging humans and cars (save 2 min), the F is there exactly when you arrive and you know which car to get into for a quick exit, and your building has lots of elevators. That could get you down to around 63 minutes.
But that best case scenario is a) stressful and b) generally unrealistic. It might happen occasionally but even in that perfect world 70 min is more realistic.
We haven't even mentioned the days where the train stops outside the tunnel for 5-10 minutes, or the train pulls up to a platform at the same time Amtrak is boarding and it actually does take 5-10 min to get above ground, or the subway has issues. Even worse is on the trip home when you leave work on time and you're excited to get home at a decent time and then the subway is 7 minutes late and you miss your train because of it.
Sorry for being a bit negative, but too many people live in fantasy land about what type of commute is possible or lie to themselves about it even after doing it for years.
If you're considering Brooklyn then I would check out Queens since that would be a way better commute. Brooklyn would obviously be better than Summit, but riding the 6 every day isn't fun either.
I live in NJ and I like it very much. But if I worked in midtown east and worked late hours, I think I would greatly prefer a train that goes into Grand Central Station. I live in NJ now and have to go to midtown for projects at times and I'd say it tacks on an extra 20 minutes to my normal downtown commute. Just for fun, here's my normal day from Springfield NJ:
Leave house: 6:54am
Get to jitney: 6:58am (leaves at 7)
Train to Short Hills: 7:06 to Hoboken
Arrive at Hoboken: 7:38
Hoboken PATH to WTC: 7:54
Walk from PATH to office: arrive around 8:00 - 8:04
All in all, 65-70 minutes which is very manageable. May not be as much going to 66 and Lex. Hell, when I lived in Manhattan it would take me 30 min to get to that location.
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