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My wife got a job in NJ, and I finally just managed to get one myself, but near Bayside, Queens. Am I insane for thinking that I could commute from NJ (Maplewood, South Orange, Morristown) by car?
My work schedule is flexible so I can commute in off hours rather than at rush hour, and I only have to work in the office 3-4 days a week, but the train/bus options still look to be 2 hours one way, and the driving option says an hour, which seems unlikely to me.
1) Will I go insane even though driving will be at non-peak times and not every day?
2) Alternatively, how bad is the train/bus commute? Can I actually get work done?
3) Are there towns similar in pricepoint and schools to Maplewood closer to the GWB?
We are not from the NYC area so I don't have a good idea what I really might be looking at here.
This would involve traversing the entirety of the Cross Bronx every single day at the worst possible time. The end of the GWB to the start of the Throg's Neck can easily be over an hour.
This would involve traversing the entirety of the Cross Bronx every single day at the worst possible time. The end of the GWB to the start of the Throg's Neck can easily be over an hour.
I could set my schedule to go at times other than rush hour, but I still figured that the online time estimations were inaccurate.
So is the train the way to go?
4 hrs on the train 3-4 days per week. If I could get work done this could be fine.
Even by train it's still a tough commute. You're looking at close to an hour train ride from those towns just to get to Manhattan. Bayside is really far out in Queens. It's almost Long Island. So you would have to transfer to the Long Island Railroad once you get to Penn station. From there it's probably another 30 minute train ride.
It's tough but doable, especially that you can go outside of rush hour. There are many people who haven't done it day in and day out that will tell you you're nuts but also there are thousands of people who have done it and are doing it.
I myself did a similar commute to Queens back then from Morris County and the trick was going after 9am, getting there after 10. After a while I totally avoided the GeeDub and Cross Bronx 99% of the time. That route carries not only the commuters but also all the I-95 Eastern Seaboard Maine to Florida traffic and trucks, etc.
I wound up sneaking through the Holland Hole in the wall, across Delancey St over the Willie B Bridge and up the BQE. That also makes it a single one way toll instead of double tolls.
Given that you can do it off hours and only a few days a week, should be very doable, but you WILL have LOTS of company. That whole island is infamous for 24/7 traffic.
It is theoretically possible to do this commute but it will be tough. However, if you can commute 3 times a week and drive outside of rush hour then it might be doable.
It is probably true that without any traffic, this commute is about an hour by car. In miles, it is probably not that far. But you have to traverse all the areas of NYC/NJ that has the densest population and really prone to horrible rush hour traffic.
You can do train commute during the rush hour. But it is probably at least two hours and you have to transfer between different transit agencies. It is going to be very expensive, not that car commute will be cheap.
Anyway, I would encourage you to avoid this situation as much as humanly possible.
I've seen the Cross Bronx Expressway eastbound at the intersection with the Major Deegan backed up at 5:30 in the morning. And when I mean backed up, I mean total standstill.
My wife did the opposite commute ( bayside to morristown) for a month before we moved upstate, but it took a toll on her.
Now I commute from upstate to the city,,, been doing it for 8+ years...
Know what you're getting into before you do it. And if u decide to commute like this, may I suggest you get satellite radio.
Costly commute in terms of money, time, and, a dangerous drive. Unless you.are someone who makes a.lot and get driven to work. Its insane the amount of inconvinence and waste of time sitting in traffic and paying outrageous tolls.
It sounds like people are pretty unanimous that I will need to take the train if I take this job.
The train looks to be about 450 or so a month, but it would allow us to only need one car, which would be nice.
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