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I am a young adult and I got a job in Cranford. The office seems to be off the beaten path - Commerce Drive. It isn't near the train station, but seems bus-able by NJ Transit. There doesn't seem to be a bike share or anything that would help out to get from the train station to the office. I don't want to give up any semblance of a social life and I was wondering what would be the best way to do this? Do you need to have a car to commute? Would Jersey City/Hoboken be too far? I am looking for sub-$1000/month rent - may need to get a roommate - and any way to use public transportation would be ideal as long as the commute isn't a nightmare (I've seen 1 hr & 15 min from some spots using Google Maps).
If you want to live in JC/Hoboken, you will need to drive. The commute by bus will be well over an hour with at least one transfer, if not multiple transfers.
Your rental budget is low, even to share an apartment. Not impossible, but don't expect much.
Yeah its about a 12 minute bicycle ride or a 30 minute walk from the Cranford RR station to that area.
I do see lots of offices and office buildings on and around that road so maybe they may have already figured out some alternatives but otherwise I would drive and there's many other towns to live in NJ outside of JC and Hobeytown. In fact those 2 towns turn me off, but that's me. And that's a hike you don't need every day
See what towns to the south go for for rent, Linden, Rahway, that's a direct line to New York but close enough to work that you'll be able to get home quickly when you slide down that brontosaurus back. Commerce Drive basically leads straight south anyway, and if you don't care about good schools don't live in the CFD. JC and Hoboken are going to be expensive because they're near NYC. Rahway, not so much. It all depends on how important that $1000 a month is.
Having walked it just the other day it's going to be about 25 minutes to get there if you're fast. You could also get a folding bike and take that on the train or get a regular one that you leave parked at the Cranford station, theft is basically unheard of for bikes. Uber would be about six or seven bucks, but that'll add up.
Sorry I wasn't aware what all the stations were in the area. Linden train station seems solid. Any other methods I should be aware of? Seems I'd still need to take the Path with a bike left at the station or folding bike if I decided to live anywhere near NYC.
Sorry I wasn't aware what all the stations were in the area. Linden train station seems solid. Any other methods I should be aware of? Seems I'd still need to take the Path with a bike left at the station or folding bike if I decided to live anywhere near NYC.
I would advise that you NOT leave a bike at the Linden station.
Linden and Cranford are geographically adjacent, but they are very different towns in almost every respect.
Yeah, I was suggesting if you live in the area to go someplace like Linden or Rahway and drive up instead of living in Cranford. If you were commuting from JC you'd PATH to Newark and then take the Raritan Valley Line to a bike stored in Cranford. Check Roselle Park or Union as well for housing. It's not a bad ride to NYC, it depends on how often you want to go have a social life there.
There's no point in storing a bike in Linden, it wouldn't last long and the ride is twice as long across highly trafficked streets.
I know here Commerce drive is in Cranford. Go find an apt nearby the area like Winfield Park or Kennilsworth then drive. There is no way in that area to depend on mass transit. Biking will get you killed in NJ especially that area with lots of high speed cars getting on/off GSP.
Looking further, so Raritan Valley does not go straight to Penn Station NY most of the time, rather going to Newark aside from mid-day and late night weekdays. Do you know if there are any plans to do so all the time? Seems like anything on that line is out of the question if I wanted to visit the NYC on weekends (which I would plan at least once a month).
It seems all these scenarios, if I live along the Corridor line, will demand I have a car since biking from Linden (closest station aside from Cranford) is really dangerous. Furthermore, it seems that monthly passes for the train make the cost of taking public transportation vs. owning a car a moot point. That's not even including parking, which I assume is more (leaving a car at Linden station for example). Only thing I can think of beside from that is living near a Corridor station while taking the bus to Cranford each day (the zones for monthly passes are really confusing)
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