Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm enjoying this thread and your (MQ's) perspective since you work in the industry. There's been talk in NYC that developers should contribute more to the MTA since new apartments and office buildings result in the overcrowding of the subways (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/n...state-nyc.html). Maybe the Kushner companies should pony up for PATH improvements while they build out JC (fat chance). Developers are benefitting from easy access to the PATH but aren't contributing back.
I left north Jersey and moved out west when the opportunity presented itself - the decrepit infrastructure was one of the main reasons I decided to leave the area. I didn't have to commute into NYC daily but I had to go in often enough. I had a straw that broke the camel's back day and said "enough". Five hours round-trip to lower Manhattan around Wall Street - it was a nice spring day so no weather related delays. As noted up-thread, suburban office parks have bled ~100k jobs in the past decade. I much preferred that commute versus going into NYC, but opportunities were diminishing in NJ and rapidly increasing in NYC and JC. I fly a lot for work too and EWR is always a mess between delays and long security lines even for Pre-Check compared to other airports. When I was at terminal C of EWR last month the security line extended from the third floor to the second floor almost going out the door.
We're very happy where we moved to although if not for the infrastructure problems there's a good chance we wouldn't have had the idea to leave the area and we'd still be productive taxpaying citizens in NJ. We're the type of residents NJ can't afford to lose (pay our taxes, use little in the way of services and no kids in schools). If I were to lose my remote job or if I need to make a change then I would take a pay cut before dealing with commuting into NYC.
Interesting story. If I were younger and still had a substantial part of a career ahead of me, I would consider leaving NJ at this point also.
You'd THINK that two terrorist attacks would have been the straw that broke the camel's back for me. By then I was too deep into the NY state retirement system, and I am glad I stuck it out.
Eventually I too will be leaving New Jersey. Not 100% sure yet for where--I had some ideas, then life tossed me a pleasant complication with a Canadian connection, so I spend some time there. I won't be going anywhere permanently as long my mother is still with us, though. She will be 90 this year and I am in the best position of my siblings to be her advocate.
Eventually I too will be leaving New Jersey. Not 100% sure yet for where--I had some ideas, then life tossed me a pleasant complication with a Canadian connection, so I spend some time there. I won't be going anywhere permanently as long my mother is still with us, though. She will be 90 this year and I am in the best position of my siblings to be her advocate.
Yeah, there are times I wouldn't mind leaving this state, but my parents live here and I wouldn't feel right leaving them alone after my sister went to Illinois and my brother went to North Carolina.
It's nothing to do with more riders. The signals aren't working so there are far fewer trains running. I take the PATH from Newark Penn every day, when I started taking it in January, rush hour trains were 3-4 minutes apart, now they're 6 or 7 minutes apart, and the platform overflows with riders before the trains even get there. I feel bad for JSQ riders, the trains are packed like sardine cans.
It's both. Because they would run an empty train every 25mins from NWK to JSQ to become a 33rd train. During that gap, the platforms fills up and takes 3 trains to clear up and every hour there's a bad period such as 7:25, 8:25, 9:25 where it gets packed.
Any delays in between causes huge crowds once those Express trains dump a few hundred people off.
Imagine 300+ tries to get into one PATH train at NWK?
Yeah, there are times I wouldn't mind leaving this state, but my parents live here and I wouldn't feel right leaving them alone after my sister went to Illinois and my brother went to North Carolina.
We're all not far away--I am one of seven kids, six still living, everyone in NJ except a sister in the Poconos.
However, my mother lives in the house my parents had built the year before I was born, and my two surviving brothers live with her. Both have health issues--one brother has a bad heart, the other a degenerating spine. They cook for her and one does laundry and the one with the heart problem has a gf who comes over and cleans sometimes and also cooks. This way my mom can stay in her home.
But sometimes she needs a daughter, and my oldest sister's husband has MS and is in a wheelchair now, so she is already a full-time caregiver, the sister in the Poconos had a stroke a few years ago and doesn't travel much, and my younger sister has the same kidney disease as my mother so tires easily and still has some years to go before she can retire.
I am not complaining, mind you. I had to work and never brought my daughter to daycare because my mother took care of her after school. It's my turn to pay her back, and it's just the way things shook out.
Interesting story. If I were younger and still had a substantial part of a career ahead of me, I would consider leaving NJ at this point also.
You'd THINK that two terrorist attacks would have been the straw that broke the camel's back for me. By then I was too deep into the NY state retirement system, and I am glad I stuck it out.
Eventually I too will be leaving New Jersey. Not 100% sure yet for where--I had some ideas, then life tossed me a pleasant complication with a Canadian connection, so I spend some time there. I won't be going anywhere permanently as long my mother is still with us, though. She will be 90 this year and I am in the best position of my siblings to be her advocate.
My dad did the commute for 30 years and the straw that broke the camel's back for him was the blackout in '03. On 9/11 and the day of the blackout he got home at like 1 a.m. I've read that commute (or lack thereof) significantly contributes or degrades happiness which certainly makes sense - apparently 45 minutes is the cutoff. No wonder why the vibe in the northeast is hurried and impatient. I realized I spent less time in transit flying weekly to California for projects versus commuting in and out of NYC every day - plus I got airline, hotel and credit card points to boot which I didn't get commuting.
One time while stuck at the PABT due to some sort of delay I was chatting with the guy in front of me in line. He said he loved having a long commute and hated working near home because he enjoyed the time away from his family - to each their own. I guess I have a low tolerance for a long commute.
It was very slow this morning on the NWK-WTC line after Journal Square. It seems as if we went 20 feet, then stopped for a minute, over and over. I think we are going to have to learn to expect it to be that way.
Fortunately, I'm winding down and only work part-time. I am too old for this commuting nonsense and have done it long enough, so the day may not be far off when I pack it in for good. For those of you who have some work years ahead, good luck. The next decade or so should bring a lot of messes as the PABT project gets going, the Gateway project eventually gets going, the LT Helix project gets going, and the HT resiliency work is done.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to build this city on an island?
So you will still be affected by it, even if you work part time.
But what scares me is if even one of the existing Hudson River tubes deteriorates further and will have to be closed. That would be really be absolute commuting hell that can not be easily remedied by other modes of transportation...
So you will still be affected by it, even if you work part time.
I'm aware.
Ironically, the fact that the LT Helix and the other projects I mentioned are coming up is why I have this part-time job in the first place.
However, I thought it was clear that I meant for years into the future. I work a couple of days a week, a couple of weeks a month, and if commuting gets that onerous, I will just not work anymore. Which I may decide to do one of these days anyway. The only child's school loans are finally paid off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DefiantNJ
But what scares me is if even one of the existing Hudson River tubes deteriorates further and will have to be closed. That would be really be absolute commuting hell that can not be easily remedied by other modes of transportation...
I'm guessing you're referring to the tunnels to NY Penn and not the PATH tubes?
Yes it would. That scares everyone. With two tunnels operational, they can handle twenty trains an hour. With one tunnel operational, it's six. Saw a presentation on Gateway recently, complete with diagrams.
As a sidebar, what was interesting was how uneven the elevation of the floor of the Hudson is in that part of the river.
I'm enjoying this thread and your (MQ's) perspective since you work in the industry. There's been talk in NYC that developers should contribute more to the MTA since new apartments and office buildings result in the overcrowding of the subways (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/n...state-nyc.html). Maybe the Kushner companies should pony up for PATH improvements while they build out JC (fat chance). Developers are benefitting from easy access to the PATH but aren't contributing back.
I left north Jersey and moved out west when the opportunity presented itself - the decrepit infrastructure was one of the main reasons I decided to leave the area. I didn't have to commute into NYC daily but I had to go in often enough. I had a straw that broke the camel's back day and said "enough". Five hours round-trip to lower Manhattan around Wall Street - it was a nice spring day so no weather related delays. As noted up-thread, suburban office parks have bled ~100k jobs in the past decade. I much preferred that commute versus going into NYC, but opportunities were diminishing in NJ and rapidly increasing in NYC and JC. I fly a lot for work too and EWR is always a mess between delays and long security lines even for Pre-Check compared to other airports. When I was at terminal C of EWR last month the security line extended from the third floor to the second floor almost going out the door.
We're very happy where we moved to although if not for the infrastructure problems there's a good chance we wouldn't have had the idea to leave the area and we'd still be productive taxpaying citizens in NJ. We're the type of residents NJ can't afford to lose (pay our taxes, use little in the way of services and no kids in schools). If I were to lose my remote job or if I need to make a change then I would take a pay cut before dealing with commuting into NYC.
Thanks for the insightful reply For all of your posts, I see why you have a low reputation if this is representative of your contributions.
tl;dr version - I left NJ as a direct result of the decrepit infrastructure. NJ risks losing more productive citizens if something isn’t done about it. The NJ Transit / AMTrak rail tunnels are on borrowed time held together with duct tape and chewing gum. PATH is overcrowded, the helix is undergoing major construction. Yet suburban NJ is bleeding jobs. This doesn’t bode well for the future of NJ if serious measures aren’t taken but the policitcal will to come up with the funding seems to be non-existent.
Last edited by Cubicle Dweller; 06-13-2018 at 03:22 PM..
Problem with commuting to and from New Jersey by rail is once the rail to ferry system was dismantled, everything was pushed through two sets of tunnels; PATH or the PRR North River portals.
State of New Jersey owns all of the former CNJ rail ROW along with a good amount from other now defunct railroads. However little to none is truly useable to increase service between NJ and NYC because of the bottleneck that has always existed; crossing North River.
Even the much anticipated (by some) restoration of Lackawanna Cutoff isn't going to be of much use commuting wise.
The real sad thing is that rail as part of GWB was killed off in favor of adding more motor vehicle capacity.
There needs to be not just another crossing under (or over) Hudson River, but another approach besides the packed PATH and former PRR mainline to the tunnels.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
By then I was too deep into the NY state retirement system, and I am glad I stuck it out. 
For all of your posts, I see why you have a low reputation if this is representative of your contributions. 
