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.
My husband is considering taking a job in Long Island City ... the train stop in the city would be Court Square -- the first stop in Queens. Ideally, we'd live in Queens, but we won't be able to navigate the school system quickly enough and our top priority are good schools for our then 11th grade and 8th grade kids. We used to live in NYC and are quite familiar with the subway system.
After schools, our second biggest criteria in ruling out towns are the commute. Combining these two criteria, we are looking at Montclair, Maplewood and/or South Orange.
From what I've read, there are more train stops in Montclair, but its a bit farther than from Maplewood and South Orange. I've also read the the New Jersey train is really unreliable, so that a scheduled train ride into Penn Station may be 35 minutes but in reality, it could and often is much longer. Since my husband would have to get from Penn Station to LIC, he'd be taking the E across town - which is also long.
So my question: Does anybody have real time, door-to-door information about typical total commute times from those three cities? Are there often delays? Can you usually get a seat? When it says 35, plus
I don't know if this will affect your decision much but if your husband is considering a job at Citi, I believe they're moving completely out of LIC and into Tribeca over the next 18 months.
Consider Nassau County to avoid travel through Manhattan. Nassau County is the most convenient way to commute from the suburbs to Long Island City.
From Nassau County, take the LIRR to Jamaica station, then transfer to the E subway. The ride between Jamaica and Court Square takes about 25 minutes.
Or transfer at Jamaica station to one of the dozen or so rush hour LIRR trains connecting Jamaica to Hunterspoint Avenue. The Jamaica-Hunterspoint Avenue trip takes about 15 minutes. A shuttle bus connects the LIRR Hunterspoint Avenue station to the Citi building in Long Island City.
Some LIRR trains go direct from Nassau County stations to Hunterspoint Avenue, so a one-seat ride is possible.
Getting to LIC doesn't sound crazy. I'm in South Orange and I know several people in SO or Maplewood that work in Downtown Brooklyn or DUMBO and no one thinks they are crazy or anything.
My wife's train which leaves just before 7am is pretty much always on time. My 8:05 train pretty much never is - up to 10 minutes late is normal for me. You do need to allow time for connections and walking after you get out of the subway. As well as time to get to the train station on the NJ side. Also, NJT is pretty prone to have something go wrong and delay you beyond what is normal. You have to be able to accept that on occasion.
The trains are at least comfortable. I always set a seat in the morning, and getting a seat in the afternoon is not difficult unless you're arriving to the station close to the departure time.
Montclair is a tad longer of a ride. 10-20 minutes longer depending on what part of town you're talking about.
Montclair trains pull in about 5-10 minutes late in the mornings. If you want a house by a train station many go for 10-25% over teaser ask and generally takes a long time to win a bid on a house. They go Best and final with blind bids. Taxes were just reassessed too since the real estate is up dramatically. A 2000 SF house may be 699k ask, 850k sold with low 20k in taxes. The town has kind of blew up since 2015 and it’s very competitive. My true door to door from Glen Ridge to midtown realtically is about 1 hr 20 min. To get to LIC would easily be an 1 40 commute. And I’m a few stops closer on the montclair train line. It would be a major headache to 1 purchase a house and 2 deal with that commute. Real estate in Montclair has caught up a bit to garden city prices, maybe inside of 75%. But the effective taxes are less in garden city. From what I understand garden city has pretty easy parking at the station and would probably save at least an 1 hr a day in round trip commuting.
I guess what I’m saying is that the cost of living in Montclair is now comparable to many nice towns in Nassau with good schools. Can’t speak much to maplewood or SO. They are less than montclair and are not as competitive
Montclair trains are about 5-10 minutes late in the mornings. If you want a house by a train station many go for 10-25% over teaser ask and generally takes a long time to win and bid on a house. They go Best and final. Taxes were just reassessed too since the real estate is up dramatically. Ie 699k ask, 850k sold with low 20k in taxes. The town has kind of blew up since 2015 and it’s very competitive. My door to door from Glen Ridge to midtown realtically is about 1 hr 20 min. To get to LIC would easily be an 1 40 commute. It would be a major headache to 1 purchase a house and 2 deal with that commute. Real estate in Montclair has caught up a bit to garden city prices, maybe inside of 75%. But the effective taxes are less in garden city. From what I understand garden city has pretty easy parking at the station and would probably save at least an 1 hr a day in round trip commuting.
wow. This is the kind of information that is super helpful. THANK YOU!!
Getting to LIC doesn't sound crazy. I'm in South Orange and I know several people in SO or Maplewood that work in Downtown Brooklyn or DUMBO and no one thinks they are crazy or anything.
My wife's train which leaves just before 7am is pretty much always on time. My 8:05 train pretty much never is - up to 10 minutes late is normal for me. You do need to allow time for connections and walking after you get out of the subway. As well as time to get to the train station on the NJ side. Also, NJT is pretty prone to have something go wrong and delay you beyond what is normal. You have to be able to accept that on occasion.
The trains are at least comfortable. I always set a seat in the morning, and getting a seat in the afternoon is not difficult unless you're arriving to the station close to the departure time.
Montclair is a tad longer of a ride. 10-20 minutes longer depending on what part of town you're talking about.
A commute from Montclair or South Orange to LIC is completely ridiculous. I wouldn't even remotely consider a commute that involves taking multiple trains and crossing 2 rivers. I know there may be people out there that do it, but that does not make it a sane or reasonable commute. Your husband will never see his kids with this commute. Just something to consider. Long Island or even lower Westchester would be more reasonable options.
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.
