Summit, Ridgewood, or Westfield commute to Tribeca (Newark, Hoboken: house, transfer)
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.
We are considering moving to Summit, Ridgewood, or Westfield from the city and I'm looking for any advice on realistic commutes from these towns to Tribeca, where my husband works. His office is a few blocks north of the World Financial Center along the west side highway. I'm assuming he would want to bypass Penn and take a PATH train to downtown or even take the Liberty ferry? Is the commute better (shorter) from one of these towns than the others?
Any other thoughts on the differences between these towns would be appreciated! We are a couple with one 7-year old moving from Brooklyn. We are looking for a nice walkable downtown with good restaurants and arts/culture nearby, great family activities (community pool, parks, etc) and generally welcoming and fairly laid back community. I understand these all have great schools so now looking for other criteria to help us nail this one down.
All great towns honestly with everything you would want. For his commute I would think maybe Westfield train gets you to the path the fastest through Newark Penn to the WTC. Summit is the only town out of the three with a one seat ride into Penn Station though.
For me, I like Westfield a little bit more than the other two but splitting hairs. I like the location of Westfield and Summit better as well because you can get to the city quick but also the beach is within 45 min as well.
I really only know Ridgewood, and I commuted from there for many years. Frequent train service, including express trains, about 35 minutes' ride to Hoboken and then connect to a ten-minute PATH ride into the WTC or the ferry from Hoboken Terminal to the World Financial Center/Brookfield and walk the rest of the way.
I'll say Ridgewood is like an 1hr max with public transit. 40min car ride I make a daily commute from Ridgewood to deep into Brooklyn. That's my rough time estimated for everything, you'll spend about the same amount of money transit or car regardless.
What I would suggest from Ridgewood is to take the train to secaucus station, and from there to ny pen. Which runs every 10 minutes or it use to. Haven't used it since the pandemic. Other is to take a rain to Hoboken, you can catch a ferry over or ny penn connection.
One thing to keep in mind going downtown. Ridgewood will connect to PATH via Hoboken, which is a much nicer ride to WTC than Newark. The Newark-WTC is standing room only basically starting at Newark, and people keep smooshing on at each stop through JC. I had to take that one morning after hitting the DMV in Journal Square and I was shocked at how awful it was. And this is before PATH is extended to the airport (imagine the above scenario, but with more people and suitcases).
The Hoboken line, while still crowded at rush hour, is much more sane.
As for a commute time, you need to look at the door to door times to compare in each down. That includes an actual street address of where you might buy a home and take into consideration the time it takes to drive, park and get to the platform to board the train. While the train schedule might show a shorted trip from the Summit Train Station, that might be negated when you consider the location of the home from the train station and travel during rush hour street traffic.
Since COVID-19, I wouldn't consider taking another position unless I could WFH full-time.
One thing to keep in mind going downtown. Ridgewood will connect to PATH via Hoboken, which is a much nicer ride to WTC than Newark. The Newark-WTC is standing room only basically starting at Newark, and people keep smooshing on at each stop through JC. I had to take that one morning after hitting the DMV in Journal Square and I was shocked at how awful it was. And this is before PATH is extended to the airport (imagine the above scenario, but with more people and suitcases).
The Hoboken line, while still crowded at rush hour, is much more sane.
Yes, the PATH from Newark is absolutely horrible, when I was young, i didnt care the standing the whole ride and competing (;-)) with others to get seats with the lottery game every day which side the PATH would open the door. But now that I am old, I just dont want to deal with it. I would say Summit is the most balanced destination, if you have the budget to buy house there. The commute is good to both downtown as well as midtown. And Summit connects to both Hoboken and New York penn directly.
I'll say Ridgewood is like an 1hr max with public transit. 40min car ride I make a daily commute from Ridgewood to deep into Brooklyn. That's my rough time estimated for everything, you'll spend about the same amount of money transit or car regardless.
What I would suggest from Ridgewood is to take the train to secaucus station, and from there to ny pen. Which runs every 10 minutes or it use to. Haven't used it since the pandemic. Other is to take a rain to Hoboken, you can catch a ferry over or ny penn connection.
Why would a person who works in Tribeca want to go to NY Penn? That doesn't make sense. It's just north of the WTC and right across the river from Hoboken. Instead you're transferring at Secaucus and then you have to take a subway from Penn. WHY???
Why would a person who works in Tribeca want to go to NY Penn? That doesn't make sense. It's just north of the WTC and right across the river from Hoboken. Instead you're transferring at Secaucus and then you have to take a subway from Penn. WHY???
Not ideal but some people don't like taking the Path Train.
My guess is they work at Goldman Sachs or a building near there on the West Side highway. You could take the E, A, C, 2, or 3 straight down to WTC or Chambers Street (could be a 5-15 minute subway ride) and it's about a 5-10 minute walk from the subway to the building.
The 2/3 is extremely quick since it's 2 stops from 34th st (14th st & chambers st).
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.
