Relocating to Philly and need advice about Septa vs car (Chester: city hall, car insurance)

[NatetheGreat1990]

Hello Everyone,

So at the end of this month I am moving to South Philly (Newbold/Point Breeze) and would like some advice. My job is in Wilmington, DE and I'll be about a 50 minute commute from home to work and vice versa. I currently have an 2010 Acura TL that isn't too green on gas (21 combined MPG and takes premium) ...according to my calculations I'd spend nearly $240 a month on gas commuting back and forth.

Instead of that, I could opt to travel via train but that'd cost a whopping $190 a month for the Septa Monthly Anywhere Pass. Sure, I'd save around $50, but then would have to deal with the slight hassle of public trans. Also, I still make payments on the car. So if I did spend the $190/month for the train, I'd also still be paying for a car (that admittedly I do love) that at that point I'd hardly be using.

City-Data friends, your advice is needed. Short of finding a job here in Philly (which I'm actively doing), what is your advice for my predicament? Also, I JUST got this Acura...so if I did try trading it in for something much more gas efficient, I'd have to go for a much less expensive (much less nice) car to avoid a chunk of negative equity .

Thank you all!

[BVitamin]

Keep the car, avoid septa, especially if you're commuting daily. Trade your acura for a prius, if you can.

[PhilliesPhan2013]

Originally Posted by NatetheGreat1990

Hello Everyone,

So at the end of this month I am moving to South Philly (Newbold/Point Breeze) and would like some advice. My job is in Wilmington, DE and I'll be about a 50 minute commute from home to work and vice versa. I currently have an 2010 Acura TL that isn't too green on gas (21 combined MPG and takes premium) ...according to my calculations I'd spend nearly $240 a month on gas commuting back and forth.

Instead of that, I could opt to travel via train but that'd cost a whopping $190 a month for the Septa Monthly Anywhere Pass. Sure, I'd save around $50, but then would have to deal with the slight hassle of public trans. Also, I still make payments on the car. So if I did spend the $190/month for the train, I'd also still be paying for a car (that admittedly I do love) that at that point I'd hardly be using.

City-Data friends, your advice is needed. Short of finding a job here in Philly (which I'm actively doing), what is your advice for my predicament? Also, I JUST got this Acura...so if I did try trading it in for something much more gas efficient, I'd have to go for a much less expensive (much less nice) car to avoid a chunk of negative equity .

Thank you all!

South Philly to Wilmington would be tough to do via SEPTA. I'm going to assume Newbold since it is closest to the Broad Street Line. You would have to take the Broad Street Line from either Ellsworth-Federal or Tasker-Morris to City Hall. At City Hall, you have the choice of either walking through the pedestrian tunnels or walking above ground to Suburban Station. From Suburban, you would have to take the R2 Wilmington/Newark Line from Suburban to Wilmington, which takes a little over an hour. It's a two-seat ride, but it may very well take 1:30-2:00 hours when factoring in transfer times. Alternatively, you could park at an R2 Wilmington/Newark Line station and take the train from there. That would make for a one-seat ride.

My suggestion to you would be to drive that nice 2010 Acura TL down 95 (in your case, you would drive down 26th Street, get onto the George C. Platt Bridge, and then get onto I-95, assuming that you enter from Passyunk Avenue) to Wilmington each morning! It would be much less of a hassle in my opinion.

[Burger Fan]

Originally Posted by NatetheGreat1990

Hello Everyone,

So at the end of this month I am moving to South Philly (Newbold/Point Breeze) and would like some advice. My job is in Wilmington, DE and I'll be about a 50 minute commute from home to work and vice versa. I currently have an 2010 Acura TL that isn't too green on gas (21 combined MPG and takes premium) ...according to my calculations I'd spend nearly $240 a month on gas commuting back and forth.

Instead of that, I could opt to travel via train but that'd cost a whopping $190 a month for the Septa Monthly Anywhere Pass. Sure, I'd save around $50, but then would have to deal with the slight hassle of public trans. Also, I still make payments on the car. So if I did spend the $190/month for the train, I'd also still be paying for a car (that admittedly I do love) that at that point I'd hardly be using.

City-Data friends, your advice is needed. Short of finding a job here in Philly (which I'm actively doing), what is your advice for my predicament? Also, I JUST got this Acura...so if I did try trading it in for something much more gas efficient, I'd have to go for a much less expensive (much less nice) car to avoid a chunk of negative equity .

Thank you all!

Yeesh. Probably should have moved somewhere closer to Wilmington where you work, instead of south philly. your options are not great here.

As the previous poster said, you're going to have a fairly long commute via SEPTA to get to wilmington every day. Regional rail is reliable, but it's not exactly speedy, and given the distance the cost is nearly as much as gas.

On the other side, you *could* simply suck it up and drive- but traffic on I-95 from PA into wilmington (and vice versa) is frequently nightmarish during the morning and evening commute- especially right around where 95 hits 476 and goes towards chester. That's not going to be fun either, and you're going to rack up a ton of miles on that car. You also didn't specify where you were moving from- if you are coming from outside of the city you may be surprised to find that your car insurance bill will go through the roof compared to where you were- when I was 25 and moved from central PA (where I was for college) back to Philly, my car insurance bill tripled.

If I had to make a call, I would say sell the acura from something much better on gas and drive, but moving closer to wilmington or trying to find another job is probably the better move in the long run.

[TimmyTightWad]

You will get better than 21 mpg on that commute assuming you take I95, traffic is pretty free flowing in that direction. I commuted from Havertown to Newark DE via the blue route and 95 for 3 years. Put a ton of miles on my commuter car but also averaged way above avg for my mpg as you can go 80mph for 10+ miles without slowing down once you past Chester

Plus gas is cheaper in DE for what that's worth.

[NatetheGreat1990]

Originally Posted by Burger Fan

Yeesh. Probably should have moved somewhere closer to Wilmington where you work, instead of south philly. your options are not great here.

As the previous poster said, you're going to have a fairly long commute via SEPTA to get to wilmington every day. Regional rail is reliable, but it's not exactly speedy, and given the distance the cost is nearly as much as gas.

On the other side, you *could* simply suck it up and drive- but traffic on I-95 from PA into wilmington (and vice versa) is frequently nightmarish during the morning and evening commute- especially right around where 95 hits 476 and goes towards chester. That's not going to be fun either, and you're going to rack up a ton of miles on that car. You also didn't specify where you were moving from- if you are coming from outside of the city you may be surprised to find that your car insurance bill will go through the roof compared to where you were- when I was 25 and moved from central PA (where I was for college) back to Philly, my car insurance bill tripled.

If I had to make a call, I would say sell the acura from something much better on gas and drive, but moving closer to wilmington or trying to find another job is probably the better move in the long run.

Believe it or not...I am moving from Wilmington. I'm 25...Wilmington is just not the place for me. I've been wanting to get out for a few years now. Also, my insurance would GO DOWN by about $10-$15 a month.

According to the Septa website and Google Transit, my commute would be about and hour and 5 minutes to work and an hour and 10 minutes to home.

As far as commuting in car...I'd probably start going to work much earlier to dodge some of the traffic and so I can leave work earlier to again, dodge some of the traffic. Maybe commuting around 7 am and leaving work around 3:30 pm.

[NatetheGreat1990]

Originally Posted by TimmyTightWad

You will get better than 21 mpg on that commute assuming you take I95, traffic is pretty free flowing in that direction. I commuted from Havertown to Newark DE via the blue route and 95 for 3 years. Put a ton of miles on my commuter car but also averaged way above avg for my mpg as you can go 80mph for 10+ miles without slowing down once you past Chester

Plus gas is cheaper in DE for what that's worth.

Good point, didn't even think of that about averaging better MPG because of 95. However, I'd feel bad about using an Acura as a heavy commuter and dumping a ton of a miles on a car that was and is still pretty expensive for me.

[JacksonPanther]

When analyzing this, the monthly payment you're making on the car is a sunk cost, meaning you have to pay it no matter what choice you make, so it's irrelevant.

Commute costs and gas costs are similar, but you're not factoring in wear and tear on the car if you use it as a daily commuter - 2-plus hours each day will beat your car to death. And wear and tear on yourself from dealing with heavy traffic everyday.

If the public transportation option gets you to work, door to door, in a little over an hour, that's the choice I would recommend. You get home relatively refreshed instead of angry, and your car lasts much longer.

[TimmyTightWad]

Originally Posted by NatetheGreat1990

Good point, didn't even think of that about averaging better MPG because of 95. However, I'd feel bad about using an Acura as a heavy commuter and dumping a ton of a miles on a car that was and is still pretty expensive for me.

Yea I have a '10 G37x that gets the same mpg as your Acura, but I also have a '02 Civic with 220k+ miles on it that gets 30+ mpg. I use that to drive to work 90% of the time. I dread the day my civic dies, as I'd be in the same predicament as you and will likely just sell the G for another civic most likely.

[Mimidae]

How about parking? Does your workplace have its own lot, or will you have to pay? The cheapest lot in Wilmington is $6/day on Orange street, but it's a several block walk for most people who work downtown. Lots closer to Rodney Square can get up to $16/day. Of course, street parking is free on weekends and after 6. I wouldn't recommend trying to feed the parking meters - Wilmington parking patrol is as hawk-like as Philly, if not more so.

In your position, you could try the Septa thing for a week and see how it compares, at least. A friend who was doing the same commute would leave his car at a Park-and-ride lot in Delaware during the week and commute by train, but he'd drive his car back to Philly on Fridays and have it over the weekend.