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My commute to work on the Upper East Side was easily close to 90-100 min from Queens. Walk to the bus stop, take the bus to the subway, then take two trains to get to work. Did this commute for years. Completely draining.
I moved to White Plains and the same commute is now no more than 35 min tops.... Just far more expensive (Metro North + Unlimited Metro Card vs just an Unlimited Metro Card)
Express train according to the schedule is 38 min so I should have been more precise and said 38 instead of 35. Still a shorter commute to the city than from a lot of parts of Queens (including with the LIRR in some parts).
That sounds like a grueling commute. I'm coming from lower WC and it's testing the limits of how much time of my life I can stand being wasted getting to/from work. If you are able to work remotely, it definitely helps, and also if having more land/fewer people around you is a priority, then Northern WC is a good choice.
Personally, I find the drive to/from the train more stressful than the actual train ride itself. Heavy traffic on narrow roads plus a bunch of other people rushing from A to B, plus fighting over limited parking make for a miserable situation. If you can shorten your proximity to the train station, or better yet walk, it can make a difference too.
We live in Northern Manhattan and have one of two children in private school. My husband commutes to Broad Street every day via subway and it takes him a solid 60-70 minutes and it’s not a pleasant ride. We are considering Katonah, as we ready for change. With that said, I have a couple of questions about the commute.
Is it safe to assume you always get a seat to and from the city, even during rush hours? I saw someone mentioned it, but I wanted to ask again just to be sure. Also, we haven’t done the train ride yet. Is it nice? Any views along the way? I’m assuming it can’t compete with the Hudson line for River views but it’s not as dreary as underground subways, yes? Additionally, is it mostly working folk and professionals riding the train at AM and PM rush hours? Are the cars clean and safe? The NYC subways have become quite challenging over the last few years. They are more crowded, dirtier and feel less safe, given all the unstable and homeless folks on them now. I’m assuming the Harlem Katonah ride while long, will be better in quality, yes?
Also, does anyone up there ever bike or moped to the train station? In good weather of course...I hate the idea of having two cars if it can be avoided, at least for a little while...
Is it safe to assume you always get a seat to and from the city, even during rush hours? I saw someone mentioned it, but I wanted to ask again just to be sure. Also, we haven’t done the train ride yet. Is it nice? Any views along the way? I’m assuming it can’t compete with the Hudson line for River views but it’s not as dreary as underground subways, yes? Additionally, is it mostly working folk and professionals riding the train at AM and PM rush hours? Are the cars clean and safe? The NYC subways have become quite challenging over the last few years. They are more crowded, dirtier and feel less safe, given all the unstable and homeless folks on them now. I’m assuming the Harlem Katonah ride while long, will be better in quality, yes?
I commute on the Hudson line so I can only answer some of this but the bottom line is the commute is much better than a long subway ride. The Harlem line is a pretty scenic line but honestly most people during rush hour are working or sleeping so the scenery is less important than you might think. I always get a seat even at rush hour but not sure about from Katonah. The New Haven line becomes standing room only but I think the Harlem line is less crowded.
I used to commute on the 2/3 subway line and my ride was only 20-25 minutes depending on how the subway was running. We moved in the spring of 2018 so my experience with the subway is pretty recent. My commute now is more than double the time (1hr15min door to door) but my commute experience has improved immensely. There is just no comparison between Metro North and what the subway has become. You can't freeload on the trains because there are actual ticket collectors. No turnstile jumpers means no crazy homeless people urinating on the seats, nobody living in train cars with bags of trash, no obnoxious "show time" people... Oh and the AC works in the summer and the heat works in the winter. I honestly would not go back to commuting on the subway even if it cut my commute in half again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AshandOhh
Also, does anyone up there ever bike or moped to the train station? In good weather of course...I hate the idea of having two cars if it can be avoided, at least for a little while...
The thing to think about here is the parking permit. When the weather is bad are you able to drive your spouse to the train and pick him up? When we moved I considered that option but with an infant at the time and my early morning/late evening commute times it was unreasonable to expect my wife to be able to get drive me (we did it for a week while buying her car and it was miserable for everybody). Most stations have lists to get parking permits and in our case you pay quarterly. So if you are going to need to parking permit for the bad weather days you're going to be paying for the whole month or quarter anyways. If you want the exercise or to save on gas then you can certainly ride a bike in good weather but just knowing the area around Katonah I think it will be very difficult to only have 1 car but that's personal opinion.
Also, does anyone up there ever bike or moped to the train station? In good weather of course...I hate the idea of having two cars if it can be avoided, at least for a little while...
When we first moved to Westchester we only had one car, it's doable but becomes a big hassle very quickly unless you're okay with relying on Uber or the local car services. Riding/mopeding to the train is good and all but not something I would rely on, last spring it seemed like it rained atleast 3 days per week.
Seats on the train that far north usually aren't a problem. At rush hour almost everyone riding the train is a professional of some sort. In my experience, early in the morning and early afternoon it is also crowded with construction workers as they work a 7-3ish schedule, but again, normal people on their way to work and usually asleep. The only times you will experience a truly packed train car are when there is some sort of issue(rare) and on the afternoon/evening before any major holiday when everyone who lives in the city is heading north to visit family.
I personally wouldn't want to live that far north if I had to commute to Broad Street though as the real variable and headache in the commute would be the 456 train. Adding a crowded extra 20-40 minutes after an hour train seems like a killer.
I commute from Tuckahoe...Have you considered the Bronxville PO section of Yonkers or Crestwood?
Schools aren't great, but its safe and close to Tuckahoe, you'd have the short commute, which is awesome.
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