Commuting into NYC
At an impasse with my partner, will have to suck it up and move to the burbs this fall. She wants New Jersey. I'm a senior analyst at a HF and typically in the office (midtown) 8am-6pm or 7pm 3-4 days a week. Does anyone have town recommendations for a doable commute? General tips on this adjustment? Is NJ Transit as bad as I hear? Going to miss being 20 minutes door to door.
Just started this summer as IB FT analyst and I'm from NJ so living at home to save money. NJ Transit trains recently has been very unreliable, don't know why. I take the bus though as it goes to port authority, closer to my office then NY Penn. During commuter hours (express), morning bus is reliable and not bad, takes me 45 min from my house (in Bergen County). On the highway leading into the Lincoln Tunnel they close an outbound lane which is used only for buses for into the city, so don't have to sit in as much tunnel traffic. Still in training, so leave at 5pm and bus is normally also reliable too. I know for my bus line, the fastest express ends around 7:30 pm, but they have an express going pretty late (not as fast but much much better than local). Historically, I would say the NJ Transit trains have been reliable, but again, they have not been recently. I would prioritize North Jersey and a town that has a bus line and train route directly into city (my train I have to transfer at Secaucus to get to Penn which can be annoying at times). Overall, it's not bad, and better than many people that live deep in the outer boroughs.
Ensure the bus is express too during commuter hours (most I would think are), the local lines can take forever
I do the exact same commute. In the office from 8-8 or 9-9. Door to door from Bergen county around 1 hr. There are several park and rides that have express busses. Check out both NJ transit and the Shortline. If working in midtown take the bus not the train. Also there’s no transfer, so you can snooze on the bus in the morning. With the train you have to transfer at Secaucus.
Thank you. 1 hour is not bad. Any idea what time would be roughly from Short Hills area?
Check out Boxcar. It is a private commuter bus with reserved parking spots and seats. They’ve done a great job expanding in the high population areas of north jersey near the commuter trains. Some people use the parking option only which opens up the possibility of living near but not in a train town and still having parking. Other people utilize boxcar for one way trips in the morning and take the train home as the time differential during evening rush hour is nil. People also use it as a backup when NJTransit trains are down, which is every week.
Downloaded, thx.
Why NJ vs upstate NY or Long Island? Curious as I will prob move out of city as well eventually
Personal reasons, family in area. If I only cared about commute and lifestyle would go Westchester or CT.
Short Hills / Summit / Chatham
Lived in Short Hills for 8 years can attest that this area of Essex County is a great place to live.
These are top of my list. Thank you.
No worries.
If you’re Jewish move to Short Hills. Great community, very clean, respectful, and friendly, also great public school for kids (Millburn High School).
Summit is great if you’re Catholic/ WASP, very nice people, great town/proximity to other towns. Very good place for private school kids (Kent Place/ Oak Knoll/ Oratory/ Seton Hall).
PM if you want more info on Short Hills, more than willing to help.
I recently moved to one of these 3 and think you can’t go wrong with any of them. All nice towns and good schools.
Don't go to Jersey. Transit is super unreliable and has been a nightmare. Try Westchester / CT. Westchester most reliable, CT less reliable but better value and taxes are much lower too
Fair points. Unfortunately, I think NJ is inevitable. lol
You could look into CT and take the Amtrak.
Short Hills
Bergen county and Clifton area are good for commuting especially if you drive. There is also the sea streak in the monmouth county area that lets you commute to Wall Street via boat in the highlands area otherwise NJ transit is fine but really unreliable so you’ll have to gamble with that and then the express buses to the port authority should be good too.
Good luck in the burbs…”boy it sure is a hot one!!”
I’ve been commuting from Morris County. The worst part of life is the commute. Everything else is great. I’m working in midtown East and it’s like 1hr 5min door to door. 5 minutes to train station. 42 minute express train midtown direct to the city. 55 minutes on the normal train. Then E train from 34thPenn to Lex. Every fast and very efficient tbh. If you can afford a driver, go with that. Only the BSD can afford a driver into the city every day though. Boxcar is also great but they don’t do Fridays iirc and it’s only $4 more than NJTransit.
NJTransit has been awful with delays and shit. When it runs on schedule it’s great. This summer was the worst in its history I think. Go with boxcar and wfh on Fridays.
For town recommendations: Chatham, Summit, Morristown, Millburn, Short Hills, Westfield (?), Harding (!!!), and probably more I’m forgetting. All have great schools, (not Harding ofc) but some people do prefer the private schools if you have another $55k/kid/year to blow why not. All have great people very safe very quiet etc. Each town has its own vibe though so figure that out first. Short Hills gives off coastal elite energy. Harding gives off old money or HF manager energy. Chatham is old New England energy. Millburn is rich Jew energy. Summit is Wasp. Westfield is a bit of grandpa’s inheritance going to waste energy. Morristown has diverse energies. To hard to summarize in a sentence. Overall, the towns along Morristown Essex line to Dover have similar times for commutes. Milburn the least, Morristown the most I think. Add like 4 minutes per stop.
Edit: Morristown does not have a good school. Also Mendham is very nice but no idea how the commute is from there. It’s a lot more rural relative to the others if that’s your vibe. Less rural than Harding though.
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