I live in Central NJ, close to the shore, but I may potentially be taking a job in Philadelphia. (Currently I’m already making a 1.25 hour drive to work anyway, so for enough of a pay increase I’m willing to extend that a bit more). I’m curious if anyone is commuting from somewhere in Central NJ by mass transit (bus or train)to Philadelphia and what the easiest way to do that might be? I’m finding a lot of ways to get to NYC by bus or train, but not nearly as many options via NJ Transit to get to Philadelphia.
It’s been a while since I’ve lived in Philly (hopefully someone with more experience will be by shortly), but I think you basically have to go through Trenton to connect to the Philadelphia light rail system (SEPTA). A glance at the rail map for NJ transit would seem to confirm that there are a lot more ways to get to NYC than there are to get to Philly.
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While part of this is factual (what mass transit is available), this question will do better in IMHO where folks can give their own personal experiences and opinions about what works best in this situation.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
There are commuter railway lines to Philadelphia from Trenton and Atlantic City. (I’ve travelled on both.) I’d guess that you could catch a bus or drive to either of those stations to commute to Philly.
That sound like eastern Monmouth County, in which case your only NJ Transit option seems to be the 317 bus Asbury Park-Philadelphia:
http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0317.pdf
The schedule shows it as a four-hour trip …
But the geographical Batsto is on the Burlington County-Atlantic County border. Not my idea of “Central NJ”, but if that’s where you are, you could pick up the Atlantic City rail line to Philadelphia at Hammonton.
I haven’t ridden NJ Transit rail in years, so can’t speak to current service. It used to be OK.
I’m actually in Ocean County (My username comes from the geographical Batsto—I used to work at the historic site there many years ago).
A four hour bus ride seems a bit ridiculous though, especially since I’d first have to make a half hour drive to the station. I was hoping to be able to drive west and pick up a train or bus somewhere closer. I’d assumed, being a relatively close major city, that there must be folks who commute there, but apparently those who do just drive.
Is the train from Atalntic City too costly?
If you can drive to Lindenwold would thePATCO line work?
Half-an-hour south of Asbury Park puts you near Lakewood or Toms River. So (NJ) Route 70 is pretty much it.
Yahoo Maps gives it as 1 hr, 18 mins from Toms River to Philadelphia. Good luck wid dat, although it’s probably faster than in my grandparents’ time (Jersey Shore roots going back 100 years here).
If you have a few hours to spare sometime soon, how about making the drive and seeing how long it takes?
I looked into this a couple of years ago (but eventually decided it was not worth commuting to PHL). I would second MikeS’s post - your best bet is to drive to pick up the train at some point. (There is at least one station that has free parking.)
Driving to Philly itself is not really feasible, as you hit a lot of traffic close to the city (so if you do try the drive, make sure you do it during rush hour), and parking is also a problem.
I’m about as far from Atlantic City as I am from Philadelphia. Driving there to get a train would add at least an hour to my commute.
I drive Route 70 every day as it is, all the way as far as Voorhees. I’m less concerned with the driving time than I am with the parking situation (and cost thereof) once I get into the city. I’m already driving 75 minutes every morning, I was also hoping that if there were an easy train or bus I could at least get some rest on the way in or get some reading done, etc. on the way but it’s looking like that’s not going to be the case.
As MikeS alluded, the train goes from Trenton area.
You could probably take the 195 to pick it up at some point (the 195 is a much better drive than the 70 anyway, so you’d probably gain something in the exchange).
As far a train, it looks like your only real options are to drive in pretty far and get on at somewhere like Haddonfield. That probably isn’t less time overall than just driving in the whole way but might help you a little.
Well, if you’re taking Route 70 most of the way, you could just stay on 70 until you get to 295, then shoot down 295 South for two exits (a fairly quick drive) and get off at Woodcrest Station (Exit 31). There’s plenty of free parking there, and it’s a 15-20 minute PATCO ride into Philly, depending on how far in you’re going. Round trip fare is 6 bucks.
Where do you turn off of 70 to get to your job, and how long does it take from 70 to there? (If you really work in Voorhees, you must be doing this, since 70 doesn’t go through there.) I ask because it’s possible that the time to Woodcrest Station from that point might not be that much more than the time to your current job from that point. IF that’s the case, then you would almost be just adding the train commuting time to your current commute time.
Best of luck to you!
thanks…I actually work about five minutes from the train station, and I may end up doing just that. I was just hoping that, if I’m taking a train, that I could take it most of the way.
Does the train station charge me to park my car there all day though?
Of course, all this depends on what they offer me for the job. I may end up not taking the job at all, but I’m trying to scope out my options ahead of time.
At Woodcrest Station, there are free parking lots, and there are gated lots. The gated lots cost $1.00 to park from 5am to 10am, but after 10am, they are free as well. To pay to get into the gated lots, you need a FREEDOM CARD. If you were making a daily commute, I expect you would have one anyway. So, even if you opt for a paid parking spot, your total cost would be only $7 ($1 to park + $6 to ride).
Don’t know about any of the other stations, but you can look it up on PATCO’s website.