I’m being strongly recruited by a company located in Ridgefield Park NJ. I currently live in Atlanta, but am open to relocation. But, if I’m going to move to the NY/NJ area, I seriously think I want to take a shot at living in Manhattan.
Based on some things I’ve read, I’m leaning towards the somewhere along Upper West Side, maybe as far up as Washington Heights. I would LOVE to not have to worry with a car in NYC, but is that reasonable if I have to get to Ridgefield Park and back everyday?
I’ve been trying to figure this out online, and it looks line a difficult logistics to get there on mass transit. If I have to have a car and cross the Hudson on 95, heading west in the AM, and then east in the PM, am I at least doing a reverse commute? Or does the volume of traffic make that a non-issue? Still going to suck?
It looks like it wouldn’t be that long a commute distance-wise, but I have a feeling it’s still a long commute time-wise.
I used to work in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, which is not far from Ridgefield Park. I had a number of coworkers who lived in NYC and made the commute by car. From the upper west side, it shouldn’t be that bad. Not that I would want to do it. You would be traveling against most of the traffic with a reverse commute. But any hiccup anywhere in the area can instantly turn all roads to a traffic nightmare.
Well you would be different anyway. Bergen County is an expensive place to live but nothing compared to the Upper West Side. Zillow lists the median list price for housing on the Upper West Side as $1,576 per square foot. That’s why most of the commute is going the other way.
It’s doable but I wouldn’t recommend it. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it. For one thing, there’s no train station in or near Ridgefield Park, which means you’ll have to rely on a car or NJT buses. If you’re going to work in that part of NJ you might as well live nearby; housing is a lot cheaper (though still expensive compared to the rest of the country) and you can drive to the train station when you want to come into the city.
I was soooo hoping there was a way to just hop a subway over to the Jersey side. I’m kind of surprised that there are not more cross river mass transit options than there are.
If I don’t live in Manhattan, the relocation for the job becomes less attractive. I know the cost of living and cost of housing issues. I can afford to live in a studio or one bedroom on the Upper West Side… and yes, I do know what that means. I know they are tiny and crowded. I’ve checked a few out when a different opportunity was in the works a few years back. That older opportunity was with a company that was on the island, so I wasn’t facing crossing the Hudson to go to work.
I’m a newly single middle aged liberal dude who makes a pretty darn good wage, and dammit, I want to live in the city. So it looks like I will need a car. Dang.
If your heart’s set on doing it and you can afford the living expenses, don’t let us get you down. Get that job, buy some cheap used hoopty, and move to Manhattan.
It’s possible. There are NJ Transit buses that go between Ridgefield Park and the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8th Ave or to Journal Square in Jersey City where you can grab a PATH train. It just depends on how close your job is to the bus line.
If I read thisright it looks like the bus stop is at Main St and Mt Vernon. Which looks like about 1.5 miles. But I don’t know how easy a walk it is. It’s on the other side of the NJ Turnpike.
Of course that means waiting for a subway, getting off at the Port Authority, waiting for a bus, driving to Ridgefield Park, walking to work. I don’t know what that means for your commute. I like driving directly to work myself.
That’s about as much help as I can give you. I’m not totally familiar with the area.
ETA: going on street view it looks very doable. Mostly through residential neighborhoods and Emerson St has a sidewalk and goes over the Turnpike. On a nice day it would be fine. Today when it is 15 degrees I wouldn’t want to do it.
If you’re looking for someplace with more of an urban vs. suburban climate then Hoboken might be a good compromise, and would be much more car friendly than UWS.
Your best bet for finding possible commuting options is to go to the NJ Transit site Trip Planner. I did this, entering a fictional address in Washington Heights and an arrival time of 9:00 AM. A typical itinerary has you leaving the GW Bridge Bus Terminal at 7:40, walking one block to catch another bus that arrives at 8:25. You have to walk .65 miles to your final destination. There are other itineraries, all pretty similar. It is certainly a doable commute. If you find yourself staying late for work, the choices start to diminish (although many employers will provide car service in some situations). I commuted for many years, both from New York to New Jersey and New Jersey to New York. Making connections is never fun, and it looks like you will have two (including the bus/subway to the bus terminal).
You might ask your potential employer about other options. It is also possible that they have other work locations in the area that are more convenient for you.
That looks like a location that is easily reverse commutable from the UWS with a car, but would likely be very awkward by mass transit. Most mornings, you should be able to get to the office very quickly, but you would have to deal with inbound traffic on the GW Bridge in the evening, which can be highly variable.
Back when I was living on the Upper West, I had a client in another part of New Jersey that had a bus line that stopped right at its office complex. There were a few “reverse” buses that ran to the complex in the morning and back to the Port Authority at night, maybe one every hour or half hour (I forget), and only in rush hours. It wasn’t too bad when I had to go out there for full days, but otherwise it was nearly impossible.
The good news is that, depending where on you live, street parking may actually be feasible, particularly if you will be at work during “alternate side” hours, usually 9:00 am to 12:00 noon or so. (In New York, for street sweeping purposes, each street has a couple of periods each week in which parking is banned, usually on alternate sides on different days, e.g. there is no parking from 9:00 to 10:30 on the north side of the street on Mondays and Thursdays, and on the south side on Tuesdays and Fridays).
Samsung is in Overpeck Corporate on Challenger Rd. There is a bus stop to the right of your new office building and also two buildings down to the left.
Overpeck is hooked up to all major transportation. For you particularly, you could take the NJ Transit 167 bus from Port Authority and get off literally yards from your new office door.
There may be a faster/better/stronger way, but if I were teleported from my desk to the corner of 135th St and Lenox right this second with $15 and an hour and a half to get my cat from Samsung Corporate with instructions that I cannot speak to anyone (i.e. ask for a ride) or the cat gets it, I would get on the 2 train, get off at Port Authority, get on the NJ Transit 167 bus and get off in front of Samsung on Challenger Rd in Ridgefield Park.
:) We need picture of said hostage cat for all that to be taken in the correct context.
Seriously, thanks for the input. :o
So, first step is getting the job. I fly to Dallas next week to interview with about 4 people. Yep, fly from Atlanta to Dallas to interview for a job in NJ. That is how corporate 'Murica rolls.
Ditto. I LOVE Google Maps. It shows you where all the bus stops are, and which lines stop there. Here’s a link to the PDF schedule for that route: http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T1157.pdf(Or you can be a REAL Manhattanite and take a taxi everywhere.)
There is talk of extending the #7 line into NJ, but I doubt anything will ever come of it. On the other hand, the is the PATH train, which is essentially a subway that stops at some of the same stations that the NYC Subway uses, except that you have to pay a separate fare. Not to mention the NJ Transit trains.
Where do Google maps show bus stops? I have never seen that. I just googled my boyfriend’s place (because I know all the stops by heart around there) and I don’t see anything that indicates bus stops.
I always have to look at the ID number on the bus stop signs and use my iphone or one of the Apps on my phone if I don’t already know where I’m coming/going.
We need picture of said hostage cat for all that to be taken in the correct context.