I think I am at the Paramount Plaza. I'm in the building with Wicked. Haven't been in that office too much. Obviously Port Authority is an easier walk then Penn Station...I've just never been a bus commuter before and always assumed it's lousy. Appreciate the insights.
OT: Thoughts on a Few NJ Towns
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Summit, Madison, and Westfield all check the most boxes. Great towns with great schools. All have terrific downtowns. Plus they are all reasonable commutes into the city via public transportation. Maplewood and Montclair offer a lot of the same, less the schools (I grew up in Maplewood and there is no way I would send my kids to school there now). Hoboken or Jersey city if you are looking for that, and don't need the schools. If you want to come out further west, but still have a trainline into NYC, consider Basking Ridge. Great place to raise a family and great schools. Have lived there for almost 20 years and love it.
Thats the one. The easier walk for me on both sides of the ride are why I've been bussing all these years. That and avoiding the transfer in Seacaucus for the Bergen County towns if on the train. Its really not bad, actually been real good post covid but I don't expect that to last. My back up is the train on the way home because like I said, morning especially early, is a breeze. Can use train pass on the bus so I know people who bus in the morning, train on the way home.
I don’t know all your preferences but you may wish to at least condide Westwood.
Englewood has its plus side. Good dining, a live theatre, 20 blocks of shopping and a better commute than your listed suggestions.
Also, while it’s been a while for me but you may be able to commute by my waterways
Ferry from Near the GW Bridge
any rate good hunting
Englewood has its plus side. Good dining, a live theatre, 20 blocks of shopping and a better commute than your listed suggestions.
Also, while it’s been a while for me but you may be able to commute by my waterways
Ferry from Near the GW Bridge
any rate good hunting
I'm familiar with all those towns... all very nice. All have slightly different characteristics (politics etc)... not sure how involved you plan on getting in the community itself, because if you don't then most of that doesn't matter. I'm pretty involved in both Cranford and Westfield... I like Cranford a little better. Express bus picks up every 5 minutes or so during peak commuting hours right in front of the Cranford train station... gets to midtown (port authority) in about 45 min. Train has a switch at Newark for both towns.. at least until the new tunnel gets completed one day.
If you want to live directly in the downtown in a newer building and have a very short walk to the train/bus, Cranford has a couple new bldgs on the south side. Cranford Crossing and the Albero fit that bill. Westfield has a newer building on the corner of Central Ave and South Ave called 333 Central. There new bldgs going up all around the area so there may be more.
Oh and I work in Rahway. The downtown is on the upswing, but I would never live there. Pretty tired and ugly town... but has some newer good restaurants.
If you want to live directly in the downtown in a newer building and have a very short walk to the train/bus, Cranford has a couple new bldgs on the south side. Cranford Crossing and the Albero fit that bill. Westfield has a newer building on the corner of Central Ave and South Ave called 333 Central. There new bldgs going up all around the area so there may be more.
Oh and I work in Rahway. The downtown is on the upswing, but I would never live there. Pretty tired and ugly town... but has some newer good restaurants.
It's absolutely walkable, has a bunch of parks throughout town also, has a bunch of great restaurants, every type of cuisine you could think of, from casual burger joints to BYOBs to fine dining. There is a pretty lively nightlife here, with several great hangout bars, that mostly cater to an older crowd, but it's pretty low key. You won't see crowds of drunks young folks spilling out into the streets. Lots of townwide activities if you are into things like shopping events, pub crawls, Oktoberfest, outdoor concerts, town fairs, 5Ks, etc. Of course most of this was pre-pandemic, but we are slowly getting back to that stuff.
The bus sucks. Have done both bus and train commutes. Much prefer the train. As unreliable as it seems, it's still much more predictable than the bus.
My father delivered mail in Cranford for close to 40 years. Started off as a sub and got the job full time in the early 60's. Delivered to the same people all those years.
Before settling in somewhere, if possible, you may want to do the test commute. Best test times are in the heat of the summer and in the cold of the winter.
I checked Google maps, and it look like a 0.6 mile walk from the Port Authority Bus Station to Paramount Plaza. It's 25 years ago, but I commuted by bus from North Brunswick to Port Authority for a while in 1996-97, and I walked to the old Bear Stearns building at Madison Ave and 46th. I lasted 11 months (I was in my 20's) before quitting and taking a lower paying job in the suburbs. I thought the walk (0.9 miles) was misery, particularly in the heat/humidity and in the winter cold (especially on wet/snowy/rainy days). The best subway option was the "7", which people in the office deemed the urine express for it's distinct smell.
Things may have changed, and perhaps it is better now. But I swore I would never go back to commuting to and working in NYC even if a job paid substantially more. You can check my posting history- I'd like to think I'm mostly positive about things in general. Maybe commuting in and out of NYC is my Achilles' heel. Good luck!!
Spent 31 years working in Rahway and it's come quite a ways with regard to the downtown being revitalized with some great restaurants, housing, the arts, etc. and I know several young folks who live there and love it. Maybe not the best place yet to raise a family though. The prison is 1.5 miles away from downtown.
Surprised nobody has posted this website - it's a great way to get to know a lot about NJ towns, generally from people who live in NJ towns, although like here, you'll need to wade through some drek.
https://www.city-data.com/forum/new-jersey/
Not tough at all. Ferry drops you off at 35th st. I used to work in Empire State Building and did the commute for a few years.
You need to live near an electrified train line, which is much faster than the diesel lines.
1. Summit
2. Morristown
3. Princeton
4. Tenafly (drive to Vince Lombardi Park and Ride and take Express Bus, which is cheap. ~10 per day)
5. Plainsboro
1. Summit
2. Morristown
3. Princeton
4. Tenafly (drive to Vince Lombardi Park and Ride and take Express Bus, which is cheap. ~10 per day)
5. Plainsboro
I recommend Plainfield. Right on the RVL, great schools NJ is so famous for, diversity and plenty of good food options right near the TS/DT. I also recommend Perth Amboy and Elizabeth for some of these same reasons.
Not much love here for the bigger towns in New Jersey that are all along the nyc corridor: Newark, Elizabeth , Woodbridge, Edison . Someone did mention JC.
Cranford and Westfield check a lot of your boxes . Are you renting a house or apartment ?
Cranford and Westfield check a lot of your boxes . Are you renting a house or apartment ?
And it’s such a prestigious town that many people from Montgomery say they live in Princeton.
You can’t get into the city on a diesel line. But diesel line is much more reliable than electric.
To the OP, you can do the ferry from the shore and get to midtown. Take the Ferry to Wall Street and jump on the 2 & 3.
Like with many NJ towns, there is no Montgomery zip code. We have Belle Mead, Skillman, Blawenburg, and a portion of the Princeton zip code. Many people cite their zip when asked.....where do you live? I have a bunch of friends in Bernards. They all say they live in Basking Ridge. Just a Jersey thing! LOL.
And West New York! Im in Port Imperial and love it here. It's a beautiful area and not as crowded as JC or Hoboken
my office is in downtown NYC and it's a 20 minute ferry ride to the Wall Street port. There's also one that goes to 39th in midtown
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Disagree on electric vs. diesel.
Did the bus from the Vince for a number of years. Inbound to the PA Bus terminal it's great. Outbound can be a problem as the busses don't sit in the terminal between trips, they come from the NJ side. They have to go through the Lincoln to load up, and so there can be delays if inbound is jammed.
Not much love for the schools, which he will need if he stays more than a few years.
Cranford and Westfield are nice (lived in Cranford pre-Covid) but they have that Raritan valley line transfer at Newark Penn which is soul crushing commuting home from the city. I was miserable right up until the lockdowns. Miss the connecting train at Newark heading home and you're waiting a full hour for the next one.
I guess you can always park at Rahway or Linden which is direct
Underrated town with a great German butcher! But seriously, solid downtown and not far from a bunch of other great downtowns with good commuting options. I would've nixed Montclair on his list mainly because of property taxes, but the OP said he wasn't in a rush to buy yet.
Older equipment is being replaced on an aggressive schedule, which will mitigate breakdowns and delays. The diesels are too slow getting to Secaucus Junction, through which many have to transfer to an electric line anyway, to get to midtown, which is annoying. The Express NJ Transit Trains from Princeton Junction to Midtown take an hour or less, and make for especially efficient commutes.
NJTransit Website Twitter Title ||NJ TRANSIT
NJTransit Website Twitter image ||undefined
I did the bus for a couple of years, picked it up at Willowbrook Mall. I was concerned but, as has been stated, they have separate bus lanes getting into NYC so it went surprisingly well. Eventually moved to Hoboken and now in the suburbs. Port Authority was a bit of a dump, haven't gone in there for years but Penn Station is likely worse right now with the construction. But given your office location, an easy walk. I walk from Penn Station up to Rock Center. Can grab a subway but the walk is not bad. Ex-boss now retired took train from Glen Rock for 25 years. Nice town.
Older equipment is being replaced on an aggressive schedule, which will mitigate breakdowns and delays. The diesels are too slow getting to Secaucus Junction, through which many have to transfer to an electric line anyway, to get to midtown, which is annoying. The Express NJ Transit Trains from Princeton Junction to Midtown take an hour or less, and make for especially efficient commutes.
NJTransit Website Twitter Title ||NJ TRANSIT
NJTransit Website Twitter image ||undefinedwww.njtransit.com
You seem to be ignoring Bergen County were the diesels get to both Secaucus Junction and Hoboken as fast or faster than the electrics.
I took the pascack valley line from Hackensack to Penn Station, transferring at Secaucus Junction, for many, many years. Not worth it, imo. Ultimately, I preferred driving to Secaucus Junction, and taking the electric lines to NYC. The Diesels are too slow. Commutes from Summit and Princeton Junction are much better.
No idea. But I wouldn't want my kids in that school system regardless
And the Pascack line has the least frequent service of any of the lines running through Bergen and Passaic. The Main Line and Bergen County Line are far different and more frequent and include express trains during rush that further cut the time. Catch an express train from Ramsey, Allendale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Ridgewood, Glen Rock or Fair Lawn and Summit/Princeton Junction will seem like slow motion.
Not going to find many apartment rentals in GR. There are maybe a few near Rock Rd. There would be some house rentals if that is OK. Fair Lawn, however, is also on the train line and would have apartments. Or if you are willing to expand slightly out and then ride your bike/get a ride to the train/bus station, Hawthorne works.
If you're going to rent with a downtown with no kids in school, I would suggest Hoboken or Jersey City. If that's a budget buster, other towns in Hudson like Weehawken, West New York and North Bergen could work.
If you're thinking longer term and your office is near PABT, you could look at Edgewater and Fort Lee which have good schools and still the urban feel.
Plainsboro has no train station. You want Princeton Junction/West Windsor instead, if the 60+ min train ride is acceptable.
Summit, Morristown, Montclair, Madison would be my choices, based on the OP's original ask. Westfield is also really cool...but crowded.
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You probably ought to ignore all the highly ironic, misleading and useless denigrating comments from the politically obsessed. 😀
The towns you've mentioned, as well as the towns others have mentioned (e.g. Metuchen, Cranford, Westfield) would probably all work. But one thing they all share is that they're burdened with lots of traffic even outside rush hour. In most, you get out of your house and get in a line to drive, or shop, or whatever else you're doing, even on weekends.
That might not bother you and those towns might align well with your wife finding stuff to do. For example, Metuchen, being a tiny town, has a thriving and friendly downtown with multiple places to just hang out and socialize with people on and around the main street through town. And it's easy walking distance from anywhere else in town. Cranford/Westfield are similar in that way, albeit larger.
But the traffic in most of central, north-east and south-east NJ has gotten pretty annoying to me, personally. So if I was moving to NJ now, I'd locate a smaller town that's removed somewhat from the population crush and its attendant traffic issues in all the aforementioned towns. Someplace where you might have a short drive a nearby train-station with ample parking.
I'd probably start by locating likely train stations with good parking and then work out from there. In my case, probably north and west because I like mountains. It might add to the commute time, but one can surely find some home-to-train-parking routes that are relatively low traffic.
NJ has oddly diverse regions, in terms of how an area feels. You can experience this by hopping on Amwell Road, near New Brunswick, then heading west for a while. Do that and one experiences dense suburbia near NB, then rural spaces as you clear Hillsborough and head west. And the rural feeling areas are just a short drive from the more suburban feeling places. So it's not really the boonies, it just feels like it a little bit, in terms of greatly reduced population density and more breathing space.
I figured you probably aren't leaning in that direction, but also figured it's worth mentioning in case you didn't consider the possibility (most people seem to gravitate towards walking distance to NEC train stations).
I do not live in Montclair, but I go there often for entertainment and dining..... I know the taxes are unreal, so I would hesitate to move there unless you do not care about that expense
Montclair seems to be getting a bum rap here, some of it over the top....it has its merits
There aren't a lot of towns along the NEC that are that desirable and walkable. Metuchen...but that's about it, really. Edison/Metropark is not walkable and is oppressively congested. Princeton is nice, but it's a hike (I live around here) as a commuter...and if living IN town is a must-have, there's the need to take the Dinky to Princeton Junction. New Brunswick and Rahway aren't at all similar in terms of the Chatham, Madison, Summit type areas that the OP mentioned.
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