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My family is considering a move to the Princeton. I was hoping to get some clarity on a few items regarding the commute times to PENN station and/or driving to midtown.
1. Trains leaving Penn at 3:07, 3:30 or 4:13 to Princeton Junction | Are these specific trains overly crowded in a non-covid era? Would you get a seat if you were getting on the train at Penn station?
2. What is the true commute time of the train to Princeton Junction that leaves at 3:30 | Looking at the printed Northeast Corridor map it looks like it leaves Penn at 3:30 and arrives at 4:40, but there are a bunch of L's next to the stops which implies it often leaves early. Would love to know a more accurate time length for that train. The 4:13 train looks to be the express one, but I'd be leaving work much sooner than that one..
3 DRIVING | Does anyone do the drive from Princeton in through the Lincoln tunnel to midtown? When does the traffic start building up - I'd be arriving in the city at 7am, so I'm guessing I wouldn't have much traffic on the way in? maybe 1:15, 1:20min? What about coming home, if I was leaving at 3PM? Would love to know what that commute time looks like with traffic.
My family is considering a move to the Princeton. I was hoping to get some clarity on a few items regarding the commute times to PENN station and/or driving to midtown.
1. Trains leaving Penn at 3:07, 3:30 or 4:13 to Princeton Junction | Are these specific trains overly crowded in a non-covid era? Would you get a seat if you were getting on the train at Penn station?
2. What is the true commute time of the train to Princeton Junction that leaves at 3:30 | Looking at the printed Northeast Corridor map it looks like it leaves Penn at 3:30 and arrives at 4:40, but there are a bunch of L's next to the stops which implies it often leaves early. Would love to know a more accurate time length for that train. The 4:13 train looks to be the express one, but I'd be leaving work much sooner than that one..
3 DRIVING | Does anyone do the drive from Princeton in through the Lincoln tunnel to midtown? When does the traffic start building up - I'd be arriving in the city at 7am, so I'm guessing I wouldn't have much traffic on the way in? maybe 1:15, 1:20min? What about coming home, if I was leaving at 3PM? Would love to know what that commute time looks like with traffic.
Thanks so much for any insights you can provide!
Use maps.google.com and it is a good estimate of the time it takes on the trains. I would study those and the train schedules carefully.
As for driving, I wouldn't recommend doing that. The trains are far more reliable than driving. Driving can be very unpredictable.
Be prepared door to door, for this to take an hour and a half on average each way. Some mistakenly only count the travel time on the train itself and leave out the amount of time it takes to get to the train station including parking. It is better to be dropped off at the train station instead of having to park.
If you can push to WFH, I would most certainly do it.
I did a 90-minute train commute for years and an almost-2-hour commute for the last 5. Admittedly, that extra time was harder, but I did it to live near the ocean and I knew retirement was looming and the long commute was temporary. As it turned out, it got even worse: For a time for a particular project (for which I received a chunky raise), I had to drive several time a week to LaGuardia Airport, 66 miles each way. Now THAT was fun. If I didn't hit the GWB by 7 a.m., I was doomed.
It's not terrible taking the train if you work the time into your day. Read, work, or nap on the train.
The Northeast Corridor is the busiest line and is fairly reliable. I don't think you'd have a problem getting a seat unless there was a breakdown of another train or something, an occasional occurrence. What makes you think the "L" implies the train leaves early? The timetables they are showing on the revised website look weird to me--not the normal ones--so they don't show the code, but I don't think leaving early is really a thing for the trains, and I don't think that's what the "L" means. They do a lot of work to make the times precise and the trains are usually on time, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when they aren't notwithstanding. But trains leaving early? Not likely.
Given your time, driving might be a realistic option for you. You might be shocked to find how many cars are on the road heading to the city at that time, but by and large, if you hit the bridges and tunnels before 7, you are usually OK. Ten or fifteen minutes can make a difference of half an hour, though, so bear that in mind. Leaving the city at 3 p.m. and leaving at 4 p.m. are two entirely different animals.
Princeton and the surrounding area is a great place to live, and the commute is feasible. I personally think you'll be OK given your earlier-than-usual hours, whether by train or by car, and having both options is good.
What makes you think the "L" implies the train leaves early?
From the schedule, "L Trains may leave ahead of schedule"
But they only do that on off hours (which this person seems to be travelling) in a direction that doesn't matter to most (who would be upset if their train home got in early). That is just there for the few/rate people that might catching a train from New Brunswick to Princeton in the mist afternoon. It warns them to be there a few minutes early. It has been this way for decades. It really shouldn't affect you that much. They might leave a minute or two early (just some slack in the schedule so people do not complain the train is actually late coming home), just accept that as a gift when it happens
My family is considering a move to the Princeton. I was hoping to get some clarity on a few items regarding the commute times to PENN station and/or driving to midtown.
1. Trains leaving Penn at 3:07, 3:30 or 4:13 to Princeton Junction | Are these specific trains overly crowded in a non-covid era? Would you get a seat if you were getting on the train at Penn station?
2. What is the true commute time of the train to Princeton Junction that leaves at 3:30 | Looking at the printed Northeast Corridor map it looks like it leaves Penn at 3:30 and arrives at 4:40, but there are a bunch of L's next to the stops which implies it often leaves early. Would love to know a more accurate time length for that train. The 4:13 train looks to be the express one, but I'd be leaving work much sooner than that one..
3 DRIVING | Does anyone do the drive from Princeton in through the Lincoln tunnel to midtown? When does the traffic start building up - I'd be arriving in the city at 7am, so I'm guessing I wouldn't have much traffic on the way in? maybe 1:15, 1:20min? What about coming home, if I was leaving at 3PM? Would love to know what that commute time looks like with traffic.
Thanks so much for any insights you can provide!
Just since you are not from the area I have to ask, you know that the Princeton Jct train station is NOT in Princeton right? Just saying in case you are moving to Princeton proper and have to also take the "dinky".
Trains are pretty much on schedule now, driving is a mess. People are going back to work, and it seems like everyone wants to drive. Some of my co-workers, that are long time drivers, are complaining it is taking longer now. With that said, they are NOT travelling as early as you, but I would have to GUESS you would be ok. If you happen to work close to Port Authority Bus Terminal, and money is not an issue, I would suggest you look into parking at the Bus Terminal (ok, you need to conform this, it is pre-COVID info). The parking deck ramp goes right into the tunnel. On summer Friday nights (pre virus), it could save you 45 minutes compared to parking in midtown on the east side.
I did the commute for many years into NYC, from Morris County and not Princeton but here are my pointers (Pre-Covid):
1. Trains will be on time 95% of the time to pick you up in the AM, the issue is there are signal issues for trains going through the tunnel (maybe someone can chime in if its gotten better?) and the trains queue up and about 50% of the time expect the train to arrive 10-30 minutes after scheduled arrival.
2. Unless you're arriving in the City before 6am I would never recommend driving into the City. If I missed my train or needed to get into the City quicker for me it was easier to drive into Jersey City or Harrison, pay for parking and take a Path Train into NYC. Also, not to be racist but Jersey City Path Train packed to the max with a majority Indian/Chinese foreigners and there is zero concept for personal space.
3. My experience if you're leaving Penn Station before 4:45pm its not that bad at Penn Station, but NJ Transit limits the size of the earlier trains and seating is never ever guaranteed when leaving Penn Station. Its also always a crap shoot if there are delays or not.
4. When calculating your travel time even though my train ride was supposed to be 60 minutes the realistic "door to door" time was 2 to 2.5 hours each way. There is a reason why commuters are never smiling
I think you just triggered some PTSD in me for that commute.
Last edited by DannyHobkins; 10-21-2020 at 09:28 AM..
id go to an annual conference in the city and drive in and take the lincoln tunnel. i probably left my house around 7am. man, that is one brutal drive. the people doing it are all angry and grumpy because their life sucks because they have to do that drive. you have to basically battle for every single lane change. you are leaving early so maybe you will miss that but you better make sure that you miss it or your life will be hell.
I used to rent a car and drive to New England once a month. The "cutoff time" for the GWB was 6AM. Get to the bridge by or before 6, and you sail right over and through the Cross Bronx. Get to the bridge by 6:15 and you'd sit in traffic all the way to Stamford. I know that's not the Lincoln Tunnel, but I'd imagine the cutoff time is similar.
From the schedule, "L Trains may leave ahead of schedule"
But they only do that on off hours (which this person seems to be travelling) in a direction that doesn't matter to most (who would be upset if their train home got in early). That is just there for the few/rate people that might catching a train from New Brunswick to Princeton in the mist afternoon. It warns them to be there a few minutes early. It has been this way for decades. It really shouldn't affect you that much. They might leave a minute or two early (just some slack in the schedule so people do not complain the train is actually late coming home), just accept that as a gift when it happens
Ah, thanks. I couldn't see that on the NJ Transit site, and I no longer have a printed schedule at home.
I have done the Princeton Jct commute to downtown as well commute from New Brunswick to Midtown via NE Corridor. For your timings, so that you would reach Penn station before 7am and catch a train back before 4:30pm, the trains would generally be 100% in schedule and you would get a seat.
Things become dicey, if you catch a train after 7AM, you have to be a Physics PhD to estimate the train speed and properly predict that the train stopping rate so that train door would open just in front of you so that you would be the first to get into the train :-) so that you can get a seat. Coming back from Penn station should also be fine as long as you can predict which platform the train would be placed in the evening.For going to downtown, to catch a PATH is another life skill, which you can acquire by practice.
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