Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I currently live in Manhattan but I'm wanting to move to Brooklyn (Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill etc.).
The one concern I have is how it will affect my daily commute to Purchase, Westchester.
Currently I go via train (then bus shuttle) and it takes me about 1 hr to 1h20 door to door.
If I moved to Brooklyn, I would get a car and drive daily.
Does anyone know how long this would take me approximately?
I would leave Brooklyn around 6h30 to 7h00 in the morning and then leave Purchase around 5h30 to 6h30 in the evening.
I have occasionally gotten a lift from a colleague who lives in Manhattan to the Purchase, and if Brooklyn to Purchase commute via car is similar to Manhattan to Purchase via car, then I can cope with that.
But there is no-one in the office I know who lives in Brooklyn to ask what the commute from there would be like.
In the first place, are you sure you want to get a car? I live in Boerum Hill and used to live in Park Slope and I can tell you that the parking situation is horrible.
Our daughter goes to Purchase College and comes home every weekend. It takes her about 2 hours door to door (taxi, Metro North, subway). If you do decide to use public transportation, I would advise you to stay close to the 4-5 line for the access to Grand Central Station. That would mean Brooklyn Heights, the northern part of Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, possibly Fort Greene (not far from the Nevins and Atlantic stops) and the North Slope.
As for driving up there, we've only done it a couple of times but our experience has been that the commute up at that early hour is pretty smooth and you could most likely make it in an hour and a half. Coming back into Brooklyn is more dicey. The BQE can be a nightmare in late afternoon/early evening.
Are you sure you want to start putting in 12- or 14-hour days on a regular basis? I'm the last one to discourage anybody from moving to Brooklyn...but moving to Brooklyn and driving to Westchester sounds like a pretty good definition of insanity.
Move to Brooklyn, take the subway to Grand Central and catch Metro North there. (It'll save you time and money over that drive!)
Why not scope out some similar neighborhoods in The Bronx and cut your commute by an hour or more? Brooklyn ~ Bronx...six of one, half dozen of the other.
Why do you want to do this to yourself? New York City is for walking and Public Transportation. If one is attending SUNY Purchase, go live in Purchase or nearby. Otherwise, transfer to a school close to Brooklyn (like one in Brooklyn). Short commutes make the city wonderful, long distances make it awful.
I'd count on the trip taking about an hour (give or take a few minutes) at 6:30 in the morning, and closer to an hour and a half to two hours on the return trip, depending upon bridge traffic and weather.
Some days, the FDR will be bad, especially if it has flooded, so you would need to plan for an alternate route. You might consider investing in a good GPS with real time traffic capabilities (if the vehicle is not equipped with one), since it can help to get around the issues you may encounter while you're still new to driving this route.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
I live in northern Westchester, well north of Purchase, and drive into Brooklyn pretty often. Without much traffic it is 45 minutes to 50 minutes tops from our house to Park Slope--with traffic it can be twice that. Getting down the Taconic/Sprain/Bronx River etc to the Triboro is usually not bad at all, but the Triboro to the BQE can be a real nightmare. So I agree--take the subway to Grand Central.
I have a friend who lives in Park Slope and works in White Plains. He used to take the train to work (F and Metro-North), but after the fare hike he decided he'd drive instead.
In the morning, the drive is usually considerably shorter than it was via the train, but he says that the evening commute home can be totally unpredictable. Especially on Fridays or if there's some sort of event going on or an accident, or bad weather, it can take him 3+ hours to get home. That's the trade-off... the train is fairly predictable, you can relax and zone out. Driving can be stressful. Do you want that after a long day at work? That's why I wouldn't do it...
Thanks for all the responses, appreciate the advice, despite most of it being on the "what the hell are you thinking" side :-)
Unfortunately I really like my job and in regards to places to live I really like Brooklyn, I think staying in Manhattan would be plan B, if it isn't feasible.
In regards to getting the train, I agree it is more relaxing but I still think the train would be longer, close to 2 hours each way door to door (it is currently 1h20 from mid-town manhattan). In regards to driving, looking at google map it says 39 mins with no traffic and 1h30 in traffic. So my guess was that it would be about 45 -50 mins early in the morning and about 1h15 -1h30 in the evening? I would assume BQE and triboro bridge would be better route than going through FDR.
Any further comments welcomed. Thanks once again to those who replied.
My husband makes this commute everyday. We live in Brooklyn and he works in Elmsford we leave about 8:00 to drop our son off to school in Manhattan for 8:30, then he heads up to Westchester. He gets there about 9:30-10am. I think he takes unnecessary routes to get there (just my opinion) but he arrives fairly quickly. I think he takes the Westside Hwy & sometimes he mentions the Hutch. On Saturdays I say 40 mins he gets there. Now coming home.... that’s a whole other story. Some nights he leaves at 6 and gets home about 8:30.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
