When I lived in Bridgewater, I took the Raritan line for a few months until I realized that I could drive to and park at Metropark and take the direct train from the there to NY Penn.

Depends what you think is “best.”

Are you trying to minimize overall cost? Minimize travel time? Maximize travel flexibility in case of disruptions?

When do you need to arrive at work by?

Will you leave work in the early evenings at latest?

There’s a few options, but no one solution is right for everyone.

I know people who would drive to the Lyons station for a better / smoother ride. Depending on where in town you are that could work. There used to be a bus that left from there too. Check on that if the station isn’t too far from you. The RVL is for the birds.

Aiming for minimal time, maximum consistency in timing. Arrival 9:30 +- an hr. Leaving 4 to 6:30. Currently spouse ( who this is for) left at 6:30pm and has an eta after 8:30pm via car and seems like has to contend with 45 mins of traffic in the evening just to be in the tunnel.

That might work. Any reason why you didn't choose the path? Parking in Harrison for example. Or are there any express buses that take advantage of the bus lane or is that not worthwhile? She just told me tonight that her office might be moving to Soho.

At the time, I worked LIC and then midtown. Going through NY Penn made the most sense.

Whats wrong with Bridgewater station

It's not logical, but she's not comfortable navigating transfers etc. There is no direct line in to NYC on the Raritan line. I think her best bet would be parking at a path station and go to Christopher street, but that would require a transfer I believe.

>There is no direct line in to NYC on the Raritan line

Some trains are direct

>but she's not comfortable navigating transfers

And she's an adult with a job making real money? Wut

you can take the train into hoboken and there is a PATH station right there. or just transfer at Secaucus for a penn station train

There is one direct line that would make it within the hours. (Gets in at 10:06). The first direct line back leaves at 8:48pm.

Some people are afraid of spiders and they still hold down jobs.

My comment before was probably uncalled for, hadnt had coffee yet.

May I suggest taking a day to commute in with her via Raritan Valley Line to see how the transfers work and what she needs to do?

I agree transferring sucks, nobody likes it, but it is easy to do and it might help her get past the fear.

When my husband needs to go into the city, he drives to Secaucus and takes the NJ Transit train to Madison Square Garden. From there you can take subway to almost anywhere. We have driven to Hoboken and taken the Path, if she really doesn’t want to change trains at all, that’s probably the most direct, but the drive is likely to be a little more challenging than Secaucus because you get close to the Holland Tunnel entrance, which attracts more traffic.

Edit: forgot to address Path parking. I don’t think there’s dedicated parking in Hoboken, but there are a couple of garages nearby. I don’t know if they fill up, we weren’t going in on weekday mornings for the most part.

>There is no direct line in to NYC

Yes there is.

> path station and go to Christopher street

Raritan NJT - Bridgewater to Newark Path
Newark Path to Journal Square Path (WTC Train)
Journal Square Path to Christopher Street (33rd Street Train)

PATH trains are frequent. I do a similar route to Newport every day. I read 2 or 3 NYT articles on my phone during this.

With parking, I pay $4800 a year from Dunellen.

The direct lines on the Raritan line start late. The earliest one gets in after 10am. (Which would work) But there are no direct lines out in normal business hours (leaves at 8:48pm from NY).