Still looking at a 30-45 min drive to one of those stations. Add in the fact only a handful of those trains go straight to NY and the rest require a transfer in Long Branch leaving you with less flexibility. Plus the trains on the diesel section on the line aren't very fast because diesels don't accelerate as quickly as electric. So the actual commute time works out to be pretty much equal. Personally I'd prefer the greater flexibility in train schedules out of Metro Park rather than save some drive time going out of bay head.