Moving to North NJ, Looking for Suggestions on Where

I've lived in Metuchen for the past 18 years. Moved here for my wife's NYC commute. 5 minute walk to the train and express train to the city during rush hour means a sub one hour commute to Penn station.

No mtb'g trails here for sure. But 287, GSP and Turnpike are all less than 4 minutes away.
Chimney rock is 15 minutes as is 6MR. Allaire or Hartshorne 30 minutes. Add 15 minutes to all of those for rush hour riding.

In exchange for this you get a congested downtown, small properties and high taxes. Welcome to NJ.
 
JimN said:
Right near High Mountain was my first thought as well, but if Blue Mountain doesn't have enough flow, he's not gonna like High Mountain.
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As someone that worked in the city for 15 years, do not pay attention to these clowns telling you to live anywhere out side of Bergan county and get to work in 45 minutes. You need to take into account the total time needed to get to work not just get to the city.
 
mustclime said:
As someone that worked in the city for 15 years, do not pay attention to these clowns telling you to live anywhere out side of Bergan county and get to work in 45 minutes. You need to take into account the total time needed to get to work not just get to the city.
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*Bergen
 
mustclime said:
As someone that worked in the city for 15 years, do not pay attention to these clowns telling you to live anywhere out side of Bergan county and get to work in 45 minutes. You need to take into account the total time needed to get to work not just get to the city.
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I've gotten to PA in 40 minutes from Wayne.... but that was the 6am bus and happened only twice in 4 yrs... lol
 
I don't really have much to add on where to pick. http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-jersey/ is a great resource.

I'll chime in on the NYC commute aspect since I've commuted on several train lines and buses from Somerset, Bergen, and now Morris counties. Yes, NJtransit sucks in general. PABT is a total dump, NY Penn is slightly better, getting stuck and Newark Penn on a missed RV line transfer sucks.

mattybfat said:
Another option in/out that is the most economical and convienant is north Bergen park and ride. It's right next to Lincoln tunnel viaduct. Bus runs every 10 mins and an easy in and out from lot. That commute is pretty easy from most Morris county areas.
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I agree this is a good option. I did this for almost a year before deciding I'd rather sit on the bus longer then get stuck in traffic both ways to get here. If you end up close to this one, its probably the best. Its basically a shuttle bus through the Lincoln Tunnel. The bigger NJ park and rides are the way to go. See below.

MadisonDan said:
@mattybfat for the love of god, NO. No bus. Port Authority is an absolute shithole. Penn is a dump, but the PA is horrible.
@MTBpat avoid the bus to the Port Authority at all costs, unless you want a divorce. In which case, you'll have more time to ride, which of course will allow you to move to Colorado. So, wait. Port Authority may not be a bad option after all.
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Having done both, I'd say the train is better. The commute is more consistent. Most people seem to prefer the train. But the bus isn't bad if done right. There are more options for a single seat commute, which is a major plus. IMO, the biggest factor in having a tolerable bus commute is the frequency of the bus line. If the buses run more than 20 minutes apart, the commute sucks. Certain local lines where lower ridership and/or convenience make up for this may be an exception, but in general you want more buses available to you. The bigger park and rides run buses every 6-10 minutes. This means no schedules to look at, minimal waiting, and almost no time spent at PABT.

The big downside on the bus is inconsistent travel times. You'll hit traffic more often than you'll get signal issues/backups on the trains. I'd guess about 10% of my trips hit a 15-20 minute delay, and maybe 2 a month hit a significant delay of 30+ mins.

C8N said:
I've gotten to PA in 40 minutes from Wayne.... but that was the 6am bus and happened only twice in 4 yrs... lol
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I've been commuting out of Willowbrook for a few years now, and the bus ride is around 35-45 minutes pretty consistently just off peak (before 7:15am and leaving PABT by 4:30). Its 30 minutes off peak.

Realistically there are very few options in NJ for a 45 minute commute door to desk. Unless you are working with blocks of Penn/PABT or the PATH its not going to happen. There are people living in Manhattan that have 45+ minute commutes. 60-75 minutes is achievable from many areas in central and north jersey.
 
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as for Summit, would include New Providence/Murray Hill. If you have kids the school system is highly rated. I grew up there and moved out in '81. Still a nice town, just expensive, and in union county (yuck)
 
just because nobody mentioned it, thought I'd chime in for Montclair. We ride out our door, 10 minutes to Mills/Hilltop/Eagle Rock & other secret trails. Yes, I know its all illegal. However, folks are building lots of secret trails and for being 35 minutes on the train, it's pretty awesome to be able to ride out your door.
Nevermind the taxes, though.
 
Jersey and the outdoor scene are not good friends. Even more so if you enjoy pedaling.
 
Bike N Gear said:
I've lived in Metuchen for the past 18 years. Moved here for my wife's NYC commute. 5 minute walk to the train and express train to the city during rush hour means a sub one hour commute to Penn station.

No mtb'g trails here for sure. But 287, GSP and Turnpike are all less than 4 minutes away.
Chimney rock is 15 minutes as is 6MR. Allaire or Hartshorne 30 minutes. Add 15 minutes to all of those for rush hour riding.

In exchange for this you get a congested downtown, small properties and high taxes. Welcome to NJ.
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this is some good insight for sure. i dont mind driving 15 minutes, as this is what Blue and Graham Hills are for me now. Understand rush hour. It is what it is, I suppose.

I should also mention that I frequently go to Philly for work and to visit family/friends. Metuchen is right in the thick of highways and very quick (1.5 hours) to get home. it's becoming more and more appealing. Is the town itself "nice"?
 
chiming in here as well...

i've lived in north edison / woodbridge for basically my entire life, commuting to NYC every day for the last 25 years (yikes!) via woodbridge, metuchen and now metro park...

while NJ Transhit is terrible...when it is running reliably, it's a quick hop into NYC (40 minutes from metro park as previously mentioned)...via the NorthEast corridor line...Metro Park also is a stop for Amtrak, so an easy trip down to philly, which i do once a year at least for the giants v eagles (always undercover by the way, never in full giants gear)...

from my house, which is near JP Stevens HS (not sure if schools are a factor in your move but it was recently ranked #24 in the state!) here's the distance and google maps 5pm travel times (i didn't realize until just now that was even a feature in google maps) to the "local" spots:

Rutgers Eco - 8.3 miles, 20 mins
6MR - 15.6 miles, 30 mins
Chimney Rock - 17 miles, 35 mins
Lewis Morris - 23 miles, 45 mins
Hartshorne - 27.9 miles, 40 mins
Allaire - 38.9 miles, 45 mins

there's no sugarcoating it...traffic sucks in central NJ at rush hour, no matter which direction you are going...
 
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MTBpat said:
Is the town itself "nice"?
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@pygmypony can probably say more (I grew up in Woodbridge which is nearby, but have since moved away) but Metuchen was always considered one of the nicer towns in this area. It has a decent downtown area and is fairly clean in general., not a lot of crime etc. Not sure if that has changed much in the last 10 years.

If I was buying in Middlesex County north of the Raritan River, it would be in Metuchen or Edison (north side).
 
MTBpat said:
Is the town itself "nice"?
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The town is decent, it has a main street with and old town feel. It's the kinda town that was once more grand, like Plainfield but is no longer the hamlet it once was.
It's surrounded by blue collar towns like Edison, Woodbridge and Plainfield, which keep it from the appeal of points further west in less populated parts of NJ.

Overall I'd say it's somewhat of an urban gritty town with older homes and downtown that give it an old town feel. Property is not as expensive as less populated areas so housing is more affordable.

If your wife likes shopping Woodbridge and Menlo mall are very close.
 
rlb said:
@pygmypony can probably say more (I grew up in Woodbridge which is nearby, but have since moved away) but Metuchen was always considered one of the nicer towns in this area. It has a decent downtown area and is fairly clean in general., not a lot of crime etc. Not sure if that has changed much in the last 10 years.

If I was buying in Middlesex County north of the Raritan River, it would be in Metuchen or Edison (north side).
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not much has changed...metuchen is still pretty nice...and it has hailey's which has a great beer selection!

http://www.haileysharpandpub.com/
 
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MTBpat said:
this is some good insight for sure. i dont mind driving 15 minutes, as this is what Blue and Graham Hills are for me now. Understand rush hour. It is what it is, I suppose.

I should also mention that I frequently go to Philly for work and to visit family/friends. Metuchen is right in the thick of highways and very quick (1.5 hours) to get home. it's becoming more and more appealing. Is the town itself "nice"?
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The town is nice. Several good restaurants. There is a whole bunch of controversial expansion going on downtown right now. New parking deck is up with condos going in downtown too. Whole Foods and Starbucks coming in as well as a lot of retail that many fear will remain vacant.
 
thanks for all the input guys. I think we are going to focus our search in Metuchen or Summit areas. The taxes in Springfield are really high. Maplewood, in our opinion, is a dump.
 
rlb said:
Definitely a nice side and not nice side to Maplewood. The nice side probably makes Springfield taxes look like nothing. Good luck!
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well, apparently all of the houses we looked at are on the not nice side...
 
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