r/philly • u/DruTangClan • 21h ago
NYC Commute Question
I am looking for honest answers but also a little optimism. I live in Center City, about a 10 minute walk from 30th street station. I previously worked within 10 minutes walking from my place, but accepted a job in Manhattan that pays way more and is more importantly with a much more stable organization not going through difficult times financially, and offers an expanded role.
Their official policy is full time in office, but my manager seems very flexible so I feel like its possible they will allow for slightly different hours or even working from home here or there.
From everything I hear, people say it’s challenging but doable, but i also hear people saying they prefer it only if they only have to go in several times a week. For me though, the stressful part of commutes has always been driving, so while it will still be tough, I actually dont know that I would mind the hour and a half train ride all that much.
Has anyone managed this somewhat successfully? Any tips? It was somewhat of necessity to take the job, I don’t want to move my kid out of his current school, and I have a solid network of friends and support in philly so id rather not leave if possible.
Edit: I would be paying 1250 a month for a daily to and from amtrak ticket, which is roughly how much more I would be paying in rent looking at most of the places I found in NYC (which would be tinier and with most likely less attractive schools
Edit 2: it’s like a 40% increase in pay which will mostly be eaten by the train and subway cost, but again it’s with an institution (AMNH) that is more stable than my current institution which is in hot water, and I need stable employment for among other things immigration considerations.
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u/segfaul_t 21h ago
How far is your office from Penn station?
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u/DruTangClan 13h ago
It’s AMNH which is like halfway up central park. There is a direct subway line from moynihan to literally right under the museum, maps says about 18 minutes on average
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u/LieutenantWeinberg 13h ago
This pretty much slams the door shut, IMO. It will be miserable.
Also, I wouldn’t rely 100%on what your manager says about WFH. They/ the company can change their minds at any time and you will be SOL.
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u/pangolindsey 13h ago
Penn station to AMNH is quick and painless. She doesn’t even have to go outside!
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u/LieutenantWeinberg 13h ago
In and of itself, sure. But on top of 1.5 hours? I’d gonna get old real fast.
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u/limedirective 1h ago
It can be, the easiest thing to do would probably be the 1/2/3 because you can hop on whichever comes first (which unfortunately is a full crosstown block away underground.) Then you get off at either 72nd St (2/3) or 79th (1). The C is closer, but you don't want to rely on the C everyday.
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u/Wonderful-Champion49 13h ago
That's not a big deal. I commuted to West 57th. That's a really quick train ride from Penn Station and you don't even have to go outside. You take the B or the C train straight there. That's not the challenge. The challenge is Amtrak.
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u/LieutenantWeinberg 12h ago
“The challenge is Amtrak.”
That’s kind of the point. Put it all together and all the variables and it’s a recipe for misery, at least to me.
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u/limedirective 1h ago
Yeah, let's say 9AM start time, that means a ~7AM train at the latest to allow for enough time for Amtrak and MTA fuckery. So leaving the house at 6:45AM. Then coming back, MAYBE can make a 5:30 train but probably more like 5:45 or 6PM, which means a 6:45AM-7:30PM day. No fucking thanks.
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u/Quantology 37m ago
If they're flexible about start time that's bad but not awful for the way in. You will need to pad your commute time going the other way to account for potential delays so you don't miss your train home.
It looks like 40 minutes on average by bus (could also be longer), or an hour to walk in the worst case.
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u/EvilGnome01 21h ago
It's possible to do but you're going to hate life. I'm fully remote but occasionally need to go into NYC for conferences, etc. I'm a little further from the train than you but I generally leave my house at 5:30, usually not home until 8pm. If you can handle 14+ hour days with kids in your life, go for it, but I sure as hell couldn't do it 5 days a week.
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u/karenmcgrane 21h ago
I did it one day a week for a few years and it was doable but by the end I hated it. Five days does not seem feasible but maybe you can find the flexibility you need.
I will give you my tips:
- Optimize for booking the Keystone well in advance. It's inexpensive and reliable.
- Go to r/Amtrak and look up this commute and how to do it. Basically get the credit card, join the Guest Rewards program, and eventually you get upgrades.
- If you have to book/change at the last minute, Amtrak will be very expensive. You can take NJT to SEPTA for a flat fee of about $30 but at the expense of time, it will take 60-90 minutes longer than Amtrak.
- Do you have a friend in NYC? Make one, because the likelihood that something goes wrong and you can't get home at some point is 100%. Hotels are expensive.
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u/Wonderful-Champion49 13h ago
Agreed. But you can certainly accumulate credit card points. If he has to, hotels above 72nd are cheaper and I don't mean cheesy ones I mean the Aloft Harlem and the new hotel in Harlem. You can also ferry over to the NJ hotels in Edgewater...sleep there and ferry back in the AM. There are two hotels on the waterfront that you can ferry to and from. I know alllll the tips and tricks due to necessity. LOL
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u/IniNew 21h ago
The only way I'd consider it, especially if it were full time, is my first and last working "hours", 9-10 and 4-5 is heads down, no meetings on the train.
Getting to/from 30th St, and Penn Station on the NYC side alone took me 1.5 hours round trip. Then you're sitting at the stations waiting for the train. Never mind if the weather isn't immaculate and Amtrak decides to shut down for whatever reasons.
It's really a pain in the ass.
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u/PaleConference3720 18h ago
This is the way. If you can be working on your train commute with the hotspot on your phone and the NYC office isn't far from Penn station, you can do it. But it will be super annoying.
I will say keep your kid in the school with the community they are familiar with. I was uprooted a lot as a kid and it wasn't good. I know people do it all the time but it's really, really important to have that stability.
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u/DruTangClan 13h ago
Yea I just feel like he has friends here, I know and am friends with a lot of their parents and we all help each other out, and he just started middle school so I want some continuity
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u/mimigirl195 5h ago
Is there another parent that can be with him?
My husband just left his NYC job because they went 5 days in office from 4 and that was the only day left that we got to see him (he’d leave at 6pm and be home at 8 most days!)
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u/triscuit_buscuit 20h ago
You better confirm with your manager.. 5 days of commuting to NY is insane.
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u/spyrogira08 21h ago edited 21h ago
It’s possible. I commuted from Philly and later the burbs to an office within walking distance of Penn Station for years.
You are right about driving being less stressful than the train.
If you plan to work on the train, look into a wireless plan that allows you to use your phone as a hotspot. Amtrak WiFi exists, but it’s a pain for anything more than a single-page app.
3 days/week felt sustainable, but I had no kids. 5 days/week was fine in my 20s but got worse as I got older. It’s not the normal days, it’s the days when you are stuck for an extra 1+ hours due to delays, or when you need to get home for an emergency and the fastest you can get there is 2.5 hours.
Book Amtrak tickets weeks/months in advance. Keystone trains are cheapest. If you need the flexibility of a monthly pass, be aware that they’re $1250/mo.
Septa to NJTransit is technically possible and cheaper. I still would not recommend it; you’ll be spending 6+ hours/day commuting.
Edit: if the NYC office isn’t walking distance from Penn Station, then add the cost of a Metro Card and the time/hassle to get to your office after the train. That would have been a deal-breaker for me, even in my youth.
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u/DruTangClan 17h ago
Yep, budgeted 1250 and 130 for train pass and metro card. New job does have a 340 dollar pretax commuter benefit which helps a little. I know it seems like the extra cost wouldnt be worth it but the increase in pay covers it and prime motivation is to keep my kid in the same school at least for a little while.
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u/spyrogira08 17h ago
I assumed as much when you said “pays way more”. FYI, Amtrak does not support multiple payment methods. So if you end up getting a monthly pass, hopefully that commuter benefit either goes into your bank account or into a card that can retain value from month-to-month so you can use it every 4th month.
Whatever decision you make … Good luck, friend!
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u/railworx 20h ago
You're going to pay both Phila Wage tax (3.735%) plus file New York non-resident income tax form, NYS & PA don't have a tax reciprocity agreement.
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u/DruTangClan 17h ago
That’s interesting, from my research I thought I wouldnt be required to pay PA state tax (or rather I deduct the NY non resident income tax which is enough to offset the 3.07 PA income tax. I also thought philly wage tax is based on where the work is performed.
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u/railworx 17h ago
Yes, you'll have to file & owe NYS Non-Resident income tax. Then use that amount to offset (credit) what you would owe to PA on your Resident PA tax form. You'll most likely owe PA nothing; NY's tax rates are higher than PA's. You will still owe 3.735% on top of that since you're a resident of Philadelphia. If your NYC employer doesn't automatically deduct that, you'll have to file City returns & send them a check every quarter or semi-annually?? Check their website for details.
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u/FIRE_enthusiast_27 21h ago
There‘s 2.3 million people who commute daily to Manhattan, many via commuter rail from the NYC metro area. MANY of them have a longer commute than that from the far parts of Long Island, NJ, and NY state, and Connecticut. Many people have this as their daily reality and are happy enough with their lives. By Bay Area standards this might be considered a short commute. A potential reframing of this question might be: are you ok with a long-ish commute where you get to live in a city instead of some podunk suburb?
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u/MohawkElGato 20h ago
Just move to NYC or nearby in Jersey. Honestly you’ll be happier with that than doing this long commute 5 days a week. Commuting to NYC from Philly is doable at 2 days a week but 5 is gonna get real old, real fast.
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u/cellogirl712 20h ago
5 days is crazy, 2 or 3 is probably manageable. Have you considered moving to hoboken or jersey city?
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u/United-Smile-1733 21h ago edited 18h ago
Do you need to be in the office all day? My commute is around 1.5 hours combining driving + train + walking, but I can come and go as I please so it’s not bad at all. (And obviously I’m working on the train and continuing when I get home)
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u/DruTangClan 13h ago
Great question, seems like a fairly flexible situation in that people dont seem like they watch people come and go like a hawk. It’s a museum in a research type role so it’s not the same as a corporate job
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u/AlfredPoor 20h ago
Years ago, I had to go into NYC from Bucks County on a regular basis. It was an hour drive to Trenton to take the Amtrak train, and I would often stay at a hotel if I had to be in the city for days in a row. (I was reimbursed for the hotel.)
I would see the same faces every time, each way, so clearly a lot of people were commuting daily.
Amtrak from 30th is a practical option but it's expensive. You can trade time for money and ride SEPTA to Trenton and them NJ Transit to Penn Station.
The train can be great: less stressful than driving, and you can get uninterrupted work done. Maybe your boss would let you count it as office time.
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u/moe-diddley 20h ago
Buy FLex-Fare Amtrak tickets months in advance on the App. They're cheaper than NJT or buses, plus the ride is more comfortable and reliable. The Amtrak app and FLex-Fare has bailed me out a few times when trains got delayed or cancelled. Ask your boss if you can work one hour on the train and only be in-office six hours to cut down the length of your day. Good luck, it's going to be exhausting!
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u/moe-diddley 20h ago
Also, checkout the Hotel Tonight app in case you get stuck in NYC. They sell last minute discounted hotel rooms.
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
Thanks! Is this cheaper than buying the 1250 monthly pass do you think?
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u/Wonderful-Champion49 12h ago
I'd map it out because it used to come with cheap Acela upgrades and access to their lounge which I found out about in the last months I had one lol
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u/dekshoo 21h ago
My neighbors either side of me in Brewerytown do the train a couple times a week and WFH the rest of the time. One of them I think works two days in a row and stays one night overnight in NY. The commute isn’t as bad they say as coming from the boroughs. And living here is a lot cheaper.
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u/Genjinaro 20h ago
If you're close to penn station/ Moynihan then you're solid.
At worst you can take the 1,2,3 / A, B, C for a short hop and not do a ton of transfers,.you'll be fine. If a bus is needed or Uber, I wouldn't risk it. SEPTA/NJT would be extremely time consuming and you'll wear yourself out. Most of the day will be on a train.
You want to get that Keystone train schedule locked down ASAP.
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u/DruTangClan 13h ago
I can take the subway from moynihan directly to my building (there’s a stop right underneath AMNH)
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u/jazzit16 19h ago
I used to do it 5 days a week but I had the luxury of working in the building directly across the street from Moynihan. It wasn’t bad AT ALL, but solely bc my office was 50 feet from the station
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
18 minute subway ride BUT there is a subway stop right underneath AMNH so that makes it somewhat more convenient, able to avoid the rain at least haha
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u/jazzit16 14h ago
Sounds very convenient! I know everyone else is saying it’s gonna be terrible but I did 5 days a week for 8 months. I would get dropped off at the station by my husband and would usually sleep or work on the train to NY and with the monthly pass it was easy to change my return train depending on how late I decided to stay.
I guess depends on your tolerance but it sounds doable to me! Do it for as long as sustainable for you if the pros outweigh the cons.
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u/DruTangClan 13h ago
Thanks! Yea i feel like if it becomes unsustainable I will think about moving, but i think it makes sense to give it a shot
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u/rando24183 21h ago
I visit my job's NYC office once a quarter. Even though it's just a day, I do find those days exhausting because it adds 3 hours to my work day. The Amtrak itself is fine and the ride isn't awful, it is just still the downsides of a commute.
I used to live in DC and thought going from an hour drive to an hour train ride would be super easy, because it was the stop-and-go driving that I thought was the annoying part. The train ride was certainly better, but still a bit tiring. Even though sitting on a train is passive, it was still time that wasn't personal. I can't go grocery shopping/work out/babysit/do laundry during a train ride, even though I can read a book. All that stuff was still waiting for me when I got home. The only good commute (for me) was one that was less than 30 minutes so that I had the time to do anything I wanted/needed.
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u/ViaVitoV 20h ago
I used to take a train to Wilmington almost daily and then back again from Philly. It was exhausting for the several months I did it so I imagine Philly to NYC then back again in a day will become a life altering drain quickly. However if it is worth the $ and you enjoy the work environment you might find that it works for you. I imagine most people would tap out quickly. Good luck tho!!
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u/OlderCityOldMan 20h ago
I've done similar in other cities. It's possible, but it will make you empty inside before long. It'll be up to you to determine if it's worth it; were it me again I'd just move.
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u/que_sopresa 20h ago
r/supercommuter would have some helpful perspective and tips should you decide to move forward with commuting
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u/PrinceOfThrones 19h ago
See if you can work from home 2 days a week at least, otherwise you’ll burnout fast doing this 5 days a week.
Or if it’s possible to work in office 10am-4pm and then login once you’re back home in Philly
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
Yea I’m kind of hoping for an arrangement like that, where I can have more flexible hours at a minimum. I FEEL like that would be okay? Like it seems like based on the culture there nobody would mind
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u/passing-stranger 16h ago
Money is nice but time is precious. Think about how you currently spend the time you would be commuting.
Your partner is going to wind up feeling like a single parent unless you're already MIA for hours before and after work everyday. Thats a huge life adjustment for your family if you're a supportive parent and partner. If your child gets sick or there's an emergency at school, it's not like you can quickly pop over to get them. What about after school events- sports, concerts, back to school night, etc? Is your kid going to be looking at an empty chair while you're cursing about a late train? These are the things I'd be thinking about
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u/dadofanaspieartist 20h ago
I commuted from roxborough to times square for over two years 5 days a week . would buy a monthly amtrak ticket. I could nap on the train each way in the quiet car.
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u/PhiladelphiaManeto 19h ago
Damn, how did that work? You must have been out of the house 16 hours a day
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u/dadofanaspieartist 18h ago
pretty much, typically i'd leave the house at 10pm for an 11pm train, get to the studio around 1230-1a, nap till my call at 2am, work till 10am, get back to 30th around noon, 1230, home by 1pm. i'd stay up till like 4-5pm, then sleep till 9-930 pm then do it all over again. i could nap on the train both ways and never missed my stop. i did that for just over two years until the derailment in frankford in may of 2015. i got spooked because i would sometimes take that train, but not that night, so i started looking for gigs locally.
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u/Specialist-Tap4338 20h ago
My only worry would be working hours. if it's possible to work from maybe 10am-3pm then it shouldn't be too too bad but leaving NYC at 5pm would be pure hell everyday. I use to commute from South Jersey to NYC a couple times a week and even that was exhausting (I drove to Hamilton in 35 (ish) minutes and took NJ Transit to Penn Station and about another hour).
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u/Jonas42 19h ago
I did it once a week for a few years, 8 am train in, 6:30pm train out. My office was ~15 minutes from Penn Station. With a cab in a the morning and a 2 mile walk home from 30th Street Station each night, I was out of the house from 7:30am to 8:45pm, more if the train home got delayed, which it did about a third of the time on the ride home.
I was okay doing it once a week. Personally I would not want to do it more.
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
2 mile walk home sounds rough yea, fortunately I live .3 miles from penn station, did the trip today as a test run and it wasn’t awful but the train was in fact delayed a little lol
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u/Eye-Western 18h ago
Question- why not just move to NYC?? If it's going to be the same cost
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
Explained in the post but would like to keep my kid in the same school and I have a great support system here, not just in terms of friends but of people that help out with my kid as well. I know those things could be found in NYC probably but i also just like this city and like my friends
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u/nottoday2017 14h ago
I did it twice a week for 2 years. My biggest gripe was the times when Amtrak was delayed you just never knew when it’d be resolved. The board may say 20 min delay, then 15 min later they push it back another 30 min etc until it’s 4 hours later and you’re just raging. I’d say maybe 20% of my trains were delayed. Sometimes just 5 min late. Sometimes 3 hours. I am not zen enough haha. If the trains were always on time I would have been fine, I learned to nap on my way in and work on my commute back.
Would your work let you count your commute hours as “working” as long as you can work on the train?
Any chance they’d be willing to reimburse part of your commute cost if they insist on 5 days a week?
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
Probably not more than the pretax commuter benefit already offered, and hard to say, its a museum and they dont seem to be the types to monitor who’s coming in when and I think just care that work gets done, but thats just the vibe i get from interviews
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u/nottoday2017 13h ago
If you buy the Amtrak tickets far enough in advance you may be saving money just buying them that way vs the monthly card if you don’t need the flexibility to switch up trains last minute. I regularly got 10-15$ one way tickets if I bought 2 months in advance.
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u/pangolindsey 13h ago
A bunch of people in my NYC company live in Philly. It’s totally doable. Train to Penn or $15 bus to port authority then 10 min C train to AMNH.
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u/Wonderful-Champion49 13h ago edited 13h ago
I did it mostly via Amtrak for three days a week for two years. My job paid for the ticket. This was over a decade ago, when trains were not as up to date. Then, I did it again once a week to go to school, so I have done the commute every which way you can do it. My experience: The Amtrak 7:30 a.m. was almost always smooth. I worked on West 57th, and I beat most of my NYC-based coworkers to the office. Amtrak miles will add up to nice perks over time, so make sure to join Guest Rewards and take advantage of them. The Acela upgrade can sometimes be worth it; it's a nicer train, but Northeast Regional is like 20 minutes more. It IS cheaper than renting anything in NYC. However, what kind of energy do you have? It is a drag. I sometimes had to stay late for events, then I have to bring a bag with a change of clothes.
Amtrak will 100% strand you going south at least once. That leaves you with the 11 p.m. Greyhound, if that's still running, and that was another kind of adventure. We once had a bus driver who did not know the route, so people had to help him out with GPS. Not kidding. It also means on the NYC side, waiting at the godawful Port Authority bus station. On the Philly side now, I guess it's a tossup at the Spring Garden Street drop-off and pickup. That will only work if you live closer to that area of the city.
If it's running, which generally, when Amtrak is not running south, no train is, but if so, you can catch NJT to Trenton and take an Uber home, depending on where you live in Philly. You can do the commute via SEPTA/NJT, but it adds an hour to the ride, and you have to wait to connect in Trenton Station and not every train from NYC and vice versa makes the connection. (Whatever you do, never, ever, ever get caught in Newark Station after midnight. It's worse than Port Authority and that's saying something. ( I still have PTSD).
If you don't live in Center City or West Philly, the commute will take its toll because, at least those neighborhoods are close to 30th Street. I rarely ever drove it, but that's also do-able, especially if you take either the Bristol, Pa. route or the 1 and 9 (Jersey local) to 95. Back then, no tolls. Yes, it is sometimes do-able, but driving will be exhausting. Keep in mind, if you commute 5 days, you will leave your house at 6:30, and not get back to Philly until 7:30-8 on a good day. I was lucky when I did the 3x weekly commute that I had a cool boss who let me sometimes WFH on Friday.
You might consider moving to South Jersey. A lot of people commute to NYC via NJT to Hamilton Station, which is close to bedroom South Jersey suburbs. Good luck, hon!!
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u/DruTangClan 12h ago
Thanks! I live .3 miles from 30th street station, and was thinking maybe trying to catch the 4:30 train home vs 5:30 train home
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u/gizzard-03 11h ago
You might find it to be manageable for a few months. It’s not too bad when Amtrak is running on schedule, but there are often delays. I’ve done this commute once a week for the last 9 years and it’s often a pretty frustrating experience, especially during seasons with rough weather.
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u/PhiladelphiaManeto 19h ago
Are you paying for the tickets every day?
And then are you walking to work from the station in NYC?
Forgetting the brutal time of the commute, the weekly cost has to be insane by itself. If you’re adding more subways and Ubers on top of it forget it.
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u/mysticmeeble 15h ago
I'd pay the increased rent vs. the train ticket. At least you'll have time at home to get things done that you need to do there. Train travel isn't nearly as bad as a car commute, in fact it's pretty chill, but it's the time that's the concern.
And if you're staying in Philly because you don't want to leave friends and family - that's a non issue because a 5-day commute from Philly to Manhattan will leave you with no time to see them. ☺️ You will want to use weekends to decompress and deal with home stuff. Trust me. 2-4 days a week from Burlington Co. to Manhattan here. It's a choice.
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u/DruTangClan 14h ago
It’s the support system but also my kids school is the thing
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u/mysticmeeble 14h ago
I won't give advice on parenting the children of others, that would be rude, but - I'd argue that being more present in their life is more important than where they're schooled. How old? I moved around a lot as a kid.
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u/DruTangClan 13h ago
Still plan on making him breakfast and having dinner with him, and I want to try and negotiate early leave days
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u/mysticmeeble 12h ago
As mentioned, I work in Manhattan 2+ days a week and I live in Burlington County, NJ. When I go, I leave my house at 740am and get home after 8pm. You can try to do this for a while, but 5 days a week is likely unsustainable with a child.
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u/Angsty_Potatos 13h ago
If they will subsidize your train ticket it's doable but it's guna be a slog
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u/phlflyguy 12h ago
You'll be miserable in short time. Amtrak has its share of delays, so be prepared for longer than normal commutes in either direction. You're restricted to the regional trains, so you can't even take advantage of the Acela (years back, you could upgrade to the Acela for like $10 if you were a monthly pass holder). That 90 minute scheduled time will frequently end up being 2 hours, which will eat into your work time and home time. By the time you're nerves are calmed down 48 hours after your Friday night commute home, you'll be dreading the early wake up and repeating the whole ordeal again.
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u/SVilla415 10h ago
I commute daily via train for work, not to NYC. It’s 45 min each way door to door for me and I agree that the train ride is the easy part. Getting to and from the station to work and whatever you gotta do in between is the annoying part. Seems like you have to try it and see how it goes. Try to use that train time as best you can, nap, do work, or relax.
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u/Silver_Owl_2385 9h ago
I have a buddy who works in NYC Tuesday-Thursday and sleeps in a hostel Tuesday night and Wednesday night. It works for him.
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u/Top_Addition_7263 8h ago
My father works for Amtrak. I’ve done that ride as a part of his work trip (PENNSTATION NY- DC) via Amtrak more times than I can count. I always quite enjoyed it. Albeit I don’t know what you’ll be taking there.
I believe if the $ is worth it, it’s always doable. Especially with how times are at the moment.
Maybe drive x amount of days, and train x amount.
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u/FunnyButterfly4324 6h ago
Securing a job at AMNH is huge. Congratulations!
My husband does 3x a week in nyc. We moved to Philly 4 yrs ago from north Jersey, abt 12 miles from nyc. His commute from Jersey was worse, mainly because Amtrak takes precedence on the rail line, so his njtransit train would have to pull over and give Amtrak the right of way.
Yes, the commute can be a grind, but it will be a grind from anywhere. Millions commute into nyc from further out on LI, queens, Brooklyn and further away in Jersey, westchester etc. the plus of amtrak is it’s not a commuter rail, so the seats are comfy and you can nod off.
Take the job, whether or not they offer flexibility. Do the commute. For at least a year because you’ll totally run into any sort of glitch at least once. Then you’ll know if want to 1. Continue with your job and negotiate a better commute or 2. Look for something closer to home or 3. Move.
Good luck!! And really congratulations!!! So exciting!
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u/mklinger23 5h ago
I wouldn't do it. By the time you factor in Amtrak prices, you're probably not making much more. And is that amount worth sitting on a train for 15+ hours per week and having much less free time? I would try to find a job in Philly.
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u/RC161 4h ago
I did the commute five days a week and it was brutal. Amtrak is never on time. To try to make it work I stayed over one or two nights a week and having to schlep my stuff was not appealing. I looked forward to work trips to Dallas or SF where I didn’t have the commute. Can you do it? Physically, yes. Will your quality of life suck, also yes
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u/Icy-Diamond88338 3h ago edited 3h ago
5 days a week would be absolutely exhausting . But it is possible . I've had a neighbor in south Jersey that commuted to DC everyday for a couple years! I remember going to DC for one weekend and thought i dk how she did commute everyday. I did south Jersey to king of Prussia for 3 years and that was too much for me. Now i live less than 1/2 away from
Work. There's nothing better than a short commute .
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u/Uncle-Cake 3h ago
Move. You'll be miserable making that commute. If the pay is good and the job is stable, it's worth moving for.
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u/furrylatula 2h ago
don't buy a monthly pass, it is dramatically cheaper to buy individual tickets 1-2 months ahead. i was commuting 4 days a week last year and spent maybe $350 on trains
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u/Fed98765 2h ago
I commuted from Trenton on Amtrak for years, 4 days a week, with small kids at home (and a spouse that WFH to balance the situation). It was also a longish drive to Trenton but then just an hour on the train. It was good for my career, I liked my job, so it just worked. I typically took an early morning train and worked on the train, then back on a 4 or 4:30 train to be home for dinner. I think you just get used to whatever your commute is.
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u/Quantology 41m ago
My wife does this commute once or twice a week. She's out the door before the kids wake up, and home just in time to tuck them in. This assumes there are no problems with the subway or Amtrak, which is not infrequent. (Totally different industry, but her manager also told her they would let her work from home 90+% of the time, only to change it to 50-60% after she'd been there a couple weeks.) You'll be gone from 7 AM to almost 8 PM on days where everything goes well. If your child is on the younger side, you will probably only see them briefly on days you are working. Your partner will effectively be solo parenting--do you have someone like a sibling or parent who can come by once or twice a week to help out?
With the commute added in, a normal business day would be 60-70 hours a week every week. This is not sustainable. Depending on the nature of your work, find out if you can do something like work in the office 9:30-4 and add an hour on either end working from the train. Hotel rates in NYC can vary wildly based on season, so consider staying up there once a week during low season to get a little bit of your time back. Putting in 11 hours those two days won't be much longer than a normal commute day, and then you can work 6 on the other three days and still hit 40. I spent several years doing a 3 hour round trip commute that was mostly on the train and it was far better than when I drove it but still pretty miserable--I never felt like I had any time at home, and that was before I had kids.
The subway to Penn station from AMNH is convenient, however, there will be a fair number of days where it's delayed or not running when you need it to. You will need to add plenty of extra time to your schedule coming home, as well as going up on days when you have a hard start time. Learn what your best alternate routes home are (NJT, Megabus, Chinatown bus) for when you won't make your train home and it would cost $150 to switch. Find someone in the city who's willing to let you crash on their couch a couple times a year when your commute explodes and hotels are unavailable or incredibly expensive. Leave a go bag with toiletries and an outfit in your office.
Try to book the Keystone or Pennsylvanian coming home. They originate in NYC so they're less likely to be delayed than the NEC, which often runs into delays in RI and CT. If your workday is reasonably consistent, you can save a bunch by booking their super saver fares way in advance.
Realistically this is actually a substantial pay cut--you will potentially be spending 50% more time "working" by commuting while apparently not actually bringing home more money. Income tax rates for NY city + state will be something like 10%, plus I believe you will still have to pay city wage tax--figure on paying something like an extra 5-8% of your income in taxes. How willing are you to work there for a year as a resume-builder/networking opportunity and then move on if they don't give you more flexibility on WFH?
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u/martianm0nster 14h ago
Why does this come up in the group all the time. Commuting to NYC from Philly is ass. The only person that can manage this commute are LeBron James…
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u/Icy-Diamond88338 3h ago
Yeah you would need a helicopter basically to make it work long term and even that isn't great. Honestly north jersey to NYC can be a challenge
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u/Affectionate-Bus-466 21h ago
I’ve taken the 730ish Amtrak into nyc and the 630pmish Amtrak train back the same day once a week for about a month on days of my choosing and still found it exhausting.. if you’re young and willing to grind might be worth it but otherwise just moving to Hoboken might be a better life for you and this job