Ok, so about a month ago, I went on a job interview for a company located out in West Caldwell, NJ. I thought the job interview went very well, but in the end I didn’t get the position.
Here is a closeup view of the approximate area where the job was located.
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Ok, so with that out of the way, lets start talking about commuting options and approximate travel times, as well as costs. My first rule is going to be that all travel times and costs are not going to include any travel options on Staten Island. This is because someone living in West Brighton is going to have a much shorter commute to downtown Manhatten than someone living in Eltingville, because of their closer proximity to the ferry.
- Driving – The route that I took from the Outerbridge Crossing took me to the Garden State Parkway north, and then west on 280. While on route 280, I got off at the last exit before the route 80 interchange and took several side streets to the job. Note that this commute will be different for north and south shore folks since north shore folks will presumably take the Goethals bridge to the NJ Turnpike to Route 280 west.
Qeuering Mapquest yields a 76 mile roundtrip from the Outerbridge Crossing to the job site with an estimated 50 minute commute. I returned from this interview during rush hour, and this is a bit of an estimate, but I think it took me a hour and ten minutes to get from the job site to the bridge. For the Goethals Bridge, it is 64 miles round trip with an estimated 45 minute travel time.
Second rule that I’m going with is that I’m going to assume a MPG value of 20 (since that is what I typcially get) for a driving commute. So, cost wise we are looking at around 4 gallons of gas a day rough approximate for Outerbridge Crossing route and 3 gallons for a Goethals Bridge route. All tolls will include all applicable discounts that I know of, so I am assuming a $4 PA toll as part of the Staten Island Bridges Plan. The Outerbirdge Crossing route is $4 for the bridge, plus I believe $1.25 for the Garden State Parkway. The Goethals route is $4 for the bridge, plus $2.30 for the NJ Turnpike.
- Mass Transit:
- Ferry to Manhatten: Roughly, a 30 minute commute time and free.
- 1/9 subway to WTC: Rough stimate of a 3 – 5 minute commute time, and a $2.00 cost.
- Path train from WTC Path station to Newark takes approximately 22 minutes and costs $1.30 at their cheapest discount.
- From here it gets tricky, but I think the best option is the NJ Tranist 71 bus bus to west Caldwell. (Another option is take a train from Newark to Montclair, and then taking a bus SW to Caldwell) One way fare cost is $2.65, and the ride will take you approximately one hour plus (according to their schedule).
Round trip costs for taking mass transit will run you by my calculations at least $11.85 and it will take you around 2 hours to complete, and that assumes that you have no waiting time when making all the connections.
So in conclusion, driving everyday would cost me (using the south shore route) approximately (assuming $4 a gallon gas) $21.25 and I would probably have around a two hour to two hour and a half round trip commute. Mass transit would cost me about half as much at $11.85, but it would take me over 5 hours (I live 30 minutes from the ferry with the SIR) to make the round trip commute.
If anyone has any comments, or better alternative methods please comment below.
