Experience Commuting Into NYC - Money/Time

I'm looking at possibly taking a job in midtown Manhattan and was wondering what the actual costs and time spent really are for those that regularly do this. Train or bus? (I would not drive). What time do you leave and get home? How regular is the time it takes to get in/come home?

D-ManPV D-ManPV
Nov '12

I highly suggest the bus over the train.. Lakeland buses are clean, quiet and run frequently in the morning and the evening. for best results drive to the park and ride in Mt Arlington and pick the bus up there. It will cost you twenty bucks round trip and take a little over an hour to get the city. maybe an hour and a half to get back. You can buy bulk tickets to save money.

Lakeland has a rule of no food or cell phones on the bus.. coffee is OK though.. when I do the commute I just sleep on the way in and read on the way back.

taking the train can be a pain. they run frequently to Dover, but not as frequently as the bus. also the train is more expensive and is not a very relaxing trip.

peder peder
Nov '12

peder - Thank you for your comment. Would it make sense to skip the Panther Valley bus stop to go to Mt. Arlington?

pv res
Nov '12

I can provide info on the train commute. I used to ride from Hackettstown to Hoboken and take the PATH to Christopher Street. The monthly ticket is $308, and the PATH just went up to $73/month. I would often take the train from Netcong instead of Hackettstown because there is one additional evening train to Netcong that does not go all the way back to Hackettstown. All in all, I was commuting 2.5 hours each way door to door - 6:30 from house to reach the 6:42am Hackettstown Train. Train would reach Hoboken at 8:34am, and the PATH ride and walk to my West Village office got me there at about 9am.

From PV, Mt. Arlington would be your best bet for a train. The train to Hoboken is the same one that originates in Hackettstown, but I think it would be easier to jump on 80 to Exit 30 than to drive into Hackettstown. Dover will always give you more options to/from Hoboken or Penn Station, but parking is $3/day (the stations further west have free parking).

I am not advocating the train over the bus (I have not had the pleasure of commuting by bus from this far west). I can tell you that I commuted by bus from Cedar Grove to NYC for a couple years, and some days were fine, others were absolutely horrendous because you are at the mercy of the highway traffic.

Also note that I now work from home full time (commute into the office very infrequently) so my overall opinion of the commute is somewhat biased. Good luck with your decision.


Martz from PV is basically 500/month. Usually a little more than an hour to get in 70-80 minutes, slightly longer back. Going to Mt. Arlington may offer more busses for the ride home. I have never used Lakeland.

You would never get me to take that 2+ hour train ride :'(


First, I would reccommend doing both a few times to decide which one you prefer, many people I find, do indeed have a preference.
I hate taking the bus for instance (i took the martz from PV a few times) between not really liking the driver not being guaranteed a seat (idk if this is all carriers... and it didn't happen frequently, but it happened a couple times. Granted taking the train doesn't guarantee you a seat either but I have only had to stand a very few times on my train trips (there have been MANY) and it is frequently only if there is a problem with NJ transit, or a holiday. Usually this overcrowding happens on the way back to NJ (and if it does happen on the way in you are on the train early enough either H-town, or Dover, and while other people may have to stand, you have a seat.) Also while standing on the train isn't the best it's better than standing on the Martz bus (which i am not even sure is allowed).

The train also allows you to take it into either penn station or hoboken, and then you can transfer to the PATH.

Also the train is slightly less expensive, I think, but I could be wrong.

Another thing to think about is would the bus drop off point (port authority, for most) be a more convienient drop off location for you to get to your job, or would penn station be more convenient, or furthermore would taking the train to hoboken and then getting on a PATH train be more convenient since the PATH has multiple drop off points in Manhattan.


Finally, I highly suggest, choosing one, but being comfortable with multiple ways to get into the city because both bus and train modes of transportation have flaws and occasionally do not run, or are running on major delays.

Sorry, I know that it can be a lot to think about, but it really doesn't take long to adjust to commuting. It becomes very routine, and I have even seen many people make friends on the train because it is mostly the same people day in and day out on the same train.


hm, good points.


I agree with peder. I take the Lakeland bus from Mt. Arlington daily. I take the 6:30 am downtown bus which drops me off a few blocks from the office. I am generally in around 8:00 am. This bus only makes one stop at the Rockaway Mall and then heads into the city. There is also a 6:30am Midtown bus at Mt. Arlington and also at the Mall. I tried Martz and the train and I find that Lakeland is the best choice. Rates are now $102.30 for a ten trips up from $87.00 when I first started taking it around 6 years ago. Take a look at their schedule online.

kb2755 kb2755
Nov '12

I drive into NYC most days after using Martz for 1.5 years. I found the Martz experience to be a fairly dreadful (limited options, limited seating if they fill up in PA and at that time they were having several buses breaking down). Lakeland buses ran more frequently and I found them to be more professional. I also took the train a few times and found that door to door I could get there faster by driving.

I would seriously explore all of your professional options because the commute is brutal! Wasting 4+ hours a day is not anything I will be doing for much longer.


My daughter used to take Lakeland bus from Rockaway to NYC for a few months - Rockaway mall is only additional 5 minutes driving time from Mt. Arlington but there are much more buses to take back and parking is easier to find (tickets cost the same). It took her approximately 1.5-2.25 hours each way door-to-door, sometimes she had to stand all way back home or until Parsippany stops as all seats were taken. And it was the commuting time during late spring/summer time, not winter time when weather is really unpredictable. After calculating money paid for bus, gas, car insurance/maintenance and subway (to Midtown) and time she was spending commuting, she decided to move out to NYC.

I also know people who were commuting from Sparta and Mt. Olive using Lakeland buses for many years.

Trains are not reliable from Mt. Arlington and take forever. Sometimes NJ Transit cuts services and doesn't inform riders. Train is more expensive than bus.


did the commute for 15 yrs. it is a grind and leaves no time during the week for anything but work and commute.having said that there are good things about working in nyc. and perhaps you will be able to work from home at times. took martz from p v mostly. best thing about it was convenience and there is a toilet for the long journey.there were many things that were annoying about the commute but i still did it. if you can sleep on a bus you have it made. i never could. good luck.

a good day
Nov '12

i found 2 basic options.

1 - the bus from either mt arlington or from the rockaway mall into the city: comfortable, always found a seat, especially if you get on in mt arlington. the drawback is that there are only certain times that the bus runs.

i found the bus from pv more expensive and took longer to get to where i wanted to go in the city.

2 - drive to a path train like harrison: you're in your own car, the train will be packed, and you have to find parking, but the path runs every 5 minutes.

as someone else said, the train from hackettstown is great in convenience, but there are only a couple times the train runs, and it takes a very long time. the train from dover is a bit better in that there are more trains running, but still was not flexible enough for me.

so, if you have a very set schedule each day and it matches to the train, you could consider it. if you have a set schedule each day and it matches to the bus, that's better. if you don't always know if you'll make the bus, or if you might have to wait a while until a bus leaves, then take the car to the path.

Ken E
Nov '12

What is the parking fee at Mt. Arlington for the Lakeland bus -- and do they use those machines like they have for the parking in Dover?

happy girl
Nov '12

There is no fee to park at Mt. Arlington.

kb2755 kb2755
Nov '12

There is no parking fee at Mt. Arlington Park-and-Ride but spaces are limited, especially after snow. That's why it' better to park at Rockaway mall (parking is free also).


Thank-you for the parking information! I could not find anything on line about this.

happy girl
Nov '12

Sorry to bring this up again but...
Husband works in the city, midtown. He would normally take the train from Gladstone but that line isn't running at this point and they don't know when it will be back.
I think his best option is the Lakeland Bus. Price and times seem reasonable.
I've tried calling the company but no one answers.Hopefully someone here that has used the bus can answer these questions.

Is the Park and Ride in Mt. Arlington at the train station?
Is there actual signage for the bus stop?
Can you buy a ticket on the bus (at least going East) or only at the Port Authority?

Thank you in advance!

Also, is there a bus line that uses the Park in Ride in Hackettstown across from the small used car dealer on 46? I hardly see any cars there so I'm not sure, nor can I find info on any buses for that area. Thanks again!

blackcat blackcat
Nov '12

Can anyone update this information? or is it still the same? Thanks

MikeL MikeL
Aug '14

Still the same. No real change for several years. Last change in all of that I would say was way back when Martz stopped going through town. And that's quite a few years.


I'm on the Lakeland site now, can't tell if I can get a round-trip ticket on the bus or do I have to go to Lakeland Pharmacy in Netcong first? It does say no ticket sales on westbound buses but nothing about eastbound.

MikeL MikeL
Aug '14

Eastbound you can only get a one way ticket on the bus. Then you get your return ticket in the city at the big ticket counter on the ground floor of Port Authority.


Thanks GC

MikeL MikeL
Aug '14

I used to buy a return trip for lakeland on 2nd floor PA near gates from a ticket machine.

A good day
Aug '14

Depends where you are going: I used the bus for my last call of duty. But that was Wall Street. Port Authority stop is good, Wall Street good, but mid town bus stop, if they still have it, had a spotty schedule. I just used PA stop and subway when doing midtown but if I did it a lot I would have trained out of Rockaway (more trains).

mistergoogle mistergoogle
Aug '14

You can buy round trip ticket to NYC for Lakeland bus at Dover terminal. Or multiple trips tickets.


You can buy tickets at a number of different locations other than Port Authority, depending on which line:

http://www.lakelandbus.com/ticket-agents


Back to the Top | View all Forum Topics
This topic has not been commented on in 3 years.
Commenting is no longer available.