Probably better to move to NYC

My partner and I are typically out late in the city (usually Brooklyn) around once a week. Depending on where you are and what time of night, the Uber situation is fine and the best path. You’d be surprised how quick the ride is from deep Brooklyn at 4/5a with no traffic. Sometimes the price can be on the steep side but I’ve also been surprised at how reasonable it is more than a few times.

The path frequencies suck overnight, but otherwise if you check via the path app you can usually plan it pretty well. If we’re taking the path home we always try to time going from wtc to grove rather than on the 33rd street line to avoid the stopover in Hoboken.

You should be ok to be honest. Path runs every 40 minutes at that time. Pretty sure the subway is running as well.

Ubers are going to be annoying from Brooklyn/lower Manhattan overnight for the next few years with the WB Holland Tunnel closure, probably best to take an Uber to WTC and use the RidePATH app to judge when to actually go to the station so you're not waiting on the platform for 30+ minutes.

The Holland tunnel to NJ being closed at night from now till 2025 might make those Uber rides a bit longer FYI.

If you can’t afford 40-60$ Ubers to come home after being out late 2-3x times a week you should be looking in NY. Everyone in this sub likes to ignore how much they pay to Uber home because late night path is annoying but it definitely can erase whatever “savings” you’re getting by renting in JC

It just takes planning not to sit in a PATH station forever. They actually follow a schedule, I used to be out late in the Village once a week, and simply had to leave the bar 10 minutes before the train was coming. Beats the suburban commuter rails.

Sometimes I’ll usually just bite the bullet on the train back on the path thru deep Brooklyn as long as im somewhat near the l train stops. If you time it well it’s not terrible.

Depending on who you are the commute may make you feel a bit unsafe. Albeit I never had a problem but I can see that not being the optimal route for everyone

Where do you live currently?

I typically take the path/subway to Brooklyn and then Uber home late night. Average cost is $60-$80 for the Uber. You’re probably going to save $1000/month on rent by living in downtown JC vs NYC.

That holland tunnel closure until 2025 will be fucked though. Move to NYC if you can.

Night out in Manhattan will be totally ok/doable (esp 33rd or below) as you will be able to walk (or take a short uber/lyft) to the PATH. You will just need to see the schedule ahead of time because during those hours it runs much less frequently.

Brooklyn, on the other hand, can be much more difficult as you will need to rely on both the MTA and the PATH. Having to rely on one of them is risky enough lol.

This is a valid concern. Path frequencies late night kind of suck yes. We have late nights and sometimes are waiting 20 minutes for a train. But we've never been stranded and you'll be shocked how fast the time goes by scrolling on your phone.

If JC is giving you the kind of life you want otherwise, don't let the late night thing stop you. If you're able to get a place you like that is subway (vs. path connected) then yeah, you'll be better off doing that.

Agreed - or stick to going out just on Saturday nights!

I go out in the city late ~2 nights a week and it’s fine if you live near a path station, as others have said just download the path app and plan for the next train so you don’t wait forever. If I do finish up somewhere and it’s 30 mins to the next train, I just go to a bar nearby and get one more drink, there are places open til 4 near all path stations. If I’m in the city or Williamsburg near the L, I always take the train home.

Late night path schedules are very shitty but people on this sub exaggerate how hard it is to go out late, I do it really often and it’s fine if you live downtown/JSQ (and are comfortable on the train at night). It generally takes the same amount of time to get home from Williamsburg at 3am as it did when I lived on the UES.

The only time I Uber is when it’s really late, like 4am and I’m deep in Bushwick. It’s usually around $60-70 and takes like 30 min, but with the holland tunnel night closure will be a bit longer.

Uber is like $50-60 back from mid to downtown depending where you're going ($20 fee to go to the other side of the tunnels) and path runs all night.

You said it yourself it’s only not bad if you live near a path stop (which is usually expensive and near NYC rental prices) - most of JC is not near a path stop so I wouldn’t assume everyone on here is exaggerating how hard it is to return late night via PATH.

Not to mention that besides your location in JC - the comfort level of your return commute can be way different if you’re a woman.

Don’t move to Jersey city if you want to do frequent nights in Manhattan. You are better off living in an outer borough or finding a cheap place in Manhattan. Getting from Brooklyn to JC late at night without a car is not feasible.

Extra 10 - 15 mins going through lincoln tunnel. Not ideal, but also not the end of the world. There's such little traffic post 2am.

Yes that’s right, it’s not as feasible from alot of JC. I’m just saying when someone asks if it’s possible to go out late in NYC while living JC, a lot of people say no way. the truth is, in my experience it’s fine if you live downtown/JSQ, so if that’s a priority, OP should limit their search to those areas rather than cross off JC as a whole.

And also yes definitely understand that many people arent comfortable on the train at night. The path is generally much better than the subway safety-wise in my experience, fwiw.

PATH sucks late night. It is what it is.

PBAT (port authority bus terminal) is a miserable dump and that's daytime. Late night it's a mess.

Given a choose I'd choose living close to PATH any day over relying on NJ Transit or jitney buses.

not what I asked, also I already live here. been here my whole life.

Why do y’all keep assuming i’m doing this so many times a week? Where did I say that….? I said I like to. Not that I’m out almost every night. You sound so bitter 🥴 just chill

DO NOT DO IT!!!! I moved to JC from Queens and it was the biggest mistake of my life!!!! I thought that the path wouldn’t be too bad. (And it’s not if you only need to commuted 9-5 M-F) if you are like me and have friends in NYC or work that doesn’t fit into a 9-5 you will literally be crying every single night you try to get home. The Ubers are well over $100 to get back into JC and the path is so inconsistent. Anytime I would try to commute home after 12 it would be a nightmare and take AT LEAST an hour to get to the first stop on the path (I lived in Newport area). Seriously I would advise against it so hard. I only lived in JC for 4 months because of this. I broke my lease and it was well worth it

I’d like to add: that I also had the path app and tried to plan for the trains but there’s seriously no plan when all the trains aren’t running and 5 out of the 10 stations are closed in NYC. It’s seriously the biggest nightmare and waste of time. I thought I could make it work but it made my life a living hell

Also: my rent was maybe about $100 cheaper in JC than in Queens and prices are only going up. If you can, stay in Brooklyn! Or look in Queens! The subways are much more reliable (coming from one NYer to another) yea they might be dirty but you can ALWAYS find a way home. The path is NOT worth it

The trains are crowded at whatever hour, so that's safe, and it's a helluva lot cheaper taking a Lyft home to the Heights or B-L from JSQ than Brooklyn!

This. I'd be more worried about the reliability of any bus you'd be taking after the path than the path itself

The people on here down playing the PATH are probably not accustomed to how efficient the subway actually is. The PATH honestly ruins my day every single day I have to take it

Im also wondering how long ago the people on here commenting have taken the path. My experience is from June 2022 to November 2022.

I don’t want you to make the same mistake! I did so much research prior to moving to JC and I thought I could trust peoples comments. The path truly does not run every 20 min that late despite what they are saying in here!

> Me and my partner are considering moving to Jersey City

That's not what you said though.

[deleted]

I’ve definitely done the Uber to WTC/Christopher, PATH across the river, Uber home thing to save money before. Uber from Williamsburg home? $75. Uber to Chris St? $9. Make it make sense.

Anywho. It’s annoying, but not god awful. Planning ahead is good.

And? The train doesn’t deposit you into your apartment…one still has to walk or possibly take another method of transit to get home unless you live on top of a path stop. Even living close to a path stop I know plenty of women who will take a cab ride home from JSQ even though they lived a walkable distance if it’s late.

It all adds up so it’s something to consider when people want to make blanket statements about the convenience of taking the path home at 3 am. Unless you live on top of a stop you’re going to also need to figure out how to get home from the station if the lightrail has stopped running.

ohhhh sorry - we didn’t realize you were a loser with no social life when you asked the question :/

Admittedly it is a pretty fun bit when someone asks a dumb question and gets mad at the replies

I've lived in JC for the past 4+ years and have a lot of friends in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and honestly the real answer on how easy it is to commute is "it depends." Mostly, it depends specifically where you want to go. The further you get from the PATH, the more transfers you have to make, the more miserable the whole exercise becomes.

We have a decent number of friends who live off the 33rd Street PATH line, or are only one transfer at WTC, and these are both very easy trips (the train to WTC is so much faster and so much more predictable than the 33rd Street train, which detours to Hoboken late-night, that a single transfer at WTC is often easier than no transfers using 33rd-via-Hoboken). For these trips, we routinely return via public transit late at night without undue problems.

If you're looking at transferring off the 33rd street line, or multiple transfers from WTC, it's a slog. For that, we usually hire a car. It's not $100 though, more like $60 + tip.

No one I know who lives in NYC is paying $1000/mo more than the rents in Downtown Jersey City.

I said " it's a helluva lot cheaper taking a Lyft home to the Heights or B-L from JSQ than Brooklyn!"

Is your reading comprehension really that bad?

Do you even know what point you are attempting to make or are you that stupid that you really think no one else is aware taking public transit is cheaper than Uber? Or do you just panic and make random excuses so you can pretend the path is perfect to make sure your rental has a tenant?

The point is that the late night walk home from the path can feel not safe depending on the person. Not everyone is a man who lives on top of a path stop.

Thanks, so the answer is that your reading comprehension IS that bad, and you can't tell I'm saying take the PATH to JC and then a car service home.

Taxi. Worth it .

Stay in nyc !

Whoa a cab…from the path station to your home? Now I’ve heard everything.

Men on Reddit truly love to state the obvious and act like they are offering groundbreaking advice.

Sex workers mining for karma by getting JC residents to weigh in on the path… lol

Eh good luck. It can be 70+ dollars so you will have to budget for it if you do it frequently. I’ve also had a few Ubers refuse to drive me to Jersey city before.

If you like nightlife I think you’re better of in Brooklyn anyways. It’s not like it’s thag much cheaper over here.

An apartment that is equal in size and quality to the one I’m living in now is about $1k more in Williamsburg. It will obviously vary across neighbor and apartment types.

Going north to the Lincoln tunnel to cross and then go south will add more than 10-15 minutes.

An apartment in Williamsburg that is equal in size and quality to the one you're living in now is not the only option in NYC, which is why, no one I know living in NYC is paying $1000/mo more than apartments in Downtown Jersey City, and it's not necessarily probable that someone living in NYC is spending $1000/mo more.

PATH “runs all night” …kinda. I’ve spent a lot of hours sitting at Christopher street or WTC waiting on trains. And then there’s the Hoboken issue on weekends. And the crowd levels can be nuts at 2am because the trains run so infrequently.

Ok, are you trying to argue that NYC doesn’t have a higher cost of living? If so, I respectfully disagree.

I'm not arguing anything. I was very clear in my statement.

Both of them. 🤔

It’s doable, the Path just sucks late at night.

I use the citymapper app, it has real time data so I just plan to get there shortly before it comes. It runs more all night than my bus lines :( Ubers only after 2 am.

Huh?

My rent is like $2950 a month in Downtown JC. There are PLENTY of people in NYC paying 4K+ for a one bedroom. That's actually the average right now. Just going on apartments.com and typing in New York City and you'll quickly see (at least on those listings) the average is between 3500-4500. Doing the same for Jersey City shows rents at Newport for as low as $1700. 225 Grand in Paulus Hook right by the ferry is showing a studio for $2,400 right now, which actually makes me want to consider moving.

I don't have to go on apartments.com. LOL. I know actual people and know their actual rent. And none of them are paying $4500/mo. 🤷‍♂️

PATH will follow the schedule you see on the PATH app or CityMapper app, if you plan for it then there's really no problem. The questions are a) how far / how many transfers to your fav haunts from the PATH stations in NYC and b) how far from PATH would you be living in JC? If you're relying on the Light Rail to get home once you get back into JC, that's a crapshoot late nights and weekends. If you're within 10-15 minutes walking from a PATH station then you're in good shape.

And probably sooner rather than later you'll find a bunch of places that in JC you really enjoy and spend less time in Manhattan than you will when you first move here.

Citibike

Equivalent. That's an Equivalent location.

I also made the move from the city and have friends in Manhattan and bk, I still miss it. But I get more space and a parking spot which was the trade off of moving here. It’s definitely doable, if timed right, like everyone says. I’ve done my fair share sitting on the floor at wtc waiting for the path but again, not the end of the world. I also do bite the bullet of an Uber, but that’s when I feel like it’s sketch to go home alone, depending where I am. I also don’t need to commute into the city everyday for work. Just gotta weigh it all out.

We moved last year. We live near exchange place path in JC. My partner commutes to Manhattan everyday. I work in NJ but go out in the city 1 or 2 times a week. It’s true the path late night is rough but you alway have Uber as a backup. FYI THERE IS CONSTRUCTION IN HOLLAND TUNNEL AND IT CLOSES AT 11PM

I live in JC - Uber/rides are worth it. The holland tunnel is going to shut down for awhile soon. I’m a Manhattan commuter as well for almost 10 years.

did you forget sex workers actually have lives outside of their work orrrr….😂😂 like I still need somewhere to live buddy. you sound so hateful, go touch some grass please 🥴

I guess I am 😂🤷🏽‍♀️ like okay

how does that quote allude that I don’t live in nyc ….🤔 all that says is that i’m considering moving to JC. you just decided to assume and gave no useful information. a “where do you live now?” would’ve sufficed if you really wanted to say something. should’ve just kept scrolling in my opinion 😭

Get to know the bar tender at Oharas. When you get to WTC at 2am and it’s 38 mins to the next train to journal sq, just go up have a beer and then hustle back down to the station. More annoying than the train time is the oculus door lock bingo where they just start locking random shit and then youre running to the train but the doors are now locked and you have to run around to the other side and you miss it.

It sucks, don’t move here

the amount you save by not paying NYC income tax will cover a lot of ubers

you are ignoring nyc income tax

It strongly implies you don't live in JC right now.

Anyway, keep scrolling because I'm blocking you anyway.

Have a great day.

I was so confused a few Saturdays ago. The Uber driver said it was closed in both directions, but I could’ve sworn it was open on saturdays.

This is the most honest comment in the whole thread… getting home late at night using Path is simply not feasible.

Yeah I’m so confused what people are saying. It’s every 40 minutes late at night, with an extra ten minutes spent going through HBK

And, given the upcoming nightly shutdown of the Holland Tunnel outbound lanes, this will be the same thing that EVERYONE will have to do.

It depends on how often you do it and where you wind up. as you prob know already, it's all about what train lines you are near. A d as you know, the subways run less freq at night and the path is one of the worst, I'm talking like 30 min headways after midnight but you can always check the schedule ahead of time and that I combination with checking the MTA schedule should save you previous waiting time in stations but it's still annoying.

In my 20s I moved to JC for a year after having lived in Manhattan and BK for years. I moved back to BK after that bc I felt isolated and I was only going out in Manhattan and BK. Now having moved to JC recently in my 30s, it's a different lifestyle and I still go out in Manhattan and BK all the time but my nights tend to be less inebriated, I'm partnered up, and I usually still head home earlier in the night now. And it's fine for me. The occasional expensive cab is also not that big of a problem although with the Holland tunnel closures coming up, might want to stay cognizant of that too.

That being said I think it depends on your tolerance for public transit woes and hiccups. Otherwise, the path still runs 24/7 so you should generally be okay .

Yes you are correct. It's ridiculous that the PATH stops running at 2 am.

Don’t even get me started at stopping at Hoboken and sitting for 10 min. I’ve never in my life experienced something like that and they have enough commuters to be running 2 trains at night it’s so ridiculous

PATH has had some very creative excuses for this lately lol. They suck so much - https://twitter.com/robhisme/status/1622278373056647169?s=46&t=ZaGLjNhdQrwBWio-Xk9kjg

I’ve literally ordered and Uber from my JC apartment to Queens and the Uber driver accepted my ride, picked me up we left my apartment complex then pulled over to let me out on the side of the road bc he “doesn’t drive through New York City” like wtf lol getting a ride to/from is not always as feasible as people think