Driving the shortest distance possible will reduce your total costs the most. It’s ~$40 daily driving costs from EB to Newark, for instance, before parking.

To WTC, you’d best be served trains going to Newark Penn Station, then PATH. From Newark Penn, it’s 25 mins by PATH to WTC, allow 30.

Buses ending at PABT need a 25 min A/C/E leg, trains ending at NY Penn need a 20 min A/C/E leg, walking included for both. It’s out of your way, but an option in case PATH to WTC has troubles.

On the bus side, there’s actually a CoachUSA aka Suburban Transit bus line #600 which goes direct from East Brunswick to downtown NYC, making stops along Varick and Broadway, including right at WTC. Here’s the current schedule: https://web.coachusa.com/CoachUsaAssets/files/99/route600.pdf

It is one of the lines leaving from Nielson Parking Plaza, and it also departs from the East Brunswick Transportation Center, if that’s closer. Both have $5 daily parking.

Trips are $13.20/one way, but if you’re going in 2-3x a week, the 20-trip multi ride bundle is $216 saving you $48. The total daily discounted amount is $21.60 round trip before parking. Travel time is 1h20m. That’s definitely the most seamless, but is dependent on tunnel traffic.

There’s also a peak hours/days bus option connecting to the PATH in JC; the NJT #68 goes up NJ 18, then arrives in JC about 45 minutes later at Grove St PATH. Then it’s a 7 minute ride to WTC. Schedule: https://content.njtransit.com/pdf/schedules/bus/68 Cost is $7.75, a 7 zone “intracommuter” ride. 20-trip bundles (poorly named “flex pass”) are $124. But then you have to add on PATH, at $2.75/one way or 20-trip $52, for a total of $17.60 round trip before parking. A bit quicker than CoachUSA, and cheaper, but with a connection.

On the train side, Jersey Ave is a great location, as others mentioned, for its frequency and express options. It’s $6/day in lot 3, or there are monthly $60 rates through ParkAmerica, worth it if you’re going 10x/month or more. It’s 1h10 total trip time on the NEC including transfer time at Newark, before driving time to/from Jersey Ave. That’s $9.75/one way and $156 20-trip flex, plus PATH as above for a total daily amount of $20.80 before parking. This one is best if there’s some massive accident on the roads, you live on the west side of EB, or you don’t like buses.

For flexibility, both CoachUSA 100/300/400/500 and NJTransit #138 serve PABT in Midtown, useful if you have work hours outside peak times.

Keep your eyes out for South Amboy’s ferry project, it would be about a 20 minute drive away from you. I’d expect a 40 minute ferry ride, definitely going to be a pricey contender though, but a nice occasional change of pace on a spring/summer day.

I highly recommend trying all these options a couple times at full one way price, just to see what fits your style. Note that with the buses, you’ll need to wave to them as they approach the stop to signal for a pickup, and that you need to push the stop button to request a stop.

Definitely don’t forget to register through your work for pretax transportation benefits, which can help you save additional money on both tickets and transit parking.

Our current vehicle tax system is too simplistic. In order to provide incentives for public goods, it needs to encourage:

• lower vehicle weight (less road damage, less fatal crashes),
• lower tailpipe emissions per mile (lower public health costs, better air quality, and of course long term environmental benefits)
• lower amounts of tire/brake particulates (lower local water/ground/air pollution)
• smaller physical footprint per actual occupancy (lowers infrastructure cost, improves visibility of other road users)
• quieter tire/engine noise (better for people who live/work nearby, and people who are biking/walking)
• I’m probably forgetting more things

Gas tax really only addresses one of these, and arguably not enough compared to the damage done by local combustion.

And title/registration fees don’t really scale well with the added road damage (scales with the fourth power of the axle weight)

I’m not going to even get into the perverse tax and emissions incentives which made SUVs/pickup trucks proliferate, legally called “non passenger automobiles” because the way regulators saw it, the only people who would use them would be farmers and light hauling businesses. The production push towards them has created an arms race which obliterated a decade of safety gains.

EVs in the outer suburbs are a net good on the emissions location front, especially with NJ’s energy mix, but still should be responsible for those other things.

Want to see your bus GPS location? Buy tickets? Peek at the PDF to see the departure gates or other options?

Sorry, gotta pick one, or go back to the main screen and lose your spot.

Pro tip: go to https://www.njtransit.com/bus-to

Then on the bottom, choose your bus.

Don’t click on the link, but instead copy/bookmark it. If you get to the PDF, that’s too far. (On iOS, make a placeholder bookmark/Home Screen icon, then longpress the link, then copy it to the link area in the bookmark/icon)

Ideally the URL will look like this: https://content.njtransit.com/pdf/schedules/bus/2 (Or just replace 2 with your bus number).

This will always redirect to the current schedule, even after a change, but it does need internet access to pull the current PDF.

That makes total sense.

There or the MPG Manhattan Plaza on 42nd/Dyer are good options.

Follow the buses after the tollbooth plaza, and after you exit the tunnel portal and bear left, get in the far right lane with them, and start to go up the spiral ramp. Signs from there are very clear.

I’ve always wondered why people drive in and park there, it’s the hassle of the tunnel and 495 traffic, plus NYC parking pricing. Unless someone is needing to leave NYC between 1-5 am, or is traveling with 4+ people, the North Bergen Park&Ride is cheaper and much more convenient, or even better, a bus/train from where you live.

That’s the difficult bit to figure out, but there’s a few ways.

1. Look at the schedule PDF for the bus number you’re taking and there’s an abstract map of the route. The dashed lines indicate zone boundaries. Count the total number of zones you travel through and there you go. Find schedules on the app in schedules > printed timetables. Or online at the bottom of https://www.njtransit.com/bus-to in the “download PDF schedules” section.
2. Or use the Rider Tools > Trip Planner in the app. Search for your start/end addresses on the date/time you want, then it has suggested trips and will tell you the number of zones for each leg.

I’d love for everything to be automatically calculated with a tap in/out card, but that’s not how it works now.

NJTRANSIT: The Way To Go (Higher)

Cash only on board the bus towards NYC, or buy tickets on the NJTransit app (accepts credit/debit and Apple/Google pay/PayPal), or get paper tickets from a ticket vending machine at major stops (Old Bridge P&R has them). You must have a paper or app ticket when returning from NYC, cash is not accepted outbound.

You’re probably going to the Old Bridge Park&Ride, that’s $12 one way, 9 zones interstate, full price one way tix never expire until activated. That’s the last stop before NYC. You can’t just tap a card like NYC because unlike NYC and its massive one fare zone, NJ has wayyyy more zones, roughly correlating with distance.

There’s discounted 10-trip and 20-trip “flex” bundles of one-way tickets, the 10-trip tickets are 15% off and valid for 20 days from purchase, the 20-trip tickets are 25% off and valid 30 days from purchase. Monthly passes are for unlimited travel in a calendar month.

Wave to the bus to signal for it to stop and pick you up. Activate the pre purchased ticket in the app and show it to the driver/scan with the QR reader. PABT is the last stop.

When returning, pay attention to the scheduled departure time and number (139) of your bus. On weekday afternoons, not every 139 bus will stop at Old Bridge P&R. Check the box in the schedule for accurate departure gates or talk to information at PABT. Weekends/holidays are much more straightforward, everything is a local and will stop at Old Bridge (press the stop button before then, anyway)

Schedule: https://content.njtransit.com/pdf/schedules/bus/139

I recently used a bus ticket from 2010, it was barely legible. Driver accepted it without a blink. This is one thing NJTransit gets right.

Absolutely Throgs Neck. The sight line from Alpine lookout on the PIP passes just left of the Skyview towers. That’s about 11 miles.

If it were the Whitestone, you’d be looking down one end of the bridge; the towers would overlap.

The 137/319 is very reliable, and usually doesn’t have delays in the morning due to its use of the exclusive bus lane through the Lincoln Tunnel. Travel time on the express from Toms River P&R is about 1h35m unless there’s a major accident before the tunnel. Frequency in the morning is every half hour. From there, it’s pretty easy to get to the subway. The Rt 549 service provides some extra local service in case you can’t get to the P&R, in return for being a bit longer. Coming back, you may have a bit of tunnel traffic, but it still takes about the same time.

The train is really not necessary or even faster from Toms River once you factor in transfers from the bus; the ferry is nice, but you really need a car to get to the ferry terminal (and it’s $$).

Bus tips: If you’ll be going in 2x/wk (four one-ways/wk), definitely consider the 10-trip bundle or 20-trip “flex” bundle to save money. 10 trips (~15% off) are valid for 20 days from purchase date, 20 trip flex pass (20% off) are good for 30 days from purchase date. The number of zones will depend on where in Toms River you are boarding.

Honestly, even if you had a car, the bus is likely still a bunch cheaper. You can absolutely bring a scooter or bike on the bus, just ask the driver and they’ll put it under for you. If a kick scooter enables you to take the expresses from the P&R, it’s well worth it for the flexibility; I know TR is pretty large.

If you haven’t taken NJT buses before, you should know that they usually operate by request stop, meaning you need to hail the one you want as it approaches by waving. Tickets/passes can be bought on the official NJT app ahead of time, but you need to board with a just-activated ticket which you show the driver (and maybe scan, if it has one of those QR readers). Tell them it’s your first time and where you’re going (like “New York” or “Toms River, Ocean County Mall”) to confirm it’s the right bus.

When returning, you can confirm the correct gate in Port Authority Bus Terminal by looking at the schedule or using the MyTerminal app (because that building is run by Port Authority). Be sure you’re getting on the correct bus that goes to your destination and plan extra time for PABT. When riding, it’s really helpful to have a transit app of some kind to track where you are, especially if it’s dark out or for your first few rides. I suggest Citymapper or Transit (green squiggly N app icon) since they have live bus updates, and Google Maps as a backup or for finding a good stop for you (only has bus schedules). The official NJT app also has a live map if you go in through MyBus, but it’s a little clunky. After you pass the stop before yours, push the red stop button above you.

That should be about it; let me know if you have any questions, even basic ones, it’s all good.

Where in Chelsea? That can definitely swing recommendations to one mode or another.

And from where in Morris County? Near Dover/Rockaway? Or further south like Morristown?

There’s a few other options I’d recommend:

1. Lakeland Bus, which runs along 46 and 80.
2. NJTransit train to Penn, then bus down to where you work (or enjoy the walk/bike)
3. Train to Hoboken, then PATH up 6th Ave (sounds like your work may be closer to there than Penn Station, both are on the edges of Chelsea) or ferry + bus
4. Train to Newark, change to PATH
5. Drive to a Park & Ride which has a higher frequency of buses, like North Bergen or Willowbrook, then bus to Port Authority

I can give you more info on any of these if you want.

If you’re trying to economize on price, driving tends to be more expensive than transit. From Dover to Harrison, for instance, is 30mi x 2 =60mi, which is roughly $38 ($.62/mi, more if you have a pricier car), before parking and tolls.

You don’t have to go to the nearest station or park&ride, but going to one which is not walkable/bikeable to your home necessitates a return trip to that point. Do consider biking for one or more legs, especially if you can choose the days you go in. Train + ferry would be a great option for this. Or bring a folding kick scooter if arriving at Penn/PABT/ferry.

Depends what you think is “best.”

Are you trying to minimize overall cost? Minimize travel time? Maximize travel flexibility in case of disruptions?

When do you need to arrive at work by?

Will you leave work in the early evenings at latest?

There’s a few options, but no one solution is right for everyone.