I was reading an article about the suckiest aspects of being a commuter to NYC, and while it struck a chord in me because I have been doing that for several years now, it’s not nearly as bad for me because I live in New Jersey right outside NYC. I know for a fact from people I know that people who live in Long Island, Staten Island, and Westchester (all in NY State itself) have a MUCH worse time commuting to New York City.
NJ Transit sucks, but not nearly as bad as the options from those other places in New York. The problem is that the farther that you live from New York City and the deeper into New Jersey that you get, the commute gets longer, more expensive, and spottier as to your options. For example, the farther you go, NJ Transit might not be a bus option and you have to rely on private bus company partners of NJ Transit. Train service gets weird too. My wife and I would love to move to Sussex County, NJ, but the commute times and options into NYC are absolutely HORRID. So, it can be a dream killer.
As for the commute itself, it’s not always as bad as the article I read says. As long as your job is flexible with hours, it’s not that bad. It’s true that the bus traffic through the Lincoln Tunnel is terrible, but if you have things to listen to on your phone/music player, you’re good.
You can also doze and take a nap.
You just have to make the best of it.
As for Elvis Duran… not my cuppa.
I’m a blogger, so I am always thinking up new ideas to throw up on this blog, which is also my second income stream. Yeah, it pays me, so it’s a labor of love.
But anyway, once you get used to the NJ to NYC commute, you get used to it.
The worst part for me is in the summer because I hate hot humid weather and I sweat a lot, so that really grates on me. Any other time of the year I’m good.
The PABT gets bad waiting for buses in the evening, but like I said, you get used to it.
You’d be amazed at what becomes routine.
If you like what you do for a living then it’s not so bad either. If I had to do this on an entry level job I can see the issues and how it would be terrible. Even being close to the City, it costs me about $136 per month for my NJ Transit bus pass. When I had a job that used eTrac, which took commuting costs from my pre tax income, it was better. As a consultant/contractor I don’t have that luxury, but the pay is overall better.
The biggest problem is that employer subsidized health insurance is becoming rare with the disaster that is the Affordable Care Act, so having to pay health insurance premiums out of pocket in one payment every month is one more thing to worry about, but that isn’t just a NY commuter thing, so I won’t go on.
The bottom line here is that the person writing that article seems so pissed off at being a NYC commuter that she ought to maybe consider a change of scenery, move into NYC (which is cost prohibitive), or find a way to make more moolah.
I can’t understand the lack of ambition that most people have. I am not judging that author, but in general I mean, that so many people would rather just depend on 9-5 jobs they hate rather than finding a great network marketing or internet based residual income option to work on the side. I guess too many want to party or veg out after work and on weekends rather than put the work in NOW in order to take it easy later. I could never understand that particular outlook, but I guess it’s prevalent.
Mention internet marketing or MLM and these same people will run fast yelling “scam” without knowing anything other than what their dumb peers say about work from home or similar systems.
There are lots of people embracing these alternate ways to make income, but far too many still don’t get it.
I understand not wanting to recruit family and friends or do face to face or even Facebook marketing, but you can blog, can’t you??
Blogging is the perfect medium and mixture of this. If that same brilliant person was in my system and had her blog here, especially with how well she ranked that article, she’d be able to retire on writing like that and be able to ditch the crappy commute once and for all. She’d be able to go into NYC at her leisure and blog from coffee shops, or live in NYC.
I’m not there yet because as with anything, it takes some time to scale up, but I know that it works since I’ve seen the proof. I know it pays since I’ve gotten paid, so I need no convincing.
I’m happy to blog my butt off and set up my residual income by spreading blog content far and wide and let it percolate and get its own ranking in Google. I learned the SEO basics from the included blogging training, have my tools, and I just know like I know that it’s the thing for me.
Why go to some part time job or put more hours into work when you can relax with your laptop and just write away on various subjects that are near and dear to you?
To each their own, I guess.
So I’m here to say that the New York City commute is nowhere near as bad as the other writer says, but I guess I am a happier person or something and I like what I do so it’s not a bother. Either way, I have enough hobbies and a life to keep me happy and not dreading Monday mornings the way too many NYC commuters do.
I agree though that NJ Transit is expensive and sucks overall, but not nearly as bad as New York based transit options from Staten Island and Long Island and farther.
We New Jerseyans have it luckier than we think.
So it’s a delicate balance between suck and not suck.
NYC commuting is not for the weak kneed and if you are a seasoned commuter you are one tough mutha, a tough breed.
Take pride in that!
