Reverse Commuting

I just had a phone interview with a headhunter for a position in the Stamford / Greenwich area. I have no desire to leave NYC, so where would you live in NYC to make this manageable? I’m on a major budget, so it needs to be cheap. Very cheap. Also, would you do it at all, or just ride out the storm?

Anywhere near a 4/5 subway station. I’ve done this commute before, the actual Metro North ride is not bad, it’s the commute you have to do before and after the train ride that kills you. Your best bet is live in the lower E. 40s or upper E. 30s, that way you can walk to Grand Central and be certain of your commute time in the mornings.

i’ve got a few friends who did that commute for a few yrs… they said it wasn’t all that bad. Living wise, probably near Grand Central… or upper east side - though I don’t know if you want to live that far up (near the 125th stop).

If you live near the 86th St. 4/5/6 station then the commute to 125th St. makes sense, except for the fact that Metro North trains are usually standing room only by that station so be prepared to stand for 45 minutes.

You do realize that if you jet out of NYC you can ditch the city income tax and the state income tax in CT is lower than the NY income tax? Granted you will have to pay auto property tax but odds are the balance will be heavy in favor of the CT job as far as take home pay. The sacrifice is the proximity of having all the stuff NYC has, although you can always take trains in for the weekend. Its not so bad when you are not in a rush, and once you are done with work, who cares?

I had the same conversation with a recruiter a month ago. RBS moved all their platforms to Stanford (so I’m told). Anyway, never heard back. I live on the UES and a buddy of mine does the exact commute mentioned - from 125th St he grabs Metro North. Door to door about an 1hr 10 minutes. Some shops offer vans from NYC as well I’m told.

dracop Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > although you can always take trains > in for the weekend. Everyone I know who’s rationalized moving out of the city for this reason has regretted it. It is much easier said than done to “hop on a train” and come into town for a day; it becomes an ordeal after the first few times of dealing with all the hassles of a NYC commute during your time off. Definitely not worth the few hundred or couple thousand dollars you save in taxes.

I do the counter-commute every day and aside from the early hour that I personally have to start its not too bad I lived on 83rd & 3rd for a year: ~15 min to get to the subway and up to 125th, and less than 25 min express train moved down to 30th & madison now: ~15min walk to GC (but the train leaves 10 minutes earlier All in I’m leaving about 5-10 min earlier now but it is a lot less stressful without having to do a connecting train, worrying about an early morning drive-by on 125th (edit: I’m in WP not greenwich - slightly shorter/more frequent express trains)

JasonU Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I lived on 83rd & 3rd for a year: Weird, I just moved out of there, was right by WPark. Still have a few of their chairs actually.

hahaha the people of wicker park love me!