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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Probably better to move to NYC

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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 .

Where do you live currently?

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.

Stay in nyc !

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

It sucks, don’t move here

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

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

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