New Jersey, is a little over an hour from New York. Travel by public transport, is this a way to leverage local transportation, such as saving booklets with train schedules, or know for example what are the peak hours, how to put better at the station to ascend as quickly as possible the train, among other things. And besides, look to know which bus lines run through the area. It is not the typical tourist experience. Do not say it is neither better nor worse, simply that I had to go beyond knowing only the New York subway, a topic that already deserves another entry.

Public transportation in the United States is not good, is nothing new. New York is one of the few exceptions to the rule, thanks to a very extensive network of subways and buses, to which must be added the many difficulties and how expensive it is to park, that between 7 to $ 10 per hour, and probably in some areas even more expensive. But in the suburbs, like New Jersey, public transport is rather impoverished, especially buses, which run every half hour and then six in the evening, every hour. This is the realm of car, simply.

And it’s not cheaper to use public transport. Go from Red Bank to Penn Station in Manhattan, it costs $ 20 round trip (ouch!) Are traveling for about 80 minutes. Trains are good, but they are not «luxury». In fact, one might be stranded an hour in the back by electrical problems, and have been delays on some lines. Recently discovered that you can get off at Newark and take the Path, which is the underground version of New Jersey, to New York but still we test this possibility. We’ll see. In peak times it is not possible to draw ticket (roundtrip), so it is important to determine in advance the topic. Even at the times most in demand, it is very rare to see people standing on trains, although it is no wonder that almost all seats are occupied. The formations belong to the state of New Jersey under the name New Jersey Transit (not Amtrak), these are the long-distance trains. Something interesting: at the railway stations there are large parking lots, people can leave their vehicles there and continue by train to New York.

Buses, meanwhile, are state property, as in most of the United States. At least in this area, there are few routes, and the ticket starts at $ 1.65, although the sections are quite short, and most likely you are traveling for about 20 minutes pay $ 2.15 or more. Buses are used primarily by immigrants who have no driving record, in fact, the two trips I made almost everyone spoke Spanish with a Mexican accent. The bus journey ends at the Red Bank station, which for years concentrated a large population of Mexican immigrants, and talk about the subject later. There are also many black people who travel there. Although generally the bus is not too full. Behind the canal was a sign that he had one of the buses would line spaced frequencies that would reach some areas because of «lack of people who get on the buses. As in other places in this country, the bus must come up with the right change, and provide no ticket.

The streets are probably the best example of this is the realm of car: simply not ready to walk. Even to move to the train station in Red Bank, about eight blocks, you must pass through several intersections where you have to wait a while to stop passing cars coming at a good speed. The obvious thing here is to leave the house and get into the car, and go. But traveling on public transport gives you another look at the area, and allows you to orient yourself differently. It is part of a different travel experience, particularly in an area where the car is simply what is taken for granted, and is important for those of us who like to travel. Obviously, renting a car is much more practical, especially if you must stay in the suburbs. But it will lose some important things.