[michaeltoth]

Except a ride from Brooklyn or Queens is $2.75 and a ride from Philadelphia is around $80 on Amtrak. Also, you're assuming that he lives directly above 30th Street Station and works directly above Penn Station, otherwise the travel time is likely to be over 2 hours.

[autokad]

I complain to my friend in brooklyn it takes about as long to go from Philadelphia to Penn Station as it does from Penn Station to their door step. However yeah, those tickets can get pricey. Sometimes you luck out and get the 50$ one, but many times its 200 one way - I dont know what tickets would be commuting during the early hours to get to work though.

That being said, you are also right about living directly above Penn Station. I can get really far in 20 - 30 minutes in philadelphia, but almost nowhere in NYC because of human congestion.

not that 1.5 - 2 hour commutes leave much for a life. I did that for 2 years and while I got a lot of reading done, I didnt have any time at home. You get home 7-7:30 and make dinner. maybe you are finished eating and chores by 9 and you go to sleep between 10 and 11 (you aren't staying up very late because you are leaving early in the morning hours too).

[mjmahone17]

Who commutes via Amtrak?

You can drive from Philly to Trenton or a similar station (takes ~30 minutes from NE Philly), then spend ~1 hr on NJ Transit. This makes the trip cost $15.50+gas, or $440 monthly.

[autokad]

i dont own a car. if owning a car was part of my every day life perhaps, but otherwise I'd have to factor in the price and costs of the car which are extreme

also the hour and a half is optimistic, parking walking overhead waiting for the train would probably again push time up