Commuting from Carroll Gardens, a few questions
My husband and I have looked at a few new homes in Carroll Gardens but we are still learning about the area. The one thing I’m particularly concerned about is the commute on the F train. So if you happen to live in CG and work in Manhattan, can you tell me what its like…
My husband and I have looked at a few new homes in Carroll Gardens but we are still learning about the area. The one thing I’m particularly concerned about is the commute on the F train. So if you happen to live in CG and work in Manhattan, can you tell me what its like on the F train in the mornings? Can you get a seat or is it just packed? Also, do you know roughly how long a commute for central CG to midtown Manhattan would take (on F train)? HopStop says 45 mins which seems incredibly long- just wanted to verify that. Finally, how does one commute to the financial district on the F train- is it even possible?
Thank you very much for your responses!
I live in CG and work in Tribeca. I take the F from Carroll street to Jay St, switch to the A/C and get off at Canal street. It takes me about 30 minutes, including walking to the train and waiting time, sometime a bit more. Chambers and Broadway/Nassau are in the financial district and are earlier stops than Canal, so factor that in. Yes, 45 min to midtown sounds about right. Don’t be afraid of the commute. Consider it reading time. Everybodies doing it with you and the neighborhood is fantastic.
i lived in cobble hill, prospect heights and park slope and did get fed up with commuting. ultimately chose williamsburg, and it is a big relief to be totally honest. i’ve gone door to door to grand central in 10 minutes – no joke! sure won’t happen again, but it is really fast to everywhere. also, found it way more fun for me, my husband and our kid.
good luck!!
smith/9th station will close for repairs…not Carroll St.
Door to door can vary greatly depending how long a walk to subway from home (whether in CG or UES) and at office.
And in midtown are near 6th avenue and no transfer or are on east side and require transfer.
i live in CG and walk to boro hall (10 min) and then 2 stops to wall st. granted, its a long walk in the morning (especially in cold/rain) but it’s by far the fastest route (and most consistent – 2/3/4/5 much more reliable) to the financial district.
Isn’t the Smith Street F stop in Carroll Gardens going to be closed for a year? Is it already closed? Seems that would make the crowding worse at whatever next closest stop most people would use.
Hey U510545, I thought you’d bagged a place in Park Slope!
i go from Carroll St to 50th st and mostly find that the on train commute duration is in line with MTA schedule (though not nec the departure time) of approx 25-30min platform to platform. This morning I just missed the train at 6:44 & the next came at 6:50 (call me whatever but I pay attention to this sometimes) generally 6-8 mins btw trains (& the time on the 50th st station booth clock was 7:15 when I went through the turnstyles). As always, i got a seat at this time as I do mostly in my evening commute from 50th st. AM seats generally ok till 7:30-8 as noted above.
FYI when we first considered moving to CG from Manhattan I was sceptical about the F but have been very pleasantly surprised – very good for commuting & pretty good otherwise. Also, in case of inevitable service issues (as with any line in MTA nw), there are many other good options that get you reasonably close…
20 min walk to Brooklyn Bridge, 20 mins over the bridge, 10 mins downtown to anywhere. Sounds as fast as F/A.
Uptown, once you get over the bridge, hop the fast and empty 6 (or 4/5).
Is he going to financial district or mid-town. When I worked at 32nd street and 5th ave, it was about a 35 min commute door to door. now I work at 57th and 11th ave and it’s 50 mins door to door (because I have a long walk from 8th ave to 11th ave). If he is leaving at 7:15am he will definitely get a seat. If he is going to financial district he would change at Jay and get off at Broadway-Nassau (three stops) and the time on subway would probably be 20 mins or even less. I am wild about the F train since it pretty much takes you everywhere in manhattan you want to go without transferring – and the few places it doesn’t go, you just transfer across platform at many different stops. But then I LOVE commuting because it gives me time to read the newspaper front to back.