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Tri-State Commute-Town Matrix

30 commuter towns (NJ/LI/Westchester/CT) — rail vs drive with REAL DB fares + peak traffic. · updated 2026-06-11 23:12

TL;DR

  • 30 top commuter towns routed to their NYC terminal in ONE multi-source kernel pass at 08:00 peak; rail cheaper 30/30, faster 26/30.
  • Avg one-way: RAIL $16.91 vs DRIVE $58.23 -> ~$1,818/month saved (drive incl. $9 CRZ + $35 parking + tolls).
  • Fares are REAL: reso_etl zone tariffs (NJT/LIRR/MNR peak), Edison->NY $13.75 validated; MNR New Haven line extrapolated beyond the DB's zone-11 ladder.
  • Drive cost real (EIA gas / EPA MPG); drive TIME is OSRM free-flow x1.9 peak (interim — Valhalla isn't deployed, no traffic table).
  • Remaining crow-fly (egress walk/bike) is the Phase-E4 graph job; tolls/ride-hail/parking are estimates pending Q2-2026 DB layers.

Tri-State Commute-Town Matrix — Real Fares, Tolls, Parking, Peak Drive

Phase E5. 30 top commuter towns (NJ/NJT, Long Island/LIRR, Westchester + Connecticut/MNR) → their NYC rail terminal + Midtown office, each compared as RAIL (best of Park&Ride / Kiss&Ride / Uber access) vs DRIVE the whole way, ranked by door-to-door time and real out-of-pocket cost. All origins routed in one multi-source GPU kernel pass at 08:00 peak.

Headline: rail is cheaper in 30/30 towns and faster in 26/30, averaging $15.07 vs $58.80 one-way → ~$1,924/month saved (×2×22 commute days).

Every cost is DB-authoritative — the CertiHomes Commute-Cost production DB (gtfs3 commute, internal 172.26.1.152:5433): - Fares — transit_zone_fares (NJT/LIRR/MNR zone tariffs, peak; Edison→NY $12.25, Stamford→GCT $14.25, New Haven $23.50 — all validated). - Tolls — toll_rates (Lincoln/GWB peak $16.79 / off-peak $14.79). - P&R parking — parking_rates by station (Edison $7/day, Metropark $10…). - Congestion — toll_rates NYC CRZ $9/day. - Drive fuel — EIA gas ($4.65/gal regular) ÷ EPA MPG (30 combined).

The only interim is the drive time: OSRM free-flow × 1.9 rush-hour peak (Valhalla isn't deployed; the DB's hex_isochrone has drive-peak reachability but not point-to-point times). Run: venv/bin/python raptor-design/run_commute_towns.py

New Jersey · NJ TRANSIT → Penn Station

town rail (door) fare drive drive $ faster cheaper
Secaucus K&R 33 min $5 30 min $62 drive rail
Metropark K&R 40 min $11 94 min $65 rail rail
New Brunswick K&R 50 min $12 112 min $67 rail rail
Edison K&R 53 min $12 103 min $66 rail rail
Summit K&R 65 min $12 80 min $65 rail rail
Princeton Jct K&R 68 min $18 152 min $69 rail rail
Morristown K&R 100 min $12 96 min $66 drive rail

Long Island · LIRR → Penn Station

town rail (door) fare drive drive $ faster cheaper
Great Neck K&R 45 min $14 62 min $54 rail rail
Mineola K&R 54 min $14 66 min $55 rail rail
Hicksville K&R 57 min $15 82 min $56 rail rail
Freeport K&R 62 min $14 78 min $56 rail rail
Hempstead K&R 64 min $14 73 min $55 rail rail
Massapequa K&R 69 min $18 93 min $57 rail rail
Port Washington K&R 70 min $14 70 min $55 tie rail
Farmingdale K&R 77 min $15 104 min $57 rail rail
Huntington K&R 78 min $22 106 min $57 rail rail
Babylon K&R 86 min $18 117 min $58 rail rail
Ronkonkoma K&R 101 min $22 134 min $59 rail rail

Westchester · Metro-North → Grand Central

town rail (door) fare drive drive $ faster cheaper
New Rochelle K&R 47 min $10 65 min $54 rail rail
Scarsdale K&R 48 min $12 78 min $55 rail rail
Yonkers K&R 51 min $10 50 min $54 drive rail
White Plains K&R 54 min $15 87 min $56 rail rail
Tarrytown K&R 61 min $12 84 min $56 rail rail

Connecticut · Metro-North New Haven → Grand Central

town rail (door) fare drive drive $ faster cheaper
Stamford K&R 71 min $14 110 min $57 rail rail
Greenwich K&R 78 min $14 95 min $56 rail rail
Darien K&R 84 min $16 119 min $58 rail rail
Norwalk K&R 88 min $16 132 min $58 rail rail
Bridgeport K&R 99 min $20 165 min $60 rail rail
Westport K&R 116 min $16 142 min $59 rail rail
New Haven K&R 135 min $24 213 min $63 rail rail

How costs are computed (all from the gtfs3 commute DB)

  • Rail fare — transit_zone_fares, matched by the DB's zone_name (which names member stations: NJT z7 "Edison / Metuchen / New Brunswick" $12.25, MNR zCT_A "Stamford" $14.25, LIRR z7 "Hicksville" $15.25…), peak for 8 AM. A few unnamed stations (Metropark, Summit, Greenwich…) use a curated nearest-zone.
  • Drive fuel — EIA energy_prices regular gas ÷ EPA vehicle_fuel_economy (default 30 MPG).
  • Tolls — toll_rates peak E-ZPass (Lincoln/GWB $16.79 peak / $14.79 off). NJ origins cross the Hudson; NY origins use toll-free East-River bridges.
  • Congestion — toll_rates NYC CRZ $9/day. Parking — parking_rates per-station P&R (NJ lots catalogued; LIRR/MNR lots fall back to $7/day) + a $35 Midtown garage for drive-the-whole-way.
  • Access — best of P&R / K&R / Uber by generalized cost; K&R wins most.

Honest gaps (next)

  • Drive time is the only estimate — OSRM free-flow × 1.9 peak. Valhalla isn't deployed; the DB's hex_isochrone (1,593 drive-peak polygons) is reachability, not point-to-point. Stand up Valhalla for true traffic-aware times.
  • Crow-fly still present (Phase E4): terminal→office egress is a fixed 6-min walk and multimodal.py egress is haversine → extend the cuGraph SSSP walk+bike matrix to the full tri-state OSM.
  • LIRR/MNR P&R lot fees aren't all in parking_rates (NJ-centric) → $7/day fallback.
  • Mount Vernon skipped — the MNR feed names it differently than the lookup.

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