Touring three states every morning

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | jsilverman@am-ny.com

4:15 PM EST, December 2, 2007

Human resources manager Carin Dupuis is no stranger to train transfers--she does it four times a day, among three transit systems and across three states.

"The absolute worst part of the commute is being on a New York City subway," she said during a recent morning commute. "It's so hot and crowded. Often there isn't even a place to stand, let alone to sit."

A resident of Stamford, Conn., Dupuis rises each workday at 5:45 am. After dropping her daughter off at school by 7, she boards a 7:21 Metro-North train from Stamford to Grand Central Terminal. Arriving at 8:25 a.m., she makes her way through the heard of rush-hour commuters to the Nos. 4 or 5 subway trains for the ride downtown to Fulton Street.

Although it's an express, the packed train sometimes moves at a snail's pace, taking as long as 40 minutes to get though the three express stops to Fulton. Once she arrives, this Extreme Commuter goes above ground for a short walk over to Church Street to the World Trade Center station, where she takes the PATH train one stop to Jersey City and her job at Ana-Data Consulting, a financial technology firm.

"The good thing about the PATH is that I can take any train," she said, nearing the end of her commute. "My stop is Exchange Place, and it's the first stop no matter which train I take."

Dupuis is looking forward to the eventual completion of the Fulton Street Transit Center, which will allow her to skip the walk over to Church Street and connect directly to the PATH system.

"That means I'll be able to go all the way from Connecticut to Jersey without going above ground at all," she said.

Out of the three train systems she rides daily, Dupuis says she prefers the PATH for the frequency of its trains and its cleanliness.

Although she also realizes that part of what makes the PATH ride to Jersey in the morning, and back to Manhattan at night, so pleasant, is that it is the only part of her trip that is a reverse commute.

Know someone with a complicated, treacherous, or even just long commute? Tell us about them at jsilverman@am-ny.com