Today I did a test ride bike commute from Brooklyn, NY to New Providence, NJ. I biked from Park Slope, Brooklyn to 34th Street Penn Station, Manhattan. Then took a New Jersey Transit train to Summit, NJ. Then rode from Summit to New Providence.
The ride was pretty easy. The NJT Bike rules make it possible to bring a bike on the train during off peak hours. That picture above is my fixed gear bike on the train. I didn't have bungee cords, so I used my belt to fix it to the pole.
I was out the door at 5:30 AM to get on a 6:21AM train. I missed it, of course, so had to hop on the 7:09 AM. Finally made it to the office around 8:30. Had I made the earlier train, I would probably arrived in the office by 7:40ish. 2 hours wouldn't be bad door to door. The early morning ride up the West Side greenway was so enjoyable.
My goal is to try this a few times and see if I can get it to work for me so I can sell my car. One thing that needs to happen is that I have to buy a PC laptop for myself because it was not fun lugging my ThinkPad on my back up hills. Not fun at all. I'm optomistic that this is going to work out, though, and that I will not only save the money from car payments and garage fees, but will also get in my miles whether I like it or not.