I don't know what the deleted comment said but I assume it was way off base. My family often makes vada pav and it's pretty much as you describe and as is in the picture. Idk if we grill hamburger buns just because it's convenient to buy in bulk but this is not unique to my family, pretty much the whole western/northern Indian diaspora in the U.S. uses buns for the sandwich (though, I personally prefer brioche or challah).

To start, put in enough money to cover your guaranteed transit expenses. If $150 per month is your total train expense, then that's your answer. If you later realize that you take more weekend leisure trips than anticipated or realize that you don't need to be in office everyday, you can always increase or decrease your contribution level anytime you want through wageworks. (In that way, it's different from your healthcare selection, which you can choose/change only once a year.)

Also see if your employer makes any contributions to your wageworkers account to supplement your contributions.

Aside from that, I'm not comfortable with providing advice since I don't know enough about your circumstances to tell you how to manage your money.

• Your employer should give you a rundown of benefits during new employee orientation, etc.
• One of the benefits that many employers offer is pre-tax transit account.
• When you get paid, you get taxed on the amount you get paid every paycheck. Example: Get paid $1,000, tax withholding is a total of 25%, you get $250 withheld from your paycheck (note: you may get some of this back when you file taxes and get a refund, but for budgeting purposes, you're only taking home net $750 every pay period despite gross $1,000 pay).
• Things like insurance, transit accounts, etc. are pre-tax, meaning they are deducted from your taxable income. Example: If paid $1,000 and your pre-tax benefits cost $150, then you're taxed 25% only on $850 instead of $1,000. Basically, the money you set aside each paycheck for whatever benefit is 'diverted' before taxes apply. So no taxes apply to the $150 and it goes straight to whatever the benefit is (health savings account, transit account, etc.) You essentially take home an extra $37.50 per paycheck to 'spend' on transit, healthcare, etc. instead of the government withholding that (until you get a refund).
• The upshot is that you now have money to spend on transit fares and you didn't have to pay taxes on the money you earned. It's 'taken out' of your paycheck and put into a separate account that you have access to and can only use for transit expenses, but you were going to spend the same amount of money on transit anyway and now you saved some money by paying less in taxes overall.
• I have wageworks for transit benefits. Whereas I have to choose my health insurance, retirement when I first start my job, I can opt into wageworkers anytime. Once I opted in, wageworks sent me a debit card that I can use for transit purchases. I chose to divert $X every paycheck to my wageworks transit account, and that debit card lets me spend that money I accumulate in the transit account. It's all money that I earned but on which I avoided taxes.
• You can use the debit card at the PATH or MTA machine, and/or add the debit card to your OMNY account and connect the OMNY account/card to your contactless payment (Apple Pay, Google Pay, whatever).

For PATH trips, I recommend that you get a SmartLink card and buy bulk trips (40 trips) with auto refill. You get a modest discount when you buy bulk. The monthly unlimited 'pass' (which is loaded onto your SmartLink card) is only worth it if you're taking PATH everyday and taking weekend trips into the City, otherwise don't bother. For MTA, like others have said, if connect to OMNY and your phone, your payments per week are capped.

>decent housing for less than $200k
>
>decent schools

My gut reaction is that these are diametrically opposed. But best of luck in your endeavor.

Sussex County, around Camp Sacagawea (and other places).

Adding on, 14th St station has only one passenger ingress/egress, which is actually part of private property. Hudson/Manhattan Railroad and then PATH have leased those stairs from the private owner since before 1950. It's old and impractical to make it ADA compliant.

Take either PATH WTC or 33rd St line from JSQ to Grove St for Downtown, take WTC line to Exchange Place for the waterfront.

You don’t need the light rail to get to Downtown. The Hudson Bergen Light Rail snakes through North Bergen, Union City, Hoboken, Jersey City, Bayonne. It never comes close to Journal Square.

You’re mixing up a few things.

The Journal Squared residential building is right atop the PATH Journal Square train station. This is in the Journal Square neighborhood. The PATH trains run to FiDi (World Trade Center) and to Midtown (33rd St). The Hudson Bergen Light Rail is a separate system entirely that snakes along the waterfront in Jersey City before going into other towns - you don’t need this at all to get into NYC. FYI there are two “Exchange Pl” stations, one for PATH and one for HBLR. You never have to leave PATH to get into NYC.

Journal Square as a neighborhood is relatively safe, especially around the train station. Some weirdos but less than in NYC. But it’s a city so stay aware of your surroundings as you would in NYC. And you’re very close to India Square if you ever want good food and groceries. Decent amount of activity in that immediate station area, plenty of police, but for night life you have to take the PATH into Downtown JC or NYC.

The "good" reason is that what is now the PATH train system and the NYC subway system predate the Port Authority and the MTA, respectively, and were built to serve different areas with little integration between systems. Could they be combined now? Perhaps. But who would be in charge? I sure as heck don't want the MTA in charge of anything at all, nevermind PATH.

Reach out to Councilman James Solomon's office. He's been pretty active in this area of policy. His office can likely direct you to some good resources.

I had a similar issue with Phoenix Properties, I was being charged way too much for my rent controlled unit. But ultimately I didn't have the time and energy to bring a case.

Sounds like you initially called the wrong PSE&G line, the group that does new service for new developments.

PSE&G is useless but I set up everything for my JC apartment entirely online, registered an account and input address, etc. I didn't have to jump through any of the hoops you're describing. Never spoke to anyone on the phone. There was also a large unpaid balance from the previous resident but I did not pay that because it's not my problem. But I couldn't set up service under my name until I had actually moved in. The first bill under my name was for an accurate amount. Give it another try.