The walk is definitely do-able (I lived on Belmont, one block over from Kensington) and as stated, there are a lot of other people doing that walk during normal commuting hours. The bus (#10) is also pretty reliable in my experience. Only a few times did it not come as scheduled.

Not Harrison, but close. For me, the walk from the PATH to Kensington was just as sketchy as the final blocks after it.

If that's your neighborhood, I mean no offense, but it was my neighborhood too for several years, and I never felt safe.

I wouldn't live there again. I'm sure plenty of people are happy there, though my friends who are still there always cite lack of safety as the number one drawback.

what happened to the #10 bus route? did they discontinue it?

Hitchcock, by my calculations that puts you on Harrison.
Way different than Kensington.

I used to live about four blocks farther down Kennedy (away from the JSQ PATH). Yes, it's definitely a 15-minute walk.

The bus is sporadic. As for taxis, I never felt safe with the often-sketchy guys who drive them. And they always tried to pack multiple fares into the car with me, so it might take 30 minutes to get home, with me fuming the whole way, but stuck in the car because I had a heavy bag of groceries or something.

So if you take that apartment, you have to be okay with doing that walk always, because the bus might not come, and you might have similar problems with the taxis. Also: the bus stop near JSQ PATH, the stop for the bus that heads down JFK, is unlit at night. (At least, it was a couple years ago.) I hated standing there in the dark.

I never felt safe on that walk at night. It's a gorgeous neighborhood, and apartments are more affordable than they are near Grove Street, but I had multiple near-misses with muggings, and I always charged home like a bat out of hell.

And when you turn off of JFK, you're on streets with lots of trees (can't picture Kensington, but many of the streets off of JFK are tree-lined). Beautiful! Scary at night. And that address is almost all the way down Kensington to West Side.

It's been five years since I lived over there, so maybe it's changed.

The wait at JSQ for a cab is way longer than it should be for such a major transportation hub. Walking is safe, even at night. and there's lots of bus options.

I would not recommend it. Working normal work hours should be ok but anything else is not the safest.

Thanks for the link--that's a great thread!

I didn't realize a cab ride is so reasonable; do they run pretty regularly from the station and are they pretty easy to flag in that area?

Read this thread

Many people walk it for the exercise. If you work "normal" hours you will have many of your neighbors doing the same walk with you. The bus on the corner of Westside and Kensington runs all the time and very frequently to JSQ, same coming back.

Kensington's alright but it gets rougher as you head away from West Side Avenue (which is rough enough at night.) There are plenty of bus options, and I believe there might even be jitneys running now, too, which would be your best bet. The busses in Jersey City tend to run in clumps - like three at a time, leaving long gaps in between. Your daytime walk is fine. Nightime, probably, too, but like most of Jersey City it gets pretty deserted of foot traffic. Stick to walking Kennedy Blvd. Cap ride about 5 bucks if it's real late. Plowing and shoveling is often spotty, even along Kennedy, so consider that too in your 15 minute walk.

Best advice is go walk it yourself a few times.

Hello, newbie to the forum and Jersey City here.

I'm thinking of getting an apartment on Kensington, but I'm a bit worried about the commute to the PATH station at Journal Square. I've never walked this myself--Google Maps says it's 20 minutes; does that sound right to you? I could handle a walk of 15 minutes, but 20 just sounds like too much.

Plus, I know there's a bus there (line 80), but I've never taken it. Is it reliable/safe, especially for a woman?