My husband and I are hardly rich and my husband commutes on a regular basis. Hundreds of people ride the rail into Manhattan. You get paid more in that town as well.
I understand that, but you also pay some NY income tax as well as a city income tax. Friends that ride the rails into NYC from NJ say the cars aren’t as crowded as they were before the Greater Depression. Even on 9/11 lives were saved by the vacancy rates in the World Trade Center - and construction of the replacement was delayed because there wasn’t (and still isn’t) sufficient demand to justify building it. Instead they’ll try to load it up with government agencies and such...