A car is essential for most of the state — distances are short but transit between regions is patchy outside of the dense northeast corner. The New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway are the main north-south arteries, both tolled.
For commuting into New York City, NJ Transit runs trains and buses from across the state into Penn Station; the PATH subway connects Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark to downtown and midtown Manhattan around the clock. Within the dense northeast — Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark — public transport is good enough that a car is more burden than help.
The River Line light rail runs along the Delaware between Camden and Trenton. Down at the shore, the Cape May–Lewes Ferry is a useful 80-minute crossing to Delaware in summer.