JERSEY CITY | PATH Train Ridership Growing Rapidly

[Crawford]

Short-term, yes, there will be a huge impact. Ridership, right now, is probably down something like 90%.

Long-term, no, I doubt it. Development will continue along the PATH corridors, which are NJ's growth engines. People won't stop wanting walkable neighborhoods with amenities and close to work.

[jamesinclair]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Short-term, yes, there will be a huge impact. Ridership, right now, is probably down something like 90%.

Long-term, no, I doubt it. Development will continue along the PATH corridors, which are NJ's growth engines. People won't stop wanting walkable neighborhoods with amenities and close to work.

Right now PATH is very peak focused. IE, service at 8am is every 3 minutes and at 11am just every 15 minutes.

I think youll see ridership demand flatten out, and hopefully with it, more balanced service.

I think we'll see a hybrid work from home emerge.

IE, home on Monday, office Tuesday, home on Wednesday until 1pm and then office for an important afternoon meeting, office Thursday, home Friday

[Nexis4Jersey]

PATH Rail: Trains at World Trade Center

• Video Link

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by C.

I just heard the Port Authority is starting a one-year feasibility student for a a new Marion PATH station, to be located west of Journal Square, with the backing of Jersey City Mayor Fulop. The implications, aside from making it easier for commuters to access the PATH train in the area, is that parcels of land may be rezoned to density approaching that of Journal Square.

Do you have any update or sources for this? It's been 2 years and I've heard nothing so it seems this idea is not being seriously considered.

[C.]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Do you have any update or sources for this? It's been 2 years and I've heard nothing so it seems this idea is not being seriously considered.

Nope - outside the initial announcement for the city, it seems to have gone stale.

https://jerseydigs.com/port-authorit...y-jersey-city/

It's part of the settelement agreement between Jersey City and the Port Authority over past due property taxes.

"Per the settlement agreement, the Port Authority would “perform a study examining operational, technical, legal, economic and other relevant considerations relating to the feasibility of potential construction and use of a PATH station in the Marion section of the City.” The train system’s tracks already run through a chunk of the neighborhood, meaning it’s very possible that only a station would need to be built."

[C.]

Jan 2020...277,234
Feb 2020...282,850
Mar 2020...126,409
Apr 2020.....14,596

[C.]

May 2020 - 20,445

Anyone want to take a guess before it returns to pre-corona levels? lol

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by C.

May 2020 - 20,445

Anyone want to take a guess before it returns to pre-corona levels? lol

Two years, at least.

[Busy Bee]

Do these new PA5 cars that are being delivered look identical to the other earlier PA5 cars?

[C.]

Average Weekday Ridership by Year

2012 - 242,888
2013 - 244,848
2014 - 250,071
2015 - 258,425
2016 - 269,087
2017 - 283,719
2018 - 280,859
2019 - 284,380
2020 - 90,287



With telecommuting becoming more commonplace, it's going to be awhile until the PATH system reaches a new modern-day high in ridership. All the signaling and capacity improvements that were underway pre-pandemic should make for one smooth system when complete. On the plus side, at least the NIMBYs won't be able to complain about PATH overcrowding when protesting new development.

There are literally thousands of residential units planned for each of the PATH stations on the Jersey side, with the main selling point being the proximity to a station.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by C.

Average Weekday Ridership by Year

2012 - 242,888
2013 - 244,848
2014 - 250,071
2015 - 258,425
2016 - 269,087
2017 - 283,719
2018 - 280,859
2019 - 284,380
2020 - 90,287

Well, it was growing rapidly if you consider 14.5% over 7 years or an average 2% per year rapid. What words would you use for a 68% drop in just one year? Freefall, nosedive, or a rapid decline? Is this decline in ridership a temporary setback or a permanent setback?

My bottom line is that "adverbs" can be so misleading, how authors can twist the truth to readers using exaggerated language.
I would not consider a 2% average increase or decrease in anything rapid.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by C.

Average Weekday Ridership by Year

2012 - 242,888
2013 - 244,848
2014 - 250,071
2015 - 258,425
2016 - 269,087
2017 - 283,719
2018 - 280,859
2019 - 284,380
2020 - 90,287



With telecommuting becoming more commonplace, it's going to be awhile until the PATH system reaches a new modern-day high in ridership. All the signaling and capacity improvements that were underway pre-pandemic should make for one smooth system when complete. On the plus side, at least the NIMBYs won't be able to complain about PATH overcrowding when protesting new development.

There are literally thousands of residential units planned for each of the PATH stations on the Jersey side, with the main selling point being the proximity to a station.

It's going to hit 300K in 2022 and Jersey City, Harrison, and Newark are going to explode with housing projects. We're in for a totally nuts couple of years, at least.

[C.]

PATH ridership for February 2022 is up 115 percent from February 2021, but still down 40 percent from February 2020.

February 2022 - 113,248 average weekday ridership

With all the new development under construction, maybe within two to three years PATH ridership will return to all the highs?

[C.]

Average Weekday Ridership by Year

2012 - 242,888
2013 - 244,848
2014 - 250,071
2015 - 258,425
2016 - 269,087
2017 - 283,719
2018 - 280,859
2019 - 284,380
2020 - 90,287
2021 - 90,941
2022 - 98,344 (Jan-Feb, 2022)

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by C.

With all the new development under construction, maybe within two to three years PATH ridership will return to all the highs?

I think it will take 4-5 years to surpass previous highs. It will come, but take some time.

[k1052]

Maybe they should run better night and weekend service.

[C.]

Originally Posted by k1052

Maybe they should run better night and weekend service.

Absofuckinglutly!

[jmecklenborg]

My guess is that reduced highway/tunnel congestion during the pandemic motivated more people to take cabs/rideshare on those days when they did commute.

Where I live I heard someone remark that pre-2020 traffic reappeared about three months ago on their daily commute over a notorious bridge. For vehicular traffic, the threshold between free-flowing and gridlock is often very narrow.

[TowerDude]

There should be a set of Airport express trains that connect at the WTC PATH station so you could make super easy airport transfers.

Separately there should be a Metro North extension from Salisbury Mills to Stewart International Airport.

Combine those with an Extension of the W or N Trains and you would really radically improve the connectivity of the region's airports.

[Busy Bee]

What passes for radical transformation in the NYC metropolitan area is what would have been done decades ago in most other first world cities. Due to the doldrums of the city and transit agencies over the last many decades, truly radically ambitious ideas rarely if ever get spoken of (true interoperability of NJT/LIRR/MN under an umbrella regional rail identity with metro-like regional rail frequencies and service patterns; re-opened passenger rail lines throughout NJ; metropolitan orbital rail, of which IBX could be but one segment on an inner orbital that would cross the Hudson over the GWB and under the Narrows into SI and traverse north-south through Hudson and Bergen counties; JFK express to lower Manhattan; PATH expansion; significant NY subway expansion including much of the IND second system; Paris style T style light rail on heaviest NYC bus routes like Q52/52, Bx12, etc...) And that's not even getting into what would be involved to run true HSR in and out of the area.


The simple takeaway is that with the exception of East Side Access, the entire public transportation system of metropolitan New York has been locked in amber for 70 years. We celebrate the opening of a couple new stations over thirty years like we put men on Mars while other world cities have built entire metro systems and open new lines and line extensions left and right.