JERSEY CITY | PATH Train Ridership Growing Rapidly
 

http://www.panynj.gov/photo/path/PATH_system_map.jpg

According to reports from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PATH ridership is rising rapidly this year.

Month Avg. Weekday %
Jan-15 227,561
Feb-15 245,222 7.76%
Mar-15 250,446 2.13%
Apr-15 258,351 3.16%
May-15 264,326 2.31%
Jun-15 266,647 0.88%

Is the PATH system on track for a record year? In the past, fare increases hampered ridership growth. 2012 was on track for a record year until Hurricane Sandy shut down the system for a month.

PATH capacity is supposed to be 240K ppd…and it's climbing out past 265K. Only another 25K to go before it eats all the extra capacity the new signal system is supposed to add sometime in 2018. Must be a little crowded presently.

I hope the PA has options on a lot of ferries in case the North River tunnels can't hold out.

PATH is hardly near capacity, and carried way more people in the 1920's (in excess of over 310,000 riders a day or more).

From what I understand, factories and warehouses on the west side of Manhattan had shifts around the clock. Employees would ride the train into the city from New Jersey at all times of day and night. Today, the trains still run 24 hours, but the busiest times are during the morning and afternoon rush hours (7-9am and 4-6pm) periods. When we talk about system capacity, it's usually in reference to these peak periods.

The average count for turnstile entries in June, between 8-9am, was 41,043. This is well above capacity. The hourly peak ridership back in 1920s was nowhere near as high. Instead, ridership levels were more consistent throughout the day.

Here is a nifty report, which breaks down the hourly counts for each station: http://www.panynj.gov/path/pdf/2015-PATH-Hourly-Ridership_6_Jun.pdf

It will be interesting to see how much busiest it gets once the World Trade Center complex is finally built out and fully occupied. It might just be my imagination, but it feels like there are a lot of tourists lately taking the PATH to the WTC memorial and museum.

This is an interesting statement to make and tells me you know little to nothing about PATH. If you believe it's nowhere near capacity, you really ought to ride the system during rush hour and report back. It's not uncommon to be unable to squeeze on a train at Grove Street Station during the morning rush. You may also be left standing on the platforms at the 14th, 9th, Christopher, or WTC stations during the evenings.

Mike is going by the daily ridership stats, but people sometimes look at daily or yearly stats and forget to examine the distribution of the ridership. It may be possible for a system to carry more riders per day than it is currently, but it may not be possible for it to carry more riders per hour in a particular direction than it is during certain parts of the day. Perhaps there weren't as many people commuting into and out of town for work back then making the rush hour of yesteryear less crowded, but there were more people making the trip for other reasons like shopping at department stores, taking in entertainment, etc. so the system was more consistently busy throughout the day.

Or perhaps it was something as simple as that there was more general transportation demand on PATH in the 1920s since the Holland tunnel didn't open until 1927 and the Lincoln tunnel in the 1930s. So that could be another reason why it may have been used more by non-commuters throughout the day. Was there any drop in riderhip after the tunnels opened?

I don't think it's your imagination. Though it will be relatively easy to boost WTC line capacity once the work at Harrison and Grove is done so they can run 10 car trains. Journal Square-33rd is basically screwed though for the foreseeable future.

Sorry, but your analysis is flawed. You're comparing apples to oranges by looking at month-over-month growth. Ridership always grows between January and June, as the weather gets nicer and people use the system more to go out and go on trips. These sorts of analyses should always take seasonality into account: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonality

Weekday ridership has only grown 2.2% year-to-date this year. Here's the true year-over-year growth for the system by month:

Weekday Ridership:
Jan -1.6%
Feb 5.2%
Mar 0.9%
Apr 2.2%
May 3.6%
Jun 3.0%
YTD: 2.2%

Total Ridership:
Jan: -4.5%
Feb: 2.2%
Mar: 3.4%
Apr: 3.0%
May: 1.4%
Jun: 5.9%
YTD: 2.0%

(Sources: http://www.panynj.gov/path/pdf/path-ridership-report-2014.pdf , www.panynj.gov/path/pdf/2015-PATH-Ridership-Report.pdf )

Not quite as dramatic as the numbers you provided, but solid growth nonetheless.

I now see the error of my ways. Thanks!

PATH nearly hit an all time high in September with an average weekday ridership of 269,025 for the month. This is the fourth highest month on record, and the highest since October 2011. The record is 270,971. The Pope's visit to New York likely played a role in the high numbers, so we'll have to see continues. YTD averages 252,652. Last year averaged 249,900. Last September averaged 258,150.

Weekday Ridership:
Jan -1.6%
Feb 5.2%
Mar 0.9%
Apr 2.2%
May 3.6%
Jun 3.0%
Jul 1.4%
Aug 3.6%
Sep 4.2%

Total Ridership:
Jan: -4.5%
Feb: 2.2%
Mar: 3.4%
Apr: 3.0%
May: 1.4%
Jun: 5.9%
Jul: 4.8%
Aug: 5.3%
Sep: 5.5%

Developers are building high rise condos and rentals as fast as the land becomes available and visionary projects are being pitched for every vacant parking lot and brown field near the water. Meanwhile the PATH continues to chug along barely keeping up service while raising the fares every few months and threatening less trains on the nights and weekends.

I actually had a chance to speak with the head of the Jersey City planning board and voiced my concern with the rapid expansion of downtown Jersey City and the capacity of the PATH. His only response was that the Port Authority have a knack for maintaining service just enough to meet demand, and that their signal modernization project should help greatly.

I think the ultimate issue with the PATH is the lack of Express service by virtue of single track through the system. If it were possible to run express trains from 33rd to Newport, or from Journal Square to WTC, you'd see population grow rapidly along all stops of the lines as the farther destinations could skip the middle stops and those stops typically relegated to squeezing into already over crowded trains would have ample room to grow. Of course, there is no way to realistically add Express to the PATH short of digging an entire new system, so perhaps the best next step would be digging a third tube between caisson 3 (NJ) and Christopher street allowing increased capacity across the river between HOB and JSQ lines.

That's actually not a bad idea.

At some point they will have to expand PATH. The platform/train extensions will help, the increased frequency will help, but at some point they will need another route through JC to Manhattan.

It'd be nice if PATH could eat the Bayonne Branch of HBLR and SIRR.

Grade makes that a tad challenging. IIRC the Bayonne Branch is at-grade while SIRR is 3rd rail. You'd basically have to dig a ditch for the branch...

That said, it isn't just the lack of trans-Hudson capacity that's an issue. It's the fact that that part of North Jersey is essentially an extension of New York the city (rather than the metro) howsoever balkanized it may be, and needs to be connected into the city's subway system. (IOW, we should merge PANYNJ and the MTA, with MTA's better management in the controlling position.)

Staten Island Railroad has 16.000 weekday ridership and late night service has a 30 minutes frequency. Path has 250.000 weekday ridership and late night service has a 35 minutes frequency.........

That's Port authority logic....and overnight ridership is pretty low...

Yes Yes Yes!

There is talk about giving PATH to NJ Transit, which is the wrong move. Give it to MTA and integrate it more into the NYC subway system. They already share payment methods. I'd venture to say most path riders transfer to the MTA rather than transfer to NJ Transit.

This is true. There has been a quiet increase in headways recently for the Journal Square - 33rd and Newark - WTC lines. Additionally, the stop at Hoboken during the late night service on the JSQ - 33 line has been shortened by 20%, resulting in trains getting in and out of there faster.

Anyone have access to historic change schedules, so the changes can be better documented?

It's not a chicken or an egg situation. Transit investment comes after there is an urgent need. If we waited for PATH improvements before allowing new development, we would be waiting for a very long time...

The signaling improvements, and especially the 10 car trains on the PATH-WTC line, would not happening unless we had the ridership growth.

Weekend and late night ridership is also growing rapidly, as is evident from anyone actually riding the trains at night. The Port Authority is forced to add additional trains, otherwise folks will be unable to board trains to Jersey and be left waiting on the platforms at stations south of 33rd.

The October 2015 ridership numbers for PATH set records this month with over 7 million total rides and an average weekday ridership of 275,984. It surpassed the previous monthly ridership record of 6.953 million, set in March 2012, and the old average weekday ridership record of 270,971, set October 2000.

Weekday Ridership:
Jan -1.6%
Feb 5.2%
Mar 0.9%
Apr 2.2%
May 3.6%
Jun 3.0%
Jul 1.4%
Aug 3.6%
Sep 4.2%
Oct 5.2%

Total Ridership:
Jan: -4.5%
Feb: 2.2%
Mar: 3.4%
Apr: 3.0%
May: 1.4%
Jun: 5.9%
Jul: 4.8%
Aug: 5.3%
Sep: 5.5%
Oct: 4.7%

Rushhour headways at Grove St. Station now 4 minutes to 33rd & 4 min to WTC.
Rushhour headways at Hoboken Station now 7 min to 33rd & 4 min to WTC.

The only thing that I see in order for PATH to provide express service is if it greatly expanded in NY and NJ to Brooklyn, Queens, and into Elizabeth and Paterson. Other than that, the system is fine as it is. It's too small to have express service.

The real reason why PATH was built was to link the major train station on the NJ side (PRR, Reading, Erie Lackawanna, CRRNJ, etc.) to NYC in the early 20th century. That's the reason why PATH has terminals in Hoboken and Newark. This was the former PATH terminal in Lower Manhattan before it got razed to create the first WTC (Twin Towers): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Terminal

Personally, I'd love to see the Newark light rail system being expanded into Irvington, Belleville, Nutley, and Elizabeth, as well as the HBLR. It would give Newark and JC it's own transportation system just like NYC has the subway.

I agree, I don't think the PATH really needs express service, though it would be nice to see it extended further into Manhattan and even Brooklyn (Atlantic Terminal). It would also be nice to see the PATH expanded on the Jersey side to Newark Airport, and a dream would be instead of the Hudson/Bergen light rail line, having that be a PATH subway line would have been so much better and easier to reach an even larger population on the Jersey side.

I never used the light rail system in Newark, but I do think expanding the system like you mention would be a good move for Newark with trying to revitalize itself and strengthen its downtown.


On a side note, with your link you provided, I have to say I really love this old NYC skyline. I am not usually a fan of the whole "wish I could go back in time to see that" type of person, but that old skyline is definitely something I would have loved to see. It would be such a small an intimate skyline compared to what it is today.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c..._Investing_Hudson_Terminal_1909_crop.jpg

Well a large lamentable aspect of that old photo is the loss of the Singer building. The
Singer is second to me just behind Penn as most regrettable lost NY architectural treasures.

I don't like it. IT looks like a tryhard attempt at Big Ben or something like that.

No, but, ok.

I find it truly appalling that as of 12pm the PATH has not restored service between Newark & JSQ due to the snow despite there only being a few miles to clear.... They supposedly have 620 workers clearing the line by hand...but still this is ridiculous... SEPTA , NYC Subway , LIRR and MNRR all have there lines fully operation and while some lines did not come back online intill last night or early this morning...those lines are in some cases 4x the length of the affected PATH area.... This reeks of mismanagement , and shows a shake up is needed at the PATH....I rarely rant when things do not directly affect me , but this is ridiculous... If I did have to go to Newark today , getting to Jersey City would take me an hr or more without the PATH...

Well said! It's absolutely ridiculous. Just give PATH to MTA, integrate it with the larger NYC system and call it a day. Whenever there is talk of transferring PATH away from the Port Authority the choir is to give it to NJ Transit. Why, I don't know! There is almost just as many stations on the New York side (6) side as the Jersey side (7). I'm also willing to bet that a much higher percentage of PATH riders also use the MTA system than NJ Transit. PATH and MTA already share the system Metrocard payment system. During rush hour, the trains heading from the WTC to Jersey are just as packed as the trains from the WTC heading to Jersey. It's really a sight to be seen walking on Vessey Street during the morning rush hour. There are thongs of people heading to and from the temporary PATH station.

http://2irfbl23rse12dglqd39cw6v.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/CRUSSH.png

They said it was due to their new signaling system which is placed between the tracks.... The MNRR , NYC Subway and LIRR have trains that can melt the snow and ice along with blowing off the snow off the tracks... Its just another set of excuses...

Yup. The sooner it's seized from the Port Authority, the better. They will probably be relieved if/when it goes to another agency.

2015 Total: 76,565,452
A 3.9 percent increase over 2014. It looks like it's just short of the 76.6 million record set in 2011.

http://www.panynj.gov/path/pdf/2015-PATH-Ridership-Report.pdf

January 2016 is running 10.07 percent above January 2015. It's early but looks like 2016 could be a record year unless another Sandy happens.

PATH 2016 Average Weekday (pct increase over 2015)
Jan 250,484 (+10.07%)
Feb 259,236 (+5.71%)
March 265,132 (+5.86%)

Weekend ridership is growing very quickly
Jan 87,875 (-0.01%)
Feb 102,088 (+7.77%)
March 119,979 (+11.37%)

The total ridership for 2015 was 3.9% over 2014. Year to date, 2016 ridership is running an impressive 8.38% over the same period last year. 2016 is on track for a record year. Looks like all the new development is really starting to impact PATH and the Port Authority will be forced to increase service levels soon. (They only act when things hit crisis levels). What happens next?

http://www.panynj.gov/path/statistics.html

To add also NYC ( beyond Jersey City ) in the title, please......

If you want to get a good laugh, go to Penn Newark at around 8:00 am, on any weekday, and watch people pack into the PATH. Like sardines.

If NYC and friends (NJ) do nothing to resolve the capacity issue, we might need those Japanese subway pushers soon.

Ultimately, I see the problem as a whole getting much worse and only when it reaches a state of really needing an upgrade, will they finally do something about it. Unfortunately, it will take a while, and be way over budget. But that's nothing new.

Tourism also keeps increasing and the amount of international/domestic visitors is increasing by about 2 million per year. Adding even further strain on the system.

Hopefully sooner or later some bright spark realizes PATH has the same loading gauge as the 7 train and ... hey, aren't those tail tracks right across the river from Hoboken anyway?

They need to extend the Newark LRT through The Ironbound and over Newark Bay connecting to the West Side line at 440... Most of the congestion gets off at Exchange Place , so by providing a new route to exchange place you would be able to reduce the strain on the PATH by half...

I put Jersey City in the title because that's where PATH's HQs and operations are based: One PATH Plaza, Jersey City, NJ 07306.

The American Public Transportation Association also lists Jersey City as the primary city for PATH:
http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2015-q4-ridership-APTA.pdf
http://i.imgur.com/9u1SVMW.jpgp

New York: 6 stations (previously 7)
Jersey City: 4 stations
Newark: 1 station
Harrison: 1 station
Hoboken: 1 station

Why do the trains coming from 33st, in the line colored as yellow in the map, end at Journal Square instead of continuing to Harrison and Newark? Doing that could double the number of trains in that section.

I think its just easier to turn them at JSQ...but your right the congestion would lessen along the corridor if they run 33rd to Newark. But even that is a band-aid solution , the Light Rail connection between the 2 cities will be needed one day.. Also reactivating the Boonton Branch and shifting some of the Central Essex riders over to the Hoboken division of the PATH would free up the strain on the Newark division..

Nexis,

I'm a visual guy when it comes to this stuff. Do you have a rough map you could share of this proposal? Is it on any of the books?

Thanks

Its unofficial , but it would follow Ferry Street underground till the Eastern edge of the Ironbound where the old Newark Railroad ROW ends and then use that ROW to the West Side Avenue Station. It would probably cost well over 1.5 Billion but considering how congested the PATH and NJT Bus line 1 is , it will needed down the road... Along with lines heading South to Elizabeth and up to Paterson , West Orange , Montclair , Verona which was originally planned in the 90s to alleviate the growing bus congestion in the Newark Division... The money went to silly expansions in the suburbs which in some cases netted very little ridership but cost well over 50 million... Restoring the Old Boonton & Kingsland Branch were studied by the RPA in the 2007-2009... A lot of redevelopment opportunities along both corridors which go through semi-depressed areas of Essex and Hudson counties...

PATH Forward: Communications Based Train Control and Positive Train Control

• Video Link

2016 Ridership Numbers
Month | Avg. Ridership | % Chg from Prior Year
Jan 250,484 (+10.07%)
Feb 259,236 (+5.71%)
March 265,132 (+5.86%)
April 270,124 (+4.56%)
May 271,904 (+2.87%)
June 277,946 (+4.08%)

Total YTD: 38,958,089

The numbers should only rise with many new developments coming online in downtown Jersey City, Journal Square, Harrison and Newark. As the World Trade Center gets built out and the space is absorbed, the number of office workers will soar.

PATH will need to increase capacity very soon. Any word on when the 10-car trains will start operating?

^^
Unfortunately, the platforms on the Grove St station still have to be expanded before 10-car train operation can happen on the NWK-WTC line. Most of the money for this expansion is allocated from 2019 to 2023 in the PATH capital plan budget (see p. 23 of this LINK), so I wouldn't expect that to happen before 2023 at the earliest:

But hopefully there'll be additional capacity before that, thanks to the signal upgrades. I went to a PATH information session on the CBTC/PTC signal upgrades on Tuesday, and asked them about their plans to run more trains per hour during rush hour once CBTC/PTC is put in place.

While they claim that using CBTC they'll be able to run up to 40 trains per hour through the tunnels (currently they run 30 trains per hour at rush hour), they told me that they plan on running about 36 trains per hour max, resulting in 20% more rush hour service. I'd take it with a grain of salt, but they even tout the 20% service increase in the CBTC information pamphlets they hand out at the info sessions.

They claim that CBTC/PTC will be in place by the end of 2018. They'll need extra railcars to run more service, but the PATH capital plan budget seems to have $41 million for this purpose allocated by 2017 (see p. 51 of the Capital Plan above).

Good info. Thanks!

The PATH is one of the greatest interstate commuter railroads in America.

^^ Talk about a backhanded compliment! The PATH is not a commuter railroad, it's a rapid transit subway.

Yeah, PATH is clearly a "subway" not a "commuter railroad". It doesn't really share any similarity with suburban rail systems in the U.S. or abroad.