JERSEY CITY | PATH Train Ridership Growing Rapidly

[C.]

Originally Posted by drumz0rz

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.

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.

[C.]

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.

[wanderer34]

Originally Posted by drumz0rz

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.

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.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

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.

[Busy Bee]

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.

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

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.

[Busy Bee]

No, but, ok.

[Nexis4Jersey]

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...

[C.]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

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.

[Nexis4Jersey]

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...

[C.]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

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.

[C.]

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-...hip-Report.pdf

[C.]

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.

[C.]

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

[manchester united]

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

[chris08876]

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.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by chris08876

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?

[Nexis4Jersey]

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...

[C.]

Originally Posted by manchester united

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

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/statis...rship-APTA.pdf


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

[CCs77]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

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...

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.