JERSEY CITY | PATH Train Ridership Growing Rapidly

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by CCs77

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..

[C.]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

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

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by CIA

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...

[Nexis4Jersey]

PATH Forward: Communications Based Train Control and Positive Train Control

• Video Link

[C.]

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?

[Hamilton]

^^
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).

[C.]

Originally Posted by Hamilton

^^
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!

[mrsmartman]

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

[Hamilton]

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

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Hamilton

^^ 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.

[C.]

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%)
July 272,799 (+4.22%)
August 269,440 (+3.91%)

Total YTD: 52,425,487

[Crawford]

Once the buffoon, anti-transit Gov. Christie leaves, there has to be a long-term plan to PATH upgrades and expansion. Newark Airport needs to be a starting point, not the end- goal. I would expand PATH to Plainfield, as was planned in the 1970s.

If NJ is to thrive in the coming decades, there will need to be huge, megabillion rail investments. This means expansion for PATH, NJ Transit commuter rail, and NJ Transit light rail.

[chris08876]

^^^^^

I think both you and I want that buffon Christie out. What a waste of space. Christie is incompatible with NJ. He's more of a governor suited for Kansas, not a real state that has a big economy and that needs a lot of infrastructure.

But yes I agree. We need big expansions for NJ Transit, Amtrak, LIRR, NY subway, and it goes on. Light rail as well.

PATH needs more trains, longer ones, and more lines. Not just rail, but highways as well. Our highways are getting to the point of being parking lots. We need more expansion, more lanes. They can't handle the suburban growth. It's a mess over here.

[Hamilton]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Once the buffoon, anti-transit Gov. Christie leaves, there has to be a long-term plan to PATH upgrades and expansion. Newark Airport needs to be a starting point, not the end- goal. I would expand PATH to Plainfield, as was planned in the 1970s.

Along those lines, here is an interesting tidbit buried in http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/07/jersey_city_oks_residential_development_on_old_puc.html"]this article[/URL]:

City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill confirmed the city hopes to get a PATH stop at the site.

"While we know it probably won't happen in the next year, we are hopeful that the next governor will commit the dollars towards a PATH stop," Morrill said.

Incidentally, there is a good chance that the next governor of NJ will be Morrill's boss, current Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop.



As far as the highways are concerned, I'd say our state has spent enough multi-billions on highway boondoggles during Christie's term, with little improvement in congestion (and much sprawl) to show for it. The Turnpike is what, 12 lanes now in some places? And as soon as you build these highways, you see the farms and woods around them turned into new traffic-generating ugly subdivisions almost immediately. Transportation funds are limited. It's more efficient to spend them on improving transit in the dense areas of the state. A mile of double-track PATH in Hudson County carries more people than 20 miles of 4-lane highways out in Monmouth county.

[C.]

PATH hit a new record in September with an average weekday ridership of 278,100.

The numbers should continue to rise as the thousands of new TOD residential units come online. I also wonder if the recent NJ gas tax increase will also lead to additional folks to take transit.

The Port Authority did a study on PATH ridership projections a few years ago. It was used to inform the PA on priorities for capital improvements. It would be interesting to see how far above actual ridership is above the projections. When we hit the theoretical maximum capacity for the system.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by CIA

PATH hit a new record in September with an average weekday ridership of 278,100.

The numbers should continue to rise as the thousands of new TOD residential units come online. I also wonder if the recent NJ gas tax increase will also lead to additional folks to take transit.
.

If they could legalize cannabis, that would of been a better way than to raise the gas tax. Use the tax on it for good.

Use that money for schools, and hey... transit! But once that stroke on toes leaves office or gets impeached, then maybe. Its going to happen, we just have to wait for our useless Governor to go away.

The revenue will be nice, and if NJ does it before NY, you could be sure that a lot of tax will be collected for our state.

[C.]

2016 Ridership Numbers

Month | Avg. Weekday 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%)
July 272,799 (+4.22%)
August 269,440 (+3.91%)
September 278,139 (+3.39%)

Total Ridership YTD: 59,123,456

[jamesinclair]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Once the buffoon, anti-transit Gov. Christie leaves, there has to be a long-term plan to PATH upgrades and expansion. Newark Airport needs to be a starting point, not the end- goal. I would expand PATH to Plainfield, as was planned in the 1970s.

If NJ is to thrive in the coming decades, there will need to be huge, megabillion rail investments. This means expansion for PATH, NJ Transit commuter rail, and NJ Transit light rail.

Do you have any info on that old proposal?

[C.]

Originally Posted by jamesinclair

Do you have any info on that old proposal?

I would love to learn more about this, too.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by CIA

I would love to learn more about this, too.

ask & ye shall receive:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewt...p?f=70&t=39771

some plans - jfk, stewart & republic airports & a monorail were also involved.