PATH Train

I just rode PATH for the first time last week so I’m not as knowledgeable about it as regular riders. 14 miles from Midtown to Newark for $ 2.75 seems like a pretty good bang for your buck and it seemed faster than MTA subway. I didn’t take the first available train leaving 33^rd street because it was packed (at midnight on a Wednesday/​Thursday!) so I had to wait a while but I was in no rush. At Newark the announcer shooed homeless people off the train by saying «This ain’t a Motel 6!» which I thought was quite funny, if a bit inconsiderate.

Is a rapid transit railroad serving stopping Newark, Harrison, Hoboken, and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey, as well as lower and midtown Manhattan in New York City.
The trains arrive every 15 minutes or less in the daytime, and every 30 minutes in the late nights and run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The stop of the path in Manhattan are; 33^rd Street, 23^rd Street, 14^th Street, 9^th Street, Christopher Street and World Trade Center. The stops in NJ are; Newport, Grove ST, Journal Square, Hoboken, Harrison and Newark– Penn Station.
Very good service cannot complain the days that, I have taken it.

After making the mistake of taking the New Jersey Transit over to Hoboken (at least we can write that off as our tourist mistake for this trip) and spending an age waiting for a change of trains, we decided that it’d be a much better idea to take a far speedier PATH train (ten minutes instead of almost an hour and a half due to the change) from Hoboken over to the World Trade Centre.
The train was frequent, fast and easy. Which really is all that you want really, plus it runs on the Metrocard system so it was plenty simple for us daft tourists who made the mistake of not using it in the first place to get to Hoboken. Honestly, I can’t explain what I was thinking but I think it was over excitement at the thought of going to New Jersey. I was a lot happier with our journey back by PATH.

Thank god I have a reverse commute every weekday. I don’t see why the trains are always packed. Is it because the train only comes with 8 cars? And why some of the stations only have one entrance/​exit? Is there any agent booth at any station? Weird!
One good thing is that you can get into Path system with value MetroCard.
Most train stations are cleaner than MTA ones (Cuz there are fewer stations and no homeless people?)
I’m sorry, but as long as you’re still relying on mass transit, you gotta have to deal with all this nonsense. ;(

I guess I could give it a 2 since it’s better than the MTA but given that it only has 13 stations and a ridership of around 0.25M as compared to MTA’s 469 stations and ~20x the ridership, one should have higher expectations of superior management of such a tiny system…
–No real time data or alerts (the path alerts you can sign up for are generally useless and the omit real delays often — e.g., 822pm train on 10÷6÷2015 arrived at 8:39pm — the loudspeaker said the train is delayed 10 minutes when it was clearly closer to 20 — no notice of this was posted on their twitter or path alerts emails/​texts)
–Severe overcrowding during the peak of rush hour, easily solvable by anyone with at least a 110 IQ who understands basic operations management theory and queuing…
i.e., run some trains express on the 33^rd north/​eastbound lines to increase flow since virtually no one gets off on the intermediate stops
–if you need further capacity and can’t address the headway issue, add some extra cars to the trains at the height of rush hour — if anyone of any significance reads this and doesn’t understand how to implement this, message me
–also, the online purchase feature for the smart cards is like 1980’s…

Nice alternative to get back and forth on the weekends. More options and shorter travel times.

Will they ever build an air conditioner for this station! Even in the winter it’s too hot! What makes it even worse is if you have to catch a train here after 11:00 pm, it can feel like an eternity! This isn’t the prettiest of places either!

The trains are generally cleaner than the MTA trains and there are less crazies. Two stars for that.
I used to take this train frequently from Newark into Jersey City or lower Manhattan.
One thing I can’t stand about the PATH is that there’s no direct line from Newark up towards 33^rd st. That never ever made sense to me, since all the trains basically go to the same places anyway (with the exception of WTC).
The worst was on weekends when all trains from JSQ to 33^rd would go to Hoboken and then go BACK into JC. After a couple times dealing with that mess I ultimately stopped riding PATH anytime I was going into the city. NJ Transit is more $ but it gets you from Newark to 33^rd in 15 minutes tops as opposed to an HOUR on PATH on a bad day. The extra money is worth it.
The PATH desperately wants to be as efficient and quick as the MTA but it fails epically.

I was surprised and impressed with how easy it was to get from the Newark Airport to the financial district on PATH last week. Hop on the AirTrain, jump off at the Newark Penn Station, walk one set of tracks over to PATH, and get off at the World Trade Center– took under an hour with no hassle at all. We accidentally overpaid on the first portion, but even so it was a lot more economical than a cab and a whole lot faster. I was also impressed with the cleanliness and service– somebody spilled an entire thermos as the train was pulling into one stop, and someone immediately got on and quickly mopped it all up.
This will definitely be my go-​to for getting in and out of the airport in the future!

PATH bears some superficial resemblance to the NY Subway system.
PATH takes MetroCards. Its trains are similar. But both its stations and trains are more poorly maintained. And rides — at $ 2.75 — are more expensive and provide much less in value. PATH can take you from midtown Manhattan or downtown out to Newark — a little more than 10 miles away. But more typically it’s simply used to cross the Hudson from Hoboken or Jersey City. It’s basically a shuttle service.
It would be better to let the MTA take over PATH. Not that the MTA is such a paragon of efficient management, but it’s a head and shoulders above PATH.
At least PATH works.

I take the PATH every work day from within Manhattan to a stop in Manhattan. It is the most unpleasant part of my day. As a native New Yorker, I grew up traveling on the NYC subways, and know that this system is far from perfect. But, hands down, it is far superior to the PATH, particularly the Jersey City line.
First, 90% of the time, the stench in the cars makes me think that they are being stored near the chemical plants in Elizabeth; either that, or there are major hygiene problems with the passengers. Second, I have never seen a ruder collection of people than PATH train riders. They are constantly running and pushing people as they enter the station, even if there is no hint that there is a train entering the station. Then they will sit on the filthy floor in the station as they await the train, only to board and sit on the filthy floor of the PATH train. Grosses me out! If they manage to stand, they will often have a huge backpack on both of their shoulders which makes them twice as wide a their body size, despite a fully packed train. No one ever taught them to take off the darn backpack and hold it in their hands when the train is crowded? And despite all the signs, people are content eating their foul smelling meals on the train.
Lastly, the train is useless to get to the airport. Although it takes 20 minutes from downtown Manhattan to EWR, on the PATH train it will take 90 minutes and three transfers.
There is one good point — it services the far west Village and trains arrive often during rush hour. If only the passengers weren’t so rude and the odor wasn’t so offensive, it would be the perfect modality to travel within Manhattan from the West Village.

Pros:
Reliable service that gets you to Manhattan during the weekday.
Cons:
I expected the digital signs, similar to the NYC subways, to show what time the next trains are arriving. Instead they just state which trains and platforms they are arriving which is static and rarely changes.
Major delays during the weekend.
The PA authority is also constantly increasing the fares instead of taking paycuts and do cost cutting.
Trains are jampacked at peak hours in the morning. Not enough handrails in the middle of the train for people to hold onto during peak hours.

Few years path train was nice n affordable but now train service is getting worse than mta subway. They hiked price to $ 2.75, they also hiked price of monthly pass and no weekend train to wtc.

The cars are clean, I hate all the sideways seating, but I know why they do it. The system during the week in the mornings and late evenings was generally fine. Weekends, this is when their inefficiencies shine! Trains down go to WTC, so they essentially run a shuttle from Newark to Journal Sq, then you have to transfer to a train that detours to Hoboken. Why not either have one train runt he whole route, or send the Newark train to Hoboken and run the 33-​JSQ train as is, no Hoboken. Normally 33-​Newark takes about 30m, on weekends close to 45. Weekday nights both 33 to JSQ and Hoboken trains run every 10m, the Hoboken trains are empty, the JSQ trains are packed solid! On top of getting the door slammed in my face as i tried to find space, and getting left behind because of this drivers impatience! Finally, TWICE they had single tracking at Harrison station, didn’t tell anyone, even tho this caused delays for trains and causing missed connections at Newark to other trains. This also caused another passenger to miss a train because she entered on the side the sign said so, then the train arrived on the right side, and no one answered the customer assistance phone. This system has LOTS of room for improvement.

HORRIBLE SERVICE! I’ve been riding the PATH for years and it just keeps getting worse.
They keep having «signal» problems and have massive delays. By the time the train gets to 14^th street they say «wait for the next train» as there is no space.
They are raising the price to 2.75 now. Even more frustrating as the service has been cut short on weekends «necessary closures for NWK-​WTC. So now EVERYONE has to share one train from Newark to 33^rd! Something needs to be done!

There are few worse things in life than the Path train. This is about the worst train on the planet. Not only is it always late, infrequent, and dirty, it is packed with the dregs of human society.
Fights break out on a regular basis during both commuting hours and late nights. Pregnant women get pushed and knocked down. People have ZERO manners on the Path.
Late nights it is filled with drunk fist-​pumpers with Sonic the Hedgehog haircuts coming back from crap clubs like Pascha or the meatpacking. Girls puking at the stations, inside the trains, very unbecoming.
So glad I moved to Manhattan not to deal with this pathetic excuse of a transportation system.
Oh, and my Hoboken friends? They come to the city to visit, never visit them so as to not deal with this crap.

I’m a Queens resident. Today, I had to run an errand in Newark. Since I didn’t want to pay for NJ Transit, I decided to take PATH. I got on at 14 Street. I took the train to Journal Square before changing to the Newark train. While the train was traveling between Journal Square and Harrison, I saw the crumbling Pulaski Skyway. I really want to give PATH a higher rating, and I did so in a previous review, but I just can’t. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll summarize what I like and dislike about PATH:
Likes:
The trains and stations are MUCH cleaner than the NYC subway
The sleek new cars (again, nicer than the R160’s that appear on the NYC subway E, F, J, M, N, Q, and R lines). I love watching the news as I head to my destination.
No bums, performers, etc.
PATH has been instrumental in the growth of New Jersey’s «Gold Coast.» That area is basically a higher class Williamsburg
Dislikes:
The $ 2.50 fare. It seems like just yesterday that the fare was $ 1. PATH fare was always cheaper than the NYC subway fare. Now it’s the same price. I know Chris Christie doesn’t like the Port Authority but damn
Do they really need to build that ridiculous looking terminal at the World Trade Center that will cost BILLIONS of dollars when they already have a functional station at that location?
Night and weekend service sucks
After all these years, there still isn’t a direct Newark-​33^rd Street train. There is obviously a demand for this service, but PATH refuses to listen to its customers.
PATH doesn’t go to enough useful destinations. It just dead ends at 33^rd Street. It would be so much more useful if it went to Grand Central.
Eating is not allowed on PATH, but I see plenty of people get on at Newark with McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, etc. (PATH on its worst day is still a million times cleaner than the NYC subway)
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Overall, the people who use PATH are more polite than the people who use the NYC subway and PATH is a better system than the NYC subway, but it is still a flawed system. I heard rumors that PATH will be extended to Newark Airport. A one seat ride from Manhattan to Newark Airport would be awesome. In the interim, PATH riders have to deal with mediocre service.

Once in a while, I utilize the 34^th street line only when it’s necessary. This review is for that line.
The trains here arrive every 15 minutes or less in the daytime, and every 30 minutes in the late nights. The train rides are bumpy, especially when going under the tunnel to and from Newport Station for 10 – 11 minutes. Also, the trains get really crowded during the rush hours.
Signal problems, wiring and other track issues lead to delays, which is inconvenient.

The Journal Square station is fairly straightforward. They actually have working escalators & don’t make you take stairs the entire time to get out onto the street. There are also a few shops here though not for places I would typically frequent. Once you know where you’re going, navigating here is easy enough. I’ve also not had creepy types bother me or felt in fear of my safety.
Finally, this station is reasonably clean though I wish there were benches or some place to sit for those who need to change their shoes or just rest for a moment.

Late-​night service has become even worse. I’m sensing a General Motors/​LA Trolley conspiracy vibe here. Surely they don’t think that making most people stand on trains at 1AM is an ideal form of public transit. They have introduced the poor late-​night sked earlier — something like 11:15 — 11:30 at 33^rd and around 11 on the WTC-​Hoboken branch.
Just to be fair here are more detailed ratings based on your time of travel.
Rush-​hour, two and a half stars. Unpleasant but fast enough.
Non-​rush-​hour, non-​late-​night, weekday. Four stars.
Late-​night. Half a star.
Weekend. One star. If everyone’s standing, maybe JC and Hoboken deserve separate trains.
Very early morning. To quote Pulp Fiction, I don’t know, I didn’t go to Burger King.