The Port Authority’s PATH system has a reputation for being, in the words of one author, “drab, dirty and uncomfortable.” Some trains aren’t adequately air conditioned, and the system’s stations haven’t been upgraded in years. That should begin to change, however, as PATH will invest $200 millionin its stations as part of a $1 billion upgrade plan.
The changes are extensive. As The Record’s Tom Davis reported earlier this week, the money will go toward expanding platforms along the World Trade Center line to “accommodate 10-car trains, which will allow an additional 400 passengers per trip”; a new public address system; better signage and maps; new station benches, lighting and flooring that “will make the wait in stations safer, more comfortable and visually appealing”; and a public arts program that will beautify the drab stations. “Mass transit over 40 years or so has continued to evolve, and you see train stations across the country are continuing to evolve,” Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of Port Authority, said. “We’re doing the same with the PATH stations.”
The crown jewel of this renovation will be the Harrison Station that currently serves the Red Bulls’ new arena. A $100-million investment will see a new pavilion arise that can better accommodate the larger crowds, and PATH officials believe the upgrades will help attract more people to the cross-Hudson subway and take a few folks out of their cars. “We’re trying to make it more commuter friendly,” Baroni said. “Like all good transit systems, we’re evolving constantly.”
14 comments
I lived in Hoboken for ten years, and by far my biggest complaint is that they need to run more trains on the weekend to cope with the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. The trains and platforms are much more crowded — dangerously crowded, IMHO — on a Friday or Saturday evening than they are during rush hour, yet the PA doesn’t seem to care.
Similarly, it would make a lot of sense to run some extra trains after a Red Bulls game — again, to avoid a dangerous situation on the platform, the way that the MTA runs express trains from Shea Stadium. The PA just does not comprehend that people would ever want to use their trains for anything other than commuting.
Speaking of Hoboken, isn’t it about time for PATH to restore the two separate lines from 33rd St. to Hoboken, and from 33rd St. to Journal Square, seven days a week?
The fact that you have to make a detour to Hoboken if you are going between Manhattan and Journal Square makes for an unnecessarily longer ride.
It’s as if you were going from Manhattan to Queens, and required to first make a detour to The Bronx and back to Manhattan before continuing on to Queens.
restoring and providing more service on weekends would really be the only thing i would ask of for the PATH right now.
unless they plan on putting A/C in the stations or adding more egress to the manhattan stations its a waste of money. a lot of this is just cosmetic and honestly an inefficient use of funds.
i found this line around the end of the article illuminating: “Their goals for the 24/7 around-the-clock rail service are simple, they say: Increasing safety, reliability, communication and comfort at a reasonable fare for commuters within the next decade.” sadly increasing service is not listed.
Drab, dirty and uncomfortable? Obviously they haven’t been on the NYC subway lately. PATH trains are uniformly clean, and the stations, though old, are far from drab. You can practically eat of the floor in most of them compared to just about any NYC subway station. Glad to see the $8 toll I pay to go over the bedraggled, rusting Bayonne Bridge is going toward “fixing up” PATH stations that serve the NJ crowd.
Yeah, I concur with ferryboi. The trains and system are, generally speaking, old but the system is not dirty. Food is prohibited on PATH and people generally abide. As a result, all of the cars and stations are much cleaner that their NYC Subway counter-parts. To me, that makes the whole system a lot more comfortable.
Still, the whole system you could use a push into the 21st century. Thankfully, the new train cars (already being introduced) make a big difference.
Jeremy and Ferriboy are absolutely right. The stations are more modern and cleaner than their subway counterparts.
I wonder what they can really do to fix up Harrison. It’s an elevated outdoor station with two side platforms and six tracks between them (the outer two for PATH, inner four for Amtrak/NJ Transit) and catenary poles above the whole thing. Yes, it can be improved, particularly the entrances, but by how much?
I think they’re going to entirely rebuild Harrison, which, to be fair, has wooden station canopies and was built in 1907, so it definitely needs replacing. The other stations in the system look good to me, at least cosmetically. Still, $200 million is a lot of green. Would rather see them use this money toward building/expanding new lines (light rail to Staten Island via Bayonne Bridge?).
If the Port Authority gets it’s way the Bayonne Bridge will be replaced with a tunnel by 2020-2025. It’s too close to the water for the next generation of container ships to get under.
Great. By 2025 New York/Newark ports will be a shell of their former selves if these large container ships can’t get under the Bayonne Bridge for another 15 years (read 20 years as nothing ever gets built on time. The Panama Canal widening project will be done by 2015, so the PA better hurry. Meanwhile, Staten Islanders pay tons of toll money on its three PA bridges so PATH trains can get a nice spruce job, benefiting absolutely no Staten Island commuters.
The Port Authority has given up on the Bayonne Bridge. That thing will be there as long as the pyramids. They are going to route big cargo ships to a newly acquired docking facility on the eastern shore of Bayonne, thus avoiding the under the bridge route.
“The Port Authority has given up on the Bayonne Bridge.”
Why do you say that? Just curious.
I know the PA has a reputation for doing things (unlike, say the MTA), but even if they haven’t given up on the Bayonne, I can’t imagine that they’ll ever devote the money require to make it into a tunnel.
The PA recently leased land at Bayonne’ military ocean terminal (it’ll be on their website somewhere). They didn’t explicitly say so, but the obvious reason to do this is to add container port capacity for Panamax freighters at a location that does not require the ships to travel under the bridge.
Agree with above comments on PATH stations being quite clean. Problem with PATH is that the thing travels at walking speed on the Jersey City to 33rd Street route.
Agreed about weekend service. PATH could also use some handicapped access for the existing stations.
-Chris
Agree with all the previous comments here that PATH cars and stations are very clean and comfortable compared to the MTA subway, and that the biggest issue with the PATH is weekend frequency and the “Journal Square via Hoboken” service configuration. Is there a union work rule that requires the train to sit in Hoboken for 5 to 10 minutes while the conductor slowly ambles to the other end of the train? It’s really frustrating.
The fact that this is so obviously the biggest problem to riders (and commenters on here) but doesn’t seem to be a priority to the PA is disappointing. I’d considered living in Jersey City but weekend PATH service is basically the reason I decided against it.