Jeebus wrote:
It strikes me as completely unbelievable that only 2% of the people in Hudson County rely on the PATH as "their primary way to get to work or school". The population of Hudson County is about 600K (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34/34017.html) so 2% would be just 12,000 people commuting to NYC each day. There is something very wrong with the polling methodology that they employed (maybe just interviewing those with land lines who are around during business hours?). Perhaps I am wrong in thinking that 600,000 x 0.02 = 12,000, but I don't think so. Hoboken and downtown JC PATH commuters alone have to be a multiple of this.

GrovePath wrote:
Cars beat mass transit for Hudson commuters

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Forget the PATH, the Light Rail and buses - to get where they need to go, most Hudson County residents drive their cars, according to a Jersey Journal/New Jersey City University poll.

Sixty percent said driving a car is their primary way to get to work or school, compared to 13 percent for both walking and taking the bus. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail is the main conveyance for 6 percent and the PATH for just 2 percent.

Access to a car is important for living in Hudson County, 68 percent of respondents said, and 51 percent drive every day, with another 19 percent driving a couple of times a week. Also, 62 percent said they mostly drive when going somewhere other than work.

On the other hand, 76 percent said access to public transportation is an important reason for living in the county, and 58 percent said there is enough of it, against 37 percent who said there is not.

So why don't more people use public transportation?

"The problem may not be in the rail lines, but in housing," said NJCU political science professor Fran Moran, who conducted the poll. "That is, it seems likely that more people would use the rail system if their housing were closer to the rail stops."

"Of course, developers are also aware of that, and housing within easy access of the rail system is prohibitively expensive for most residents in the county," he said.

PATH spokesman Marc LaVorgna said the 2 percent figure for PATH ridership was "far too low," although he didn't have more accurate data readily available.

Moran said he too was surprised by the result, but said the fact that PATH only serves three cities in Hudson County may account for the low number.

heights wrote:
More bicycle racks and folding bikes would solve everyone's situation.

Mathias wrote:
The problem is that public transportation in Hudson County is almost exclusively geared towards getting a certain percentage of the population into NYC for work and that's it (ever take the Path or NJT into nyc on the weekends - super packed trains running less frequent).

Even with just nyc commuters as its focus they do a pretty bad job.



Path stations are the most anti-human, sterile, mortuary like structures/buildings I think I have ever been in. I have used Path trains since the late 80s and the facilities only seem to get worse. Most of the stations do not have bathrooms, the one that does (JSQ) the bathrooms are disgusting and almost every time I have had to use it they were closed. There is nowhere to put your trash so you either have to hold on to it or do like many people do - leave it all over the station.

The stations that do have benches or places to sit don't have enough something like 8 seats for the hundred or so people who wait on the platform. The benches they do have are the most uncomfortable wooden monstrosities probably bought on the cheap from a jail doing renovations.

Lastly, for now, there are those 1984 like TV's all over the place that serve absolutely no purpose. I always feel like I am in some bad sci-fi flick when i see them.

heights wrote:


But you know, let's not build high rise towers next to PATH stations, because it might ruin the character of under populated neighborhoods.

ianmac47 wrote:
Quote:

So why don't more people use public transportation?

"The problem may not be in the rail lines, but in housing," said NJCU political science professor Fran Moran, who conducted the poll. "That is, it seems likely that more people would use the rail system if their housing were closer to the rail stops."

But you know, let's not build high rise towers next to PATH stations, because it might ruin the character of under populated neighborhoods.

So why don't more people use public transportation?

"The problem may not be in the rail lines, but in housing," said NJCU political science professor Fran Moran, who conducted the poll. "That is, it seems likely that more people would use the rail system if their housing were closer to the rail stops."