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If your MetroCard expires all you need to do is insert it into an MTA ticket machine. It will let you know that it is expired and transfer the balance to a new MetroCard.

i dont even have to take the smartlink card out of my wallet, just tap my wallet on there and walk through. the metro card is so thin so i dont mind having both. but when i ride the subway i have to actually remove it from my wallet and swipe it. come on nyc it's almost 2011!

Expiration dates on the cards piss me off, too.

Of course they do not advertise this, but if you take an expired card to a station attendant, they will move the balance to a new card for you. As long as it hasn't expired more than a year ago. It takes less than a minute as long as there is no line.

MTA card expiration policy

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That's what I do. Since I don't actually commute I find the slight savings I'd get with a smartcard not worth the hassle of having ANOTHER card in the wallet to dig for and get lost. What really pisses me off about the Metro cards though is that they actually have an expiration date. WHY?! It's not like it's incremented by rides, it's a cash card, but once it expires you're screwed and have to start mailing it places. True nonsense.

Can?t you swipe the Metro Card to get onto path? Well I know you could years ago, but since I don?t take the Path I don?t know anymore..

I believe SmartLink was actually built specifically to the MTA's original specification for wireless transactions. But more recently they have testing a different system using Visa and Mastercard directly or with cellular phones. NJTransit is probably more likely to adopt the SmartLink than is MTA at this point, though precisely how this would work with NJTransit is unclear to me.

PATH has said that the Smartlink System was built as an open system for other entities to link up to. They are hoping that the MTA adopts it in the future. Apparently, the MTA has been wavering on its adoption.

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During non peak hours no one pays for the light rail anyway. Imagine if they had a smartlink card option, that wouldn't bog down people boarding and you'd be able to use it at the path too.

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Can you understand the reasoning behind the "have a paid fare on you" vs the turnstile or dipping a card near the driver? It speeds up loading tremendously in a train with a number of doors. Many systems both in the US and worldwide use this method. But it's not really the mechanics of it that's the issue, it's a money thing. Neither parties have an interest in splitting the pie, or believe ridership would increase enough to offset the loss. I'm sure the PA reasons why should they lose half the fare that a HBLT to PATH rider pays when that rider would likely have ended up on then PATH anyway.

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Well, path and the subway use the same fare method. Even if there were no free transfers it would have been so easy to use the same fare methods the path uses. The light rail is pretty much a brand new system, they could have done it right from the start. Something simple like that would cause a lot more people to move to other areas of JC making them nicer areas to live in.

The only PATH extension the Port Authority has considered is building a station at the Newark Airport monorail station.

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For the same reason there's no transfer from PATH to Subway, it's a different system that needs to make it's own money. There's no transfer from LIRR or metro north to subway and they have the same manager: MTA. Even the bus to subway transfers in NY are a relatively recent innovation.

that's what the light rail is for i guess. but why doesn't it take metrocards or offer a free transfer to the path? i feel that would greatly increase it's usefulness.

The PA has made it clear they have no interest in truly upgrading the PATH, like putting in handicapped elevators, never mind expanding the stops. But before you whine look at a map. another Downtown stop would be silly, do you really think a stop at Brunswick & Columbus would be a game changer for Downtown? It's not very far from Brunswick to Grove. Looking at that map, we're also pretty well served compared to most of Hoboken in terms of closeness to the PATH.

Tommy: extending the PATH will never happen. Dream instead of a light rail running west on the 6th St embankment then into the Bergen arches with stops at Palisade, Central & JFK before running up to Secaucus.

What is the feasibility of a PATH station in the Heights, that would be the last stop on the current Hoboken line? Seems to make a lot of sense.

like in between grove and journal square? it won't happen because of how useful it would be.

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no.

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You will sooner see Hyman sell the Embankment to Jersey City for a dollar, a pro football team move to Liberty State park, and a thousand other impossible things before that happens.

I've never seen this old map. But I am interested in the line that extends straight into the north section of downtwon JC past the Mall. Do these tracks still exist? How great would it be if they opened a new station west of the Mall. It would make everyone who lives west of that craphole very very happy. Wow imagine not having to walk through the Mall or walk all the way down to Grove. It'd be a dream.

http://www.hudsoncity.net/tubesenglis ... lly16m-1024-optimized.gif

Please be advised that the new revised PATH schedule will take effect on Sunday November 7th 2010. Look for the printed PATH Map & Schedule (PMS) Guides located at all PATH stations. Link to the station schedules below.
http://www.panynj.gov/path/schedule.html

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+1 for the iMan

I don't have a problem with the path trains themselves but some of the riders really need to calm down. This morning someone tried getting up while the train was moving while I was standing holding onto the bar in front of them, I said "I'll be glad to get out of your way when the train stops" yet they plowed through me anyway just to get jostled around and wait by the door to be first off. And after work at 33rd I just let everyone push each other to get in and casually walk on. Do you really get home any quicker by being really anxious and pushy? No.

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No, he didn't have to. He chose to.

As the old saying goes "you better be careful of what you wish for" or you'll really have something to cry about. For a buck 75 it doesn't even begin to cover the expenses to run the PATH train. Our current governor had to ax another tunnel to Manhattan because of budget problems. Would you rather no PATH train at all ? Be grateful for what you have as opposed to what you might not have.

im pretty happy with the lack of riders with severe mental problems who seem to frequent the nyc subways.

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I agree, and see this forum as more of a "sure, PATH is great, but here's something that's bugging me..." thing, rather than a condemnation of the entire operation.

because PATH service is pretty great, overall. but enough with that poop smell already! and could we get some trash cans down here? and what is it with all the......

etc

I've always been happy with PATH. Train is clean (compare to NYC), waiting time is reasonable (compare to NYC), fare is great (compare to NYC), and people who takes the train seems normal (NYC subway has lots of weird riders or high school students acting up).

Why peeps complaining about PATH is beyond my explanation.

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haha yeah probably easily walkable blocks too. but either way at least the path is getting some good publicity.

When I read it in the paper I was thinking how it reinforced the stereotype of the narcissistic Manhattanite.

"Yes, there's an entire transit system bringing those Jerseyans in, but what does that have to do with the REAL people? Oh, a handful of us take it a few blocks? How quaint! Let's hear all about THEM!"

November 2, 2010

A Transit Bargain, Truly Underground

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

It is New York?s other subway, home to oddities like hexagonal trains and sparkling-clean platform floors. Its odor, musty but not unpleasant, is unlike anything else in the city, and it stops at cross streets that can befuddle: Ninth Street in Manhattan? Really?

With only six stations in the city, the diminutive PATH network has never quite captured the romance and notoriety of its bigger, better-known brother, the New York City subway.

But though often forgotten, PATH may finally have a reason to brag: it is about to become the last truly underground bargain of New York.

With subway fares set to rise sharply next year, a 30-day unlimited pass on PATH will soon cost half as much as a monthly MetroCard ? a difference that could save coupon-clipping New Yorkers about $600 a year.

Call it a transit sample sale: even now, at $1.75 a ride, PATH is emerging as an increasingly desirable alternative to the subway, with its $2.25 one-way ticket, for a lucky subset of Manhattanites who happen to live along its small but unique diagonal route.

?I like to think of it as a little neighborhood secret,? said Casey Smith, a former subway rider who abandoned the No. 1 train after discovering the Christopher Street PATH station a few blocks from his West Village apartment.

Built as a connection between New Jersey and New York?s business districts, PATH makes stops in the West Village, Chelsea and Midtown before terminating a block from Pennsylvania Station. (A separate line runs to the World Trade Center.)

To the uninitiated, a ride on the PATH train might seem like stumbling into a Bizarro World subway. The familiar wooden benches of the subway station are replaced by curvy seats made from silver plastic. The ubiquitous security warning ? ?If You See Something, Say Something? ? is rendered in PATHese: ?You Call It In, We Check It Out.? The signage has a less graceful version of the subway?s Helvetica, and the Corinthian columns are painted an oddly vivid blue.

But regular riders say that PATH trains are more frequent, cleaner and quieter than subway trains. ?Significantly less screeching,? said Mr. Smith, who, like many converts to PATH, stumbled upon the railroad months after moving into his neighborhood. In two years of daily rides on PATH, he said he had never waited longer than five minutes for a train.

It is difficult to measure how many PATH passengers ride the train solely within Manhattan, and officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the railroad, say that those customers have traditionally made up a small percentage of the railroad?s New Jersey-centric ridership.

Dozens of riders can be spotted boarding Midtown-bound trains on weekday mornings at the PATH stations in Manhattan. With the price of a monthly MetroCard going up to $104 next year, longtime PATH riders say they expect to see more riders coming through the turnstiles of that railroad, where a 30-day pass costs $54.

A modern, perk-filled transit system has always seemed out of reach for New York?s embittered subway riders, who have resigned themselves to a seemingly endless cycle of service cuts, fare increases and bungled attempts at improved technology.

Despite its lower cost, PATH offers high-tech features, like tap-and-go electronic fare cards and onboard television screens that stream news and weather reports ? amenities that the troubled New York City subway is still struggling to install.

?It?s faster and more pleasant, and it gives you a discount, which I always like,? said Tina DiFeliciantonio, a television producer, who takes her 7-year-old son, Luca, on PATH each day from their home in Chelsea to his school in the West Village. She said the school?s proximity to the PATH train was a factor in deciding to enroll her son there. ?It?s cheaper than taking the 1 train,? she said.

The idea for an underground railroad across the Hudson River dates back to the Gilded Age, but PATH, then known as the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, did not begin operating until 1907, three years after the city?s subway opened. It was renamed the Port Authority Trans-Hudson after its current operator took over in 1962.

Many of PATH?s perks stem from its small size, which makes the railroad easier and cheaper to clean and maintain. The system handles about 245,000 trips on an average weekday, fewer than half of the trips taken on the No. 6 subway line alone, and its 14 stations in New York and New Jersey offer only a small fraction of the reach of the sprawling city subway.

PATH?s small size has also made the railroad an attractive target for technology companies seeking a test subject for initiatives, like the computer-chip-enabled fare cards now offered on the railroad.

PATH is also outside the purview of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, providing insulation from the authority?s financial troubles. (Many New Yorkers? only experience with PATH came when the railroad stayed open during the subway strike of 2005.) The Port Authority has a stronger balance sheet, and the political pressures of a two-state agency have helped keep its fares low. The transportation authority recently approved the third subway fare increase in three years; fares on PATH have gone up twice in the last decade.

Still, subway officials insist they are not envious. Asked whether PATH may siphon away riders with its cheaper fares, Charles Seaton, a subway spokesman, said, ?I don?t believe it?s ever been a concern.? He noted that the two were too distinct to compare.

New York City Transit, the subway?s parent agency, includes PATH?s ridership figures in its monthly reports to the authority?s board. In the 12 months ending in June, PATH?s ridership rose at nearly twice the rate of the New York City subway.

Georgia Doyle, who for 20 years has used PATH to commute to Midtown from her home on West 10th Street, said she found it more civilized than the subway. Besides ferrying her each day to her job in the garment district, she said the railroad came with other benefits: ?It?s great to go to Jersey on the weekends.?


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/nyregion/03path.html