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yeah this always confused me as well. I walk to work so dont have to deal with the weekday path (thank god). But on weekends - on multiple occasions we waited almost 30 minutes for a train to wtc. The platform was completely packed and as you can imagine the train was jam packed as well when it finally arrived.

A quick 10 min ride to the city turned into a clusterfk sweating 50 minute sardine experience.

I get on weekdays you just cannot run the train any more frequently given the limitation of the technology.

But on weekends why cant they run it every 15 minutes instead of every 30 minutes? There are clearly tons of people still using the path.

Wish the ****** who came up with the weekend schedule will be forced to take those damn trains for a few weekends.

Makes no sense.

Due to the city's debt and tremendous spending, there is an unbridled need to seek additional funds for the budget. Hence, more development to fill the spending hole. Can the city handle more buildings without affecting the infrastructure? The answer is no. So, it is time for Hudson County, not just JC to sit down with Port Authority.

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http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2 ... on.html#incart_river_home


@ $5 a ride the trains would still be overcrowded and also
run inefficiently.

4 bilion dollars for the oculus that already has huge portions of the exterior finish peeling off from it shows what idiots are running the show.

Why da fuk on weekends are the trains packed out? because of some bullshit half schedule the Port Authority gets away with running? management (i.e. assholes) pull a few less trains and motormen to save some money and fuck over 100's of folks trying to get back forth on this bullshit antiquated system.

Here is the solution, bring in bidding for a new modern bridge downtown. Allow a Chinese investment/construction company to open a private line running dead smack across a new bridge they will build right at the base of either Exchange Place or Newport

This modern bridge will take tolls for cars (not $14 fucking dollars like Port Authority is getting away with raping the public for). It could have modern weatherproof covered walkways for bikes and pedestrians and linkage to NYC transit.

Transportation Utopia exits in the future and the Port Authority ain't part of it.

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Yes, postponing the tunnel will save NJ taxpayers billions of dollars, since the new project is equally shared between NY, NJ, and the Feds-with the added bonus that the money 'redirected' went to fix the Pulaski Skyway-which directly benefits Jersey City, which it traverses.

I'm no fan of the PA, but this is correct in part:

?It?s irresponsible for a city to allow indiscriminate growth that?s going to tax public infrastructure beyond its capability,? Mr. Degnan said.

JC Mayors and Planning have been way over-building without any planning for infrastructure growth and improvements. This applies to roads, sewers, police, pedestrian access and transit planning, etc. I can't stand what's becoming of this place in terms of the over-crowding without proper infrastructure growth. Its mind-boggling. Having been here now for 21 years, many of us have been screaming this for decades and the Mayors never listen, especially Fulop.

I'm going to be very unpopular with this viewpoint but raise PATH fares to combat the overcrowding issue...

Uh, yeah, I don't exactly see a "drop dead" in there. I see Degnan sniping at Fulop, who is already suing and bashing PA.

PA is obviously taking a lot of steps to expand both PATH service and Hudson crossings. These just aren't the kinds of things that can happen overnight -- especially when a now-absent governor killed a major tunnel project, and redirected those funds to projects that had nothing to do with PA.

The fact that the Port Authority exists to the extent that it does as an ever-expanding fiefdom unto itself with almost no accountability borders on criminal.

Subsidized ferry?

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Yes, because expecting every school district to pay 25% of the costs of educating their own children seems very fair to districts that pay 70, 80, or 90% themselves. Bayonne pays 50%, so it's not just leafy white suburbs, btw.

PATH Strains Under Housing Boom

Development near train lines exacerbates crowding, vexes riders

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By ANDREW TANGEL
June 5, 2016

The PATH train, already bursting at the seams, stands to get more crowded amid a building boom in northern New Jersey, in another sign the transit network is straining under the region?s population growth.

Apartment buildings springing up in Jersey City and communities nearby are funneling new riders onto the PATH, whose lines run to the World Trade Center and Herald Square in Manhattan.

Many passengers complain of crammed commutes, or having to wait for trains to pass before boarding one that isn?t packed?an experience familiar to many New York City subway riders.

?It?s just miserable,? said Elliot Kelly, 24 years old, who rides the PATH from Jersey City each weekday morning to work at a law firm in Manhattan. ?It?s never nice to make a commute when you?re 3 centimeters from someone else?s body.?

As the PATH?s operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, considers improvements to expand the system?s capacity, questions linger over when they will be completed and who should pay for them.

Here They Come

A surge in development in Jersey City is helping fuel growing ridership on the PATH train between northern New Jersey and Manhattan.

SOME PROJECTS:
200 Greene: 766
70 Columbus: 545 units
155 Marin, Liberty Harbor North: 448
350 Warren (Modera Lofts): 377
65 Bay Street: 447
50 Regent Street Liberty Harbor North: 167
Cast Iron Lofts 2: 232
Embankment Newport: 163
Majestic 2: 99

Port Authority Chairman John Degnan said Jersey City shouldn?t approve new developments along the PATH?s route without making sure the system can handle the expected growth in riders.

?It?s irresponsible for a city to allow indiscriminate growth that?s going to tax public infrastructure beyond its capability,? Mr. Degnan said.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop faulted the Port Authority, which is jointly controlled by New Jersey and New York governors, for failing to properly plan.

?At the end of the day it?s Port Authority?s responsibility,? Mr. Fulop said. ?They should stop putting blame elsewhere. Every surrounding municipality has grown.?

Apartments under construction or approved in Jersey City alone could usher in an estimated 64,250 new residents, increasing the city?s current population of about 264,000 by some 25%.

?We?ve got a brewing crisis,? said Dawn Zimmer, mayor of neighboring Hoboken, whose constituents frequently complain of PATH overcrowding.

The Port Authority forecasts the PATH will carry 88.4 million passengers in 2020, a 15% surge from 2015 levels.

The PATH?s experience highlights a recurring planning disconnect between municipalities and regional transit systems. A building boom in the trendy Brooklyn area of Williamsburg in part forced the New York?s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to increase capacity on the New York City?s L subway line.

Much of the Port Authority?s attention over the past year has focused on improving other means for crossing the Hudson River, including a replacement for Manhattan?s aging Port Authority Bus Terminal. Last year, the bus terminal served 66.7 million passengers, about 10 million fewer than the PATH.

?Crowding will get worse before it gets better,? said Rich Barone, transportation expert at the Regional Plan Association, a civic group focused on urban planning in the region. ?This is the universal trans-Hudson story. Our delay in implementing years of planning to add new capacity will have consequences.?

Upgrades to PATH that would allow run trains to run more frequently?and help reduce crowding?aren?t expected to arrive until the end of 2018 at the earliest. A new advanced signal system, which is part of a crash-avoidance system required by federal law, would let PATH trains run closer together, increasing capacity up to about 20%, Port Authority officials said. Trains could then run about every two minutes during peak times?as some of the busier New York City subway lines do during rush hours?instead of every four to six minutes as is the case now.

Until such upgrades are in place, PATH?s plans to ease crowding involve the expansion of rush-hour service, running trains more frequently for longer periods.

Port Authority officials declined to specify plans for other service improvements, such as when the system would begin running 10-car trains on its Newark-to-World Trade Center line, up from the current limit of eight.

It remains to be seen whether the Port Authority will move forward with plans to extend the PATH from Newark Penn Station to Newark Liberty International Airport.

Mr. Degnan said the Port Authority planned to seek capital contributions from cities and developers that benefit from projects that increase the PATH?s capacity and expand the system. That would mark a shift in how the Port Authority pays for PATH improvements.

Mr. Degnan said the Port Authority couldn?t afford to fund the PATH system?s operating deficits while also footing the entire bill for its future needs.

?We?re not a piggy bank,? Mr. Degnan said. ?We can?t stand by and simply dole out money because the mayor of a town tells us that the development they?re planning in the future requires it. It?s time for them to step up to the plate.?

Unlike other transportation agencies, the Port Authority is largely funded by tolls it collects on Hudson River bridges and tunnels and revenue from the New York City area airports it operates. The MTA, by contrast, derives a significant amount of its operating and capital budgets from state and local funding sources.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/path-stra ... r-housing-boom-1465173966

...and while you're at it, suburban lawmakers want to take back school funding. Because "fairness" or something.