Secaucus Ramblings/Observations

As I had the opportunity/reason to try a couple of trips through Secaucus Junction (or whatver NJT is calling it) I just thought that I would share some observations, comments etc.

First and foremost the use of RTX or OPT tickets needs to be readdressed and the fare policy written a lot clearer. In NJT's mind going through the junction is the same as going to NYP, and if you are travelling "intra-state" you pay for what would be the longer leg of the trip. In my case my trip was Lyndhurst to Perth Amboy, so my fare was based on the longer leg (NYP to Perth Amboy). HOWEVER even though NYP to PA was the longer leg of the trip AND I was travelling "reverse peak" I could not use a OPT round trip ticket since I was travelling the Lyndurst to SEC part in the "peak" direction. BTW, as an example if I was travelling from Paterson to Lyndhurst even in the "peak" direction I could still buy and use the OPT since I would not be going to NYP, NWK or HOB.

A call to NJT HQ about this was fustrating at best, first the arogance on behalf of the staffer was numbing, and I loved the statement that NJT did not focus on "intra-state" travel when SEC was being planned, and it is still not their focus today. This what said despite NJT's promotion of SEC as a great way to get to the shore, in fact for those people from Bergen/Passiac who choose to take a weekday at the beach, and with the fare policy in place, it would be cheaper to pay the o/w fare to HOB and then take the 8:33 through train to Bay Head with the OPT ticket.

Also noted was the fact that the older Comet 1 coaches don't seem to match well with high level platforms, leading our 5 car train was a newer coach that all the SEC passengers had to walk up to to exit from, at least 2 people were overheard saying that once the month was up it would be back to HOB for them. The irony here is that the train was crowded in the front and one of the conductors kept announcing plenty of seats in the rear of the train. I guess the regular SEC riders have this figured out.

The sign boards also don't tell people what connections a particular train has leading some to wander for help. As an example the NJCL board does not say what trains have a connection to Bay Head, the M & E boards do not say what trains have connections to Gladstone and so on. For those of us who know the system it is not an issue but it is not too much to ask that these sign boards also show what connections these trains make.

and finally for a station that is supposedly ONLY going to be a transfer station, was it built a tad too large for its own good???

Does any one know what the April ridership numbers have been??

Ken

Well Ken, the good news is that Gladstone connections and Bay Head Connections are very much a frequent reality. So you could take on of those trains and get a connection either immediately or relatively quickly (most of the time if not all.)

Yeah, as a fellow intra-state passenger and a division jumper myself, I too am POed that Secaucus=NYP. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

Also, here is another problem with Secaucus: the stupid faregates.

I believe each ticket that has Secaucus as a transfer point or origin point seems to have one faregate passage per level. For instance, there is one pass through allowed on the lower (diesel) level and one on the upper (electric) level. BUT, for someone like me, I may need two passages on a level.

For example, this happens to me frequently:
I take a train from New Brunswick and want to got to Berkeley Heights on a weekday. I arrive at Secaucus, the next Dover train doesn't happen for a while. But, there is a Montclair train that comes soon and I could just transfer at NWK Broad for a Hoboken-Gladstone Train. So, I get off at either Track 2 or Track B (whatever track my NEC train arrives on- usually it is B). The Montclair train arrives on Track 3. I walk upstairs. Track 2 and Track B and A are all together in their own fare gate section. To leave that section, I put my ticket through the machine and pass through. I am now in the central concourse hallway area. In order to get to Track 3 which has its own little faregate section, I must put my ticket through it again to get to it but the machine says "Ticket alreay used" or whatever. This system really stinks. So, in order to get through, I need to find a Customer Support person.

Another thing is, why do they have that Humongo Gladstone Branch board when no Gladstone Branch trains ever stop there thus leaving that board useless.

I KNOW THE station master and they told me begining with the July schedule change, they will have midtown direct trains running from gladstone.

We need to wait for the new Comet V order to be nearly done.

Well, I hope so. Someone there told me they would start with the January schedule change but that didn't happen.

Are there still rumors going around that it is sinking?

http://idisk.mac.com/jakepatrick/Public/sea-caucus.jpg

Idiot Railfan wrote:Are there still rumors going around that it is sinking?

http://idisk.mac.com/jakepatrick/Public/sea-caucus.jpg

LOL! That's the one. Great one. I also loved you "bi-levels" coach as well as the shrinkwrapped Hoboken Terminal among others.

another problem at Secaucus is the platform monitors. I've noticed twice in the past two weeks they don't reflect reality. It seems as if when there are delayed or cancelled trains, the monitors keep posting what "should" be happening rather than what "is."

Yeah, but when everthing is running smooth, they run smooth. They do have the ability to change the monitors, the problem is that they don't seem to have anyone doing that.

I recall a few months back before its full service opening , there was some kind of major delays going on out of NYPenn. The boards were WAY OFF. The managers and customer service people at Secaucus wanted to change the signs but could not do it.

If worse comes to worse, just shot them off and direct people to customer service.

Thanks Nick!

Idiot Railfan wrote:Thanks Nick!

Your welcome!

ericware wrote:I KNOW THE station master and they told me begining with the July schedule change, they will have midtown direct trains running from gladstone.

We need to wait for the new Comet V order to be nearly done.

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "we need to wait for the new Comet V order to be done"? Does this mean that they would have an additional or additional Gladstone MidTown trains. Oh god, would I love another MidTown Direct train. :D *nick11a starts panting uncontrollably*

And IR, I too love you avatar. Real clever.

The rumor is that, they will start some weekend midtown direct service from Gladstone and some weekday ones, probably adding two new ones in each direction, but it would send two dovers ones into hoboken.

ericware wrote:The rumor is that, they will start some weekend midtown direct service from Gladstone and some weekday ones, probably adding two new ones in each direction, but it would send two dovers ones into hoboken.

Well I hope that is true. That sounds great to me!

Yesterday, I took a ride from Port Jervis to Trenton via Secaucus Jct. NJ Transits web page said the fare was $15.75 for RTX. This is was not right because that fare is from the shorter leg. I tried to get a ticket from the machine via Secaucus and it would have been around $25, but via hoboken was $20.25. I talked to the conductor and he punched a ticket for me for $20.25 via secaucus. I don't understand how the ticket machine came up with the higher fare since I didn't go to NYC.

mencen wrote:Yesterday, I took a ride from Port Jervis to Trenton via Secaucus Jct. NJ Transits web page said the fare was $15.75 for RTX. This is was not right because that fare is from the shorter leg. I tried to get a ticket from the machine via Secaucus and it would have been around $25, but via hoboken was $20.25. I talked to the conductor and he punched a ticket for me for $20.25 via secaucus. I don't understand how the ticket machine came up with the higher fare since I didn't go to NYC.

Unfortunately, travelling through Secaucus=Traveling to NY. I do a lot of inter-line travelling too and I try to go through Hoboken when I can. Luckily for you, the crewman undercharged you. Hoboken is cheaper and what you always could do is take the train to HOB, take an RVL train from Hoboken to NWK Penn (on weekends, the RVL comes into Hoboken but trains only depart there once every two hours.) Then catch an NEC train from there. But this will take a long time.