PATH fare increases 10/5/14

The last of the "scheduled" fare increase for PATH goes into effect on 10/5/14. Note: this is the first Sunday of the month so I am assuming it will happen then BUT PATH might make it effective on 10/1/14 which is a Wednesday.

The new fare will be $2.75. Multiple rides on the SmartLink and SmartLink Gray cards (10. 20. 40) will be $21.00, 42.00, and $84.00 respectively ($2.10 per trip). Seven-day unlimited, $29; and a 30-day unlimited, $89.

Holders of the plastic SmartLink card can add more multiple trips at the current rate up to 140 trips (total including what already be on the card). The way that 140 trips can be loaded (each in a separate transaction is 2 - 10 trip, 2 - 20 trip and 2 - 40 trip. At the current rate - that is a total of $266.00.

For those who prefer to use the paper SmartLink Gray card - don't buy more than you need because these cards do have an expiration date.

An interesting point - this will be the first time that the base PATH fare of $2.75 will be higher than the base NYC Subway fare of $2.50 (the NYC Subway single fare card at $2.75 doesn't count because it isn't a base fare item). If the NYC Subway fare goes up 4% next year as announced that still would only be $2.60.

Allan wrote: An interesting point - this will be the first time that the base PATH fare of $2.75 will be higher than the base NYC Subway fare of $2.50 (the NYC Subway single fare card at $2.75 doesn't count because it isn't a base fare item). If the NYC Subway fare goes up 4% next year as announced that still would only be $2.60.

I understand the comparison between PATH and the NYC Subway fares, but it is a false comparison. The proper comparison is with other methods of going from New Jersey to Manhattan.

The one way fare on New Jersey Transit from Secaucus Junction (shortest trip to New York) to New York Penn Station is $4.00, and the monthly is fare is $116.00.

A bus trip on New Jersey Transit using the special 1 zone interstate ticket is $1.50 or $1.70 from the GWB plaza to GWB Bus Terminal. (There appears to be a misinformation somewhere on the NJT website.) It is $3.20 from all other locations that are close to the bridges and tunnels.

The cheapest NY Waterway one way fares are $6.00 from Hoboken / NJ Transit Terminal and Paulus Hook to the World Financial Center.

The cheapest toll across the bridges and tunnels is $9.00 eastbound so $4.50 one way average.

The out of the way Tappan Zee Bridge's toll is $4.75 eastbound or $2.375 one way average.

The price to walk or bike across the GWB: free.

Therefore, the fare on the PATH is cheaper than all ways to get from New Jersey to Manhattan except for walking, biking, or riding a bus across the GWB, and taking the out of the way Tappan Zee Bridge.

An interesting point - this will be the first time that the base PATH fare of $2.75 will be higher than the base NYC Subway fare of $2.50 (the NYC Subway single fare card at $2.75 doesn't count because it isn't a base fare item). If the NYC Subway fare goes up 4% next year as announced that still would only be $2.60.

Allan and Everyone: This statement is actually not true - In 1962 when PATH began operation the PATH fare was 30 cents - at that time the
NYC Subway fare was still 15 cents where it remained until 1966 when it became 20 cents and on January 3,1970 it was increased to then
equal the PATH fare...That 30 cent PATH fare remained until 1982 when it was finally raised to 50 cents at that time - the NYC Subway
fare at that point was 75 cents...One of the prime reasons the 30 cent PATH fare stayed the same for 20 years was that both NY and NJ's
Governors were opposed to any increase but was once one of the highest transit fares in 1962 was one of the lowest in the USA in 1982...
They were: (70s era) NY Governor Hugh L. Carey and NJ Governor Brendan Byrne who would have to agree - and OK - any PATH fare increase...
Inflation and other factors had taken their toll...The PATH fare reached 75 cents in I believe 1984 and was $1 before the 80s ended...

Those like me that remember PATH beginning in the 70s found facts interesting like these...

MACTRAXX

From the Star Ledger- NJ.Com
http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.s ... _incr.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MACTRAXX wrote:An interesting point - this will be the first time that the base PATH fare of $2.75 will be higher than the base NYC Subway fare of $2.50 (the NYC Subway single fare card at $2.75 doesn't count because it isn't a base fare item). If the NYC Subway fare goes up 4% next year as announced that still would only be $2.60.

Allan and Everyone: This statement is actually not true - In 1962 when PATH began operation the PATH fare was 30 cents - at that time the
NYC Subway fare was still 15 cents where it remained until 1966 when it became 20 cents and on January 3,1970 it was increased to then
equal the PATH fare...That 30 cent PATH fare remained until 1982 when it was finally raised to 50 cents at that time - the NYC Subway
fare at that point was 75 cents...One of the prime reasons the 30 cent PATH fare stayed the same for 20 years was that both NY and NJ's
Governors were opposed to any increase but was once one of the highest transit fares in 1962 was one of the lowest in the USA in 1982...
They were: (70s era) NY Governor Hugh L. Carey and NJ Governor Brendan Byrne who would have to agree - and OK - any PATH fare increase...
Inflation and other factors had taken their toll...The PATH fare reached 75 cents in I believe 1984 and was $1 before the 80s ended...

Those like me that remember PATH beginning in the 70s found facts interesting like these...

MACTRAXX

I seem to recall that the PATH fare in the 1960's was 30 cents NJ-NY but less inside the state, at least JSQ-NY. I vaguely recall the couple trips to Newark I made during high school around mid-1960s where I purchased a ticket at Journal Square and it was collected by a conductor (PRR?) enroute to Newark and turning in the stub at Newark for a partial refund. And likewise on the return.

Yes, in PRR-H&M days there was a base fare between Manhattan and NJ stations as far as Journal Square; continuing to Harrison or Newark required purchase of a paper ticket at a higher fare, and the ticket was collected by the H&M conductor. All eastbound passengers on PRR trains west of Newark with a New York ticket received a seat check which was actually a ticket good on the H&M from Newark to New York. If the passenger remained on the train after Newark the check was lifted by the conductor in the usual way; if he detrained at Newark and boarded a tube train (no barrier on the platform at that time), the check would be accepted by the H&M conductor as valid for passage to Manhattan. Evidently the fare from JSQ to Newark was less than the through fare from Manhattan, hence the reduction.

That's interesting, although I don't remember it because I was riding a Pennsy pass from 1957 on. I guess I had to pay at stations east of Journal Square, but if you got on at Newark or Harrison, you could simply ride through to New York without having to pay.
The H&M/PATH made stops at the three Pennsy towers on the line; Hack, Karny and Hudson, on demand, outside of rush hours. The last two towers had little platforms, but at Hack you had to climb on and off the car, with the one grab iron. One way of getting to Hack (the bridge over the Hackensack River) was to walk up from Jersey City on the little walkway nest to the track, with the PATH trains whizzing past next to you. One time a Conrail engineer who was qualifying on the territory, came up to the tower, saying the PATH trains whizzing by scared him.
When the PATH installed turn styles at Journal Square, Harrison and Newark, they gave the operators at the three towers, cards to get through them, (no good east of JS.)
The Pennsy had ticket offices in Hudson Terminal and Journal Square, and the PATH one in Penn Station, Newark, which is still there.
In 1960 our Pennsy New York Division Division Operator, (Chief Dispatcher,) Merle Stewart, had previously been an official on the H&M. One old Path conductor told me that he remembered him. Mr. Stewart was kind to me.
Bill Schumarty, and old time operator at WR, the PATH tower on the west end of Journal Square, told me about one of the change booth agents in one of the stations in New York, who made as much money as the H&M did. I think he split his sales intake evenly between the company and himself. The H&M finally fired him on morals grounds not related to theft.
Around 1972 I got first trick at Hunter and lived near Journal Square. The PATH crews used to run the trains to South St. for me where I could get off and walk to Hunter. What nice guys they were.
One of the other operators at Hunter later went to Work for the PATH. He had was a conductor, and was retirement age, but the money was too good to walk away from.

Having not ridden PATH prior to 1970, I'm a little confused. In the H&M era, were there thru trains from Hudson Terminal to Newark or did all passengers have to change at Journal Square? That mixed fare system must have been a complicated business with conductors actually collecting tickets, though I guess with the shorter trains of that era, maybe it wasn't so bad. I imagine it was greatly simplified when it became PATH and the system-wide fare became one standard amount. And I'm sure the conductors must have appreciated only having to operate doors and not collect tickets anymore after that!

In my time, from 1957 on, the H&M routes were the same as they are now, with conductors picking up fares from Journal Square west. As mentioned before, some of the K cars sported large red PRR keystones on the front, and they ran the PRR Jersey City Branch between the tunnel portals east of Journal Square and Newark, sharing it with PRR trains out of the Exchange Place terminal, and even a few truck trains out of Harsimus Cove. The Pennsy's Waldo tower, east of Journal Square controlled both the Jersey City Branch, which the H&M used, and the Passaic & Harsimus freight branch. I worked Waldo for a few years until 1972.
Shown are views of the PRR exchange place terminal as seen from the river in the 1920s, and the interior of the Exchange Place terminal in 1893 or earlier, at which time it was the terminus for all PRR New York passenger trains.
Photos courtesy wiki.
Top picture: Exchange Place in it's final configuration, with an MP54 MU and K4s in June 1955. Photo copyright 2014 Brian Cudahy

Wow, only 1.50 difference now between newark + PATH and nyp from trenton, down from 3 dollars. I guess if you're not in a hurry PATH still makes more sense, unless your destination is walkable from NYP.

keithsy wrote:In the old days, any rush-hour mess was cleaned up immediately. If not, ALL would be in his office later in the day, cooking up a story.

And written apologies would be in stations for the evening rush or the next morning, explaining what went wrong and what they were going to do to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Some months ago at the WTC I ran into an old friend who had moved away, when we were both waiting for the PATH. I said to him "Yes, it's pretty terrible, isn't it?", which is not something anyone would expect to hear from me.

Between general incompetence, failure to correctly select and supervise lazy contractors, and plain lying (or at least misrepresenting) things like the weekend shutdowns to the WTC, PATH has lost whatever sympathy I could muster for them.

Well, at least they can't complain about PATH being a drain on the PA budget after this (what adds up to) very large fare increase.

The platform lengthening, new signal system, and longer trains have been needed for a good 10 years. They should have done grove street when wtc wasnt restored yet, but thats water over the tunnels, to borrow the saying.

[quote="25Hz"]Well, at least they can't complain about PATH being a drain on the PA budget after this (what adds up to) very large fare increase. ......quote]

Sure they can. Never put anything past the PA.

Do not be surpised if they try for more fare increases starting in 2015.

Allan wrote:

25Hz wrote:Well, at least they can't complain about PATH being a drain on the PA budget after this (what adds up to) very large fare increase. ......quote]

Sure they can. Never put anything past the PA.

Do not be surpised if they try for more fare increases starting in 2015.

Sure, if they wanna stifle rider growth, which affects the regional economy.