Submitted by mousebunnyduck t3_zwjtrr in jerseycity
Why is the PATH so shitty late at night? Is there anyway to easily travel at night if you want to go out in New York? So many gigs and concerts and nights out that I just don't know how to get home from. Especially as a woman, I don't love hanging around in Path stations at 2 in the morning.
Will uber/lyft drivers even bring you back to JC? I've had taxi drivers refuse me
No, but thats a good shout. Cab down to WTC to skip the 33rd st nonsense is also a winner.
That said I wouldn't mind paying the extra for ubers/lyfts if I genuinely need to get home to be fair.
A GOOD SHOUT
Cab down instead of subway? By the way, don't know how often or recent you've taken the WTC train late night but there can be "nonsense" there too.
Even in the Oculus portion?
Yes. Depending on the time, long wait, large crowd and unstable people.
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Did Westfield ever install WTC Path departure times signage that are visible before the turnstiles?
Asked an NYNJ transit employee about that once during peak Covid and he suggested that Westfield mgmt were resistant because it would ruin the ascetics, lol so asinine
There is one tiny screen that shows it near the ticket machines. It's easy to miss since 90% of the display space is used for ads
GTK that Westfield can’t be bothered with adding actual train departure signs in a $4bn transit center
The Port Authority isn’t entirely blameless. They own the entire complex and I’m pretty sure Westfield’s lease for the Oculus doesn’t cover anything within the PATH fare area.
They should at least put a departure board on that huge blank wall on the western end of the turnstile level. Everyone would be able to see before they swipe in.
> Westfield mgmt were resistant because it would ruin the ascetics, lol so asinine
lmaooooooo
Not really, when you have a smartphone on you where you can check yourself.
I did have one Lyft/Uber refuse to go to Jersey late at night from NYC. But only once. Much better odds than with taxis.
Bus? But I'm not sure you want to hang around the Port Authority at 2am either. I barely want to be in the Port Authority at 5:45.
Port authority is fine late at night as it’s full of other New Jerseyans coming home from the city.
This. And in most cases they’re all as pissed off as I am when the buses are late or just don’t show. It’s a great time building rage camaraderie.
OMG what the actual hell is up with buses that just … don’t show up? How does that even happen???!
I heard a lot of horror stories but only once have I ever actually experienced anything like it. Don't use the bathroom in there and it's fine. And even then if you're OK with getting a glance at a partially nude man taking a sink shower, you won't be beaten up or anything.
Sometimes its worth the Uber to WTC to be able to wait for the PATH; security everywhere, heated/AC, decent seating (not really), and a few options like a long walk to the bathroom or a visit to the nearby Duane Reade there in the oculus. I know that’s open at least until midnight, if not 24.
This is the way - the Duane Reade is open 24 hours because I regularly get snacks after I'm hammered at 2 am waiting for the train
Get the PATH app so you can plan ahead. Ultimately PATH is a commuter rail so late night and weekend service isn’t as frequent. Ride share apps will take you back to JC it’ll probably be at least $50. The bus is always an option if you have a route close to you.
Because it’s a glorified commuter rail but no one wants to admit it otherwise they’d have to really think about how much they are paying to live in not-New York.
Who doesn't want to admit it? It's been the same for decades.
Also, you spelled saving wrong.
The people who believed the realtor when they were told “it’s just like Brooklyn” and now realize they are basically paying NYC prices to live in a suburb? JC is not the deal it was 15 years ago.
Sorry I struck a nerve 😬
Suburb? JC has roughly the same population as Pittsburgh.
And you’re posting in r/jerseycity. Your superiority complex is misplaced.
I’ve lived here for over a decade but your extreme defensiveness to an arbitrary comment has been duly noted.
The comment just wasn't realistic. I've never heard anyone argue that the path wasn't primarily a commuter rail.
Also, 3% of our combined income isn't chump change, so yeah we've saved a lot by living here instead of NYC.
I find the real estate taxes anywhere in Jersey wipe out the 3% income tax - it's not exactly the same but it can be close.
That being said, living in Hamilton Park/Van Vorst approximates Brooklyn Heights or Cobble Hill at 50% of the price (if buying).
So you say :)
PATH app can be helpful.
For cabs; try to hail one on a street (avenues at nights are packed), and simply ask if they’re willing to drop off in JC. I’d say i’ve been told yes maybe 75% of the time. Some cab drivers have a book in their glove box that list fixed-rate prices to specific areas (downtown jersey city, airports, stadiums, etc), so they’ll even discuss & agree to a flat rate before beginning the drive which is fair for both you & the driver. You have the option to say “no, thats too high” and get out of the cab, if you need to, as well
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I moved here for reasons other than "next to NY" but I do think people don't realise that the NY accessibility is only really true during the week/during the day. It is frustrating though, because it would be such an easy fix to have slightly more regular PATHs outisde of working hours.
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But young and single people who don't do nightlife stuff (but still like other urban things, just things that you wouldn't do after 10 PM) will love it
Find friends to crash with…. Taking the Path home while fucked up at 4am is an awful experience. It’s miserable to take whenever it’s off-peak, and $60 Ubers start to add up.
Vespa back and forth is best
Can you take a Vespa through the Holland tunnel? Genuinely curious if it’s legal.
Yes you can
There is no prohibition but the security there has arbitrarily stopped me from taking unconventional vehicles into the tunnel and turned me around without any rhyme or reason. It’s sometimes a roll of the dice in things like Vespas, Cushmans, canams, LSVs, etc.
Depending on where you are getting to in Jersey City (I used to live in the Heights), the buses at Port Authority isn’t a bad deal. I tend to make my way there via Uber on a late night and buy my ticket on my phone. There are more people than you’d think taking the bus, so you can’t beat it.
Uber/lift. Let’s say you spend $30 extra on uber/lift every time you go out in the city at 10 times/month. Rent/income tax difference between manhattan and JC is still worth the extra cost in uber/lift. Just take uber/lift if you feel uncomfortable taking the PATH late at night - it is not worth the extra stress
Plus, the folks living in nyc are also taking Ubers home at 3am so it’s really just an extra $15-$20 for us downtown JCers anyway
i am an extrememly boring person, so I think 1/3 days needing a late night trip back from the city is unlikely, hahaha... Which makes it even more affordable to just get an uber when I can't face waiting for a PATH.
Not sure how people are getting $60 Ubers…going from the east village to Paulus hook was ~$100 minimum after 11pm
I definitely just take an Uber after 7pm or on weekends. I’m yet to have one turn me down.
Are there any direct busses from NJ that travel to downtown Manhattan, possibly through the Holland Tunnel?
I’m gonna get a lot of downvotes for this, but anytime I go into the city that is not during the weekday, I drive. So either (a) get a car, (b) make friends with people who have a car, or (c) get a boyfriend who has a car. Life is too short to be dealing with non-rush hour PATH. And the MTA subway ain’t much better either. Uber/Lyft will often cancel or not accept the ride late at night because they don’t want to pay the toll to get back into the city, had that happen many times.
This requires
money for a car
money for gas
money for insurance
money for maintenance
money for tolls
money for parking here
money for nyc parking
The question is whether the no headaches (but still likely having to sit in traffic going in) are worth paying for all that. At a high enough income level it would be. For me, I don't mind the transit waits and that's a lot more money for savings/ vacations/ eating out
For what it’s worth, street parking in nyc is free and a parking spot in jersey city is already included in my rent. Also we live in LUXURY city, so i assume most have enough money for those things. Otherwise yes, you are stuck dealing with the woes of public transportation.
A couple late nights I've gotten away with knocking on the windows of cars with tlc plates and offering them 40-50 bucks cash for a ride to jersey. A lot of the drivers live in jersey and have the NY tlc plates and will be fishing for a fare that takes them across the river.
as someone who is contemplating moving to JC from florida... is the late night issue just a NYC thing? We have no transit options here so the path train seems amazing for our use purposes. I'm no stranger to using a transit app to book when I need to leave
I complain about PATH a lot, but I’ll admit that it’s better than most American transit systems in terms of late night service.
But we deserve so much better than what we have now. There hasn’t been any significant improvement to trans-Hudson rail infrastructure in over a century. The off-peak trains run less frequently than they did in the past.
This... its awesome having a suto-subway line that runs 24/7 from Newark to NYC, but they need to offer better service after hours. All the neighborhoods on the line are building up extremely fast and the PATH still wants to act like people are only using it for rush hour when it has become much more of a subway line... but oh well, at least they are adding longer trains and expanding the platforms
Are you trying to say “pseudo-subway”?
Yes, but honestly, I kinda prefer my spelling lmao... I do appreciate the correction, will def make a note of it.
i can understand that. Just was wondering if it was one of those "1st world problem" type things :). Things should definitely continually improve, stagnation is the worst .
I moved from Brooklyn during the pandemic for an easier commute to family in NJ and I personally would rather be living in NYC most of the time but I also don't think a 40 min (max) wait is entirely unbearable myself. At least it's 24 hour service and I can still do whatever I want to be doing. It's why JC was a reasonable compromise for me but anywhere I couldn't catch the PATH from and would be relying on NJ Transit trains and buses was not in consideration. It really depends on what your tolerance is for that waiting around late at night and how often you plan to be in the city that late.
There are also buses as people mentioned, the path is just cheaper so I generally opt for a longer wait regardless.
I've never felt unsafe in the PATH station myself, but I think I tend to have higher risk tolerance than some in those situations (or I might be an idiot) so I'm not judging others who do. I've only been here for two years and I haven't increased my trips out at night to anything like prepandemic levels so maybe I've just been lucky. I worked very late nights when in the city so I'm kind of desensitized to 3 am mostly empty subway cars, and the I haven't been on PATH cars that were anything like that.
Never have problems with Lyft. I take it back and forth often.
You should just move to Brooklyn
Not everyone living in JC is here because they think it's BrooklynLITE. Opinions are allowed about the place someone lives without the solution being to leave and live somewhere they don't want to.
No, no ones ever denied me a taxi from nyc to NJ.
If you are already in midtown my favorite trick is to take ANY bus across the Lincoln Tunnel ( they usually stop at the Speedway gas station on N. Marginal in Weehawken, but there are other first stops in Union city / Weehawken - just request the bus driver to drop you across the tunnel) - then the Uber from there is just $15-20 !
I take PATH up to 10 pm and anytime after is Uber. If it turns out price is too high (over $60) I just wait a bit until it lowers.
The Path runs every 40 minutes during the late night hours.
Putting aside the ability to plan your arrival at a Path station based on the schedule so as to minimize wait time, how much more frequently would it need to run for you to feel the service were no longer shitty?
Honestly I think every 20-25 minutes would be reasonable - two to three times an hour - even if just on the weekends. Any time I've gotten a late night PATH its been late/delayed and absolutely packed.
I haven't experienced the same issues with late trains, but I'll agree there are times - mostly before 2 am - where the trains have been packed.
The late-night frequency is presumably based on usage, so perhaps the Path should reevaluate those hours.
To be fair to the Path, the times I've been on it post 3 am, it's been pretty empty and I can't blame them for running fewer trains.
A lot of cities shut the trains down late night, so I'm happy we have 24 hour service.
Definitely not based on usage - some of the most crowded trains are after 10PM
We don't have 24 hour service really.
You can't go WTC to Hoboken on nights or weekends.
You can't go JC to 33rd on nights or weekends without a stop in Hoboken. It's basically a transfer that you don't have to leave the train for, but it's effectively a separate line.
if there is no last train and a complete stop of service, its 24 hours, even with changes in service. The A train stops being express after 11pm, does that mean its not late night because there was a change in the service.
Some of the late night and weekend trains are like twice as packed as the morning 8am rush hour trains. "No longer shitty" means enough service to meet the obvious demand
dobeel123 t1_j1v1b09 wrote
Uber and Lyft will take you, but there’s about $25 added to whatever the fare is so not cheap.
Do you have the RidePATH app and Path alerts set up? I’m a single woman often traveling to and from the city, and late at night that app lets me plan my trip to avoid extremely long waits (usually). The alerts are also often helpful at letting me know when the system is wonky and it’s time to splurge on a car home.
Also, if the timing works out, sometimes a can down to wtc is nicer than dealing with the 33rd line.