by Mark Schweber
How the heck does NJT get away treating their riders so poorly for a sporting event?! This is a real scandal that they could get away with something like this:
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Absolutely the people going to the PGA from Manhattan are the ones who should have to change in Newark. Run any extra trains you want out of Hoboken. I was furious that they cancelled trains for the Republican convention but an argument could be made there that security concerns have changed, making extra precautions required. But this is worse. Its a dumb sporting event. Who cares how people get to it. If the PGA doesn't like it let them go somewhere else. It is not like anyone other than those in Springfield who rent out parking spaces are going to be making any money off this.
To come up with all those extra passenger cars, NJ Transit decided to cancel 13 trains on the Montclair-Boonton Direct line between 10 a.m. and 4:02 p.m. on weekdays.http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/
The agency is advising customers who normally use those trains to take regular Montclair-Boonton trains to Newark Broad Street station and then switch to Midtown Direct into Manhattan.
In most cases, the transfer time at Newark Broad Street will be six to 12 minutes, NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said. But people on the train that leaves Montclair State University station at 11:52 a.m. on weekdays will run into a 31-minute delay when switching trains, he said.
Transit officials said they picked the off-peak Montclair-Boonton trains because they have the lowest ridership of the four lines going to Manhattan.
"This is a shabby way for NJ Transit to treat its regular passengers," said Joe Grossman, a rider on the Montclair-Boonton line. "Since there is probably very little parking at the golf course, people who want to go there will probably have to take the train anyway. Let them have a longer trip and leave the Montclair schedule intact. Let's give working people a break for a change."
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Absolutely the people going to the PGA from Manhattan are the ones who should have to change in Newark. Run any extra trains you want out of Hoboken. I was furious that they cancelled trains for the Republican convention but an argument could be made there that security concerns have changed, making extra precautions required. But this is worse. Its a dumb sporting event. Who cares how people get to it. If the PGA doesn't like it let them go somewhere else. It is not like anyone other than those in Springfield who rent out parking spaces are going to be making any money off this.