Conductor Operating Location Question

Can anyone shed some light on why PATH conductors generally operate the doors from the front of the train? I've always thought end-of-train would be better for safety, so they could evacuate passengers out the locked end door if the front door was blocked.

I've always wondered about this too, though I always thought the mid-point in the train would be the best spot, like on NYC subways. That location would give the conductor the best visibility when closing the doors. Is there maybe some advantage to having the motorman and conductor in the same car ?

It may be a holdover from when the Exchange Place station was shorter and only 6 cars out of a 7 (from Hoboken) or 8 car train (from Newark - if they ever ran 8 car trains) could open.

The first car would be in the tunnel just past the station and since the conductors postion would be in the front end of the 2nd car the last 6 cars could be opened at platform.

Good theory! That makes sense.

Along the same lines, if a train overshoots its stop by a bit, I suppose the conductor could open the rear of the train only and prevent having to do a time-consuming backup move.