PATH sets ridership record in 2008

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/0 ... d_wit.html


Record numbers of riders took PATH trains between New York and northern New Jersey last year.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says ridership hit about 75 million in 2008, an increase of more than three million over 2007. That's the highest number since the Port Authority took over the transit system in 1962. Daily ridership averaged a little over 250,000.

The previous record for ridership was 74 million in 2000.

Last year's increase coincided with a toll hike at bridges and tunnels and record high gas prices.

The Port Authority is spending $3 billion over the next 10 years to replace its entire fleet of PATH trains, upgrade stations and replace mechanical signals with computerized ones.

Keevan wrote:The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says ridership hit about 75 million in 2008, an increase of more than three million over 2007. That's the highest number since the Port Authority took over the transit system in 1962.

For the record, the all-time high was in 1930, when there were 106.7 million trips.

And I think 73 million of them were on my train in this morning (rim shot).

I think it would be very tough to match the 1930s figures without adding huge new capacity. If I had to guess, I'd say that the commuting patterns have changed since then, from multiple peaks/troughs as manufacturing shift workers rode the rails, to a single a.m. and p.m. peak as the economy shifts so that PATH basically ferries nothing but 8ish-6ish office workers. You can keep piling in the office workers, but there's only so much physical room on a single track line between 7 and 9 am. These trains are filled to bursting on the morning rush right now.

JCGUY wrote:These trains are filled to bursting on the morning rush right now.

Downtown or midtown? I don't know why PATH hasn't gone back to 8-car trains on the NWK/WTC line - that whole line is 8-car-capable now (since Exhange Place eastbound was extended from 8 to 10 - westbound always supported 8).

Both downtown and midtown. I have noticed a slight downtick in the bursting factor as the job picture has worsened. I have not seen as many days this year when a 33rd street train simply left people waiting at Newport unable to board. That was a fairly routine occurrence last year. The ride to WTC is absolutely filled to bursting, with the slight saving grace that the cars clear out about 10-15% when passengers disembark at Exchange Place.

Terry Kennedy wrote:

JCGUY wrote:These trains are filled to bursting on the morning rush right now.

Downtown or midtown? I don't know why PATH hasn't gone back to 8-car trains on the NWK/WTC line - that whole line is 8-car-capable now (since Exhange Place eastbound was extended from 8 to 10 - westbound always supported 8).

PATH does have enough "spare" single cars to run the old 8 car consists NWK/WTC. So many need daily repair 7 cars is the best way to gurantee full service on the 4 train lines.