PATH Fare Question

[deathtopumpkins]

I don't know if this is really the best place to ask this, but I can't figure it out from the PATH website.

I'll be visiting NYC next weekend, and wanted to do some transit clinching while I have some free time Friday, including riding PATH. Based on my planned itinerary (33rd - Hoboken - WTC - Newark, then possibly back to Hoboken, and maybe back to Manhattan), it appears that the SmartLink Unlimited 1-Day Pass for $7.50 would be my best bet, but I don't understand how I get one. The PATH website lists locations where you can get SmartLink cards, but specifies which locations sell 10-trip, 20-trip, etc. cards, but lists nowhere that sells passes.

Can I just get a 1-Day pass from one of the machines at 33rd?

Thanks in advance for the help, I'm trying to make sure I have everything planned out.

[25Hz]

Yes, you get the from the machines.

Have fun!

[Head-end View]

The best part of the ride is between Journal Square and Newark. It's all outside and there's lots to see. Adjacent railroads including NJ Transit and Amtrak and freight too, I believe CSX. You might even catch a Union Pacific locomotive parked in the Meadows Yard. Also multiple river drawbridges of different types, the Pulaski Skyway, NJ Turnpike bridges and a container terminal.

It's still a good ride even though we can't see out the front of the new PATH trains, but nowhere near as good as it used to be on the old trains. Ride in the head car to see the conductor operating the doors, and note the solid cab door with no window to see thru; it probably frustrates the conductors too.

Also at Newark Station there's plenty of train watching on multiple platforms and a kind of food court on the lower level with with a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream stand in the main waiting room, something South Station in Boston doesn't have. LOL Have fun!

[25Hz]

The line between portal and newark penn station is, on a good day, a visual feast of railroad activity & infrastructure.

The tracks on the far side of the bridge where jounal station is located between portal on west is were you'll find an interesting thing, the trash train. This train can have all most any road loco on it you can think of from SD40-2's to dash 8's, the occasional SD50, 60 or 70, and here and again foreign (from other railroads) or leased locomotives. They put one loco on one end, pull it out of the yard, then hook that one back up on the west end of the consist before departing the area to points west. It's a pretty neat operation, and much of it can only be seen from PATH trains due t the length of the trash train consist.

Meadows yard can be full of activity, or not so much depending when you pass through.

The other big thing is NJT's MMC complex. Depending on time of day, it can be full to capacity or be fairly empty aside from equipment needing repairs & the equipment sitting in storage or being used for parts to fix active rolling stock & power.

Then there's the EL lines, which have red/oxide cat towers, and the NEC with its i-beam cat towers, and the connection area where they cross & one track (waterfront connection) connects the two trunk lines. Chances are during peak hours you'll see a train on one of these 2 lines before you get out of sight of them, but mid-day you might not see much.

Enjoy!

[Head-end View]

Yo........deathtopumpkins...........So how was your trip?

[deathtopumpkins]

Sorry this is a bit late, but I don't really frequent the PATH board and didn't realize people were still replying.

I ended up riding from 33rd to Hoboken, then spending a few hours exploring HBLR. My Amtrak train down to NYC was a good 3 hours late though (see discussion in the HHP-8 thread in the Amtrak board), so I had to cut my rides short as I had dinner to get to. I ended up hopping off HBLR at Exchange Place (unfortunately without riding down to Bayonne like planned), and back on PATH to Newark to catch an NJT train. This was in the 5 o'clock hour on a Friday afternoon, so naturally both were packed. Unfortunately the sheer volume of people precluded me from seeing much out the windows. I guess I'll just have to go ride it again! Never made it to WTC anyway.

I got to feast my eyes on the rail activity plenty from an inbound NJT NJCL train to NYP on Sunday, and driving around on Saturday though.

Oh, and my original question ended up being a moot point anyway - I only rode twice, and a coworker gave me a metrocard from a previous trip with money left on it, so I just used that both times.