PATH Train

So the PATH from New Jersey to New York is a little bit strange. I always thought of it as something like a hybrid train/subway. It's like a train because it travels a pretty long distance between some discrete cities, but it's like a subway in the cost and that it is underground for most of the way. Also in the way it looks, it definitely looks more like a subway than a train.

When you're on the PATH you see a map kind of like this one. For some reason that map always makes me pause for a second. I don't know why - I guess because it has very little basis in geographic fact. This is a more accurate map, but it tells you basically the same information. In New Jersey the PATH stations are scattered around - one in Newark, two (three?) in Jersey City, one in Hoboken, etc - but in New York they're all much closer.

The PATH is cheaper than the subway, so if you are in New York and you need to get from say, Penn Station to Christopher Street, and you're short fifty cents, the PATH train might be for you. But generally, it is used by commuters who don't feel like going through the hassle of driving all the way up to New York, and instead take the train or drive to a New Jersey PATH station; or commuters who just live in the New Jersey outskirts of the city. The PATH also uses MetroCards (described in the NYC Subway post) or these other weird things that I have never used because they are only good on the PATH so what is the point, why not just buy a MetroCard?

It's very convenient - you just have to remember that after 11 on weekdays and after 8 on weekends, it stops using four separate lines and becomes only two lines, which might make your drunken trip back to your car/train take longer than you expected. It also takes longer to get into the city using the PATH than it does using regular NJ Transit trains. However, with the PATH you end up saving something like three dollars over taking the train, which is a pretty good deal and adds up if you are going into the city a lot. You just have to deal with all the drunks who had the same bright idea, which can get annoying after a while. It's also not as comfortable as NJ Transit - cold in the winter, hot in the summer, crowded as hell and pretty rickety. As an added bonus, if you are coming in from Newark and you take the PATH, you can go directly to the WTC so if you are trying to get to the Financial district, Tribeca, the Village, etc., or parts of Brooklyn like Williamsburg or Bed-Sty or whatever, it is a bit more convenient to take the PATH instead of the train and then the subway.

Rating: 7 out of 12. It does exactly what it is supposed to, for cheap, but it is pretty dirty and generally not super pleasant.