PATH riders calling for increased weekend service
NEW JERSEY (PIX11) -- A Change.org petition is calling on the Port Authority to increase the frequency of PATH service on weekends. The petition currently has more than 300 signatures, as of Friday evening.
PIX11 News spoke with PATH riders at the Exchange Place station in Jersey City, who all told a similar story of great weekday service that precipitously drops off by Friday night.
“Sometimes, late at night, it just doesn’t show up for like, an hour,” said Tristan Collins, who takes the PATH to New York on the weekends for school and work.
“Friday and Saturday nights can get ridiculously busy. [You’re] wading through a crowd of people trying to get in. Sometimes, you can’t fit physically on the train unless you’re squeezing in.”
Carli Caraluzzi said her experience is very similar. “I go to work as a barista in the city on the weekends, so my shift sometimes starts at 7:00,” said Caraluzzi.
“It’s been hard on the weekends because the train either comes at 6:00 or 6:45, and so I either have to get here super early or super late.”
“It’s ridiculous that they don’t have the same level of service on the weekends that they have during the week,” said longtime rider Tracey Abrams.
Clarelle DeGraffe, the general manager of PATH, said she empathizes with riders.
“The entire team pulls together several times a week, looking for ways to help mitigate the pain that we know it’s causing our customers,” said DeGraffe.
DeGraffe said PATH is in the middle of a massive upgrade project to its train cars, stations and tracks, known as PATH Forward. DeGraffe said PATH wants to increase service but needs to finish upgrades before considering that.
“We want to do that, but at the same time, there’s got to be a balance of really being able to bring the system up to a level where it can handle the additional load,” said DeGraffe.
PATH Forward is not expected to be completed until the end of 2025. In the interim, DeGraffe said she appreciates riders’ patience.
“We hear you,” said DeGraffe. “We feel the pain. We’re trying. We understand.”