HOBOKEN—A schedule adjustment installed at the end of April has decreased rush hour service on the Hoboken-33rd Street PATH line by 14 percent, according to a press release from the city of Hoboken.
Port Authority representative Steve Coleman confirmed Tuesday that the interval between trains along the Hoboken-33rd line has increased from six to seven minutes during the weekday from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
According to the city, the adjustment amounts to a decrease from 19 to 14 trains during morning rush hour and from 24 to 21 trains during the evening rush hour. Hoboken said late evening weekday service had also been decreased from 11 to 9 trains, a change Coleman denied.
According to Coleman, the trains from Hoboken were redeployed on Jersey City’s PATH lines to reduce platform crowding being experienced there.
Speaking at a Hoboken Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday morning, Mayor Dawn Zimmer slammed the move. “It’s outrageous for a couple of reasons,” she said. “Our PATH has seen the highest growth in the past two years of any other PATH station in the state, so how the heck can they cut us when we’re growing? Our residents are doing the right things and taking public transportation and here they are cutting our service.”
City Council President Ravi Bhalla was equally dismissive of the change. “I would invite any of these decision makers to come along for a ride on the PATH during the morning commute from Hoboken and provide their honest assessment as to whether or not the system needs more or fewer trains,” said Bhalla in a statement. “I find it unacceptable that while the Port Authority spends billions on other projects, they are penny-pinching in Hoboken, punishing their most loyal customers.”
The new schedule went into effect on April 26. According to Zimmer, the city first learned of the changes after receiving multiple complaints from commuters that the rush hour crush at the Hoboken PATH station had become even worse in recent weeks.
“There was no public process,” said Zimmer. “I think they assumed they could change the schedule and residents wouldn’t notice but the change is so severe that residents definitely have noticed.”
Coleman, the Port Authority spokesman, suggested that adequate warning of the service changes had been given. “The schedule including this adjustment was published in advance, and advertised as such schedule adjustments normally are through social media, in station schedules and online,” said Coleman in an email. “PATH and Port Authority staff met with Mayor Zimmer and her staff in recent weeks prior to the schedule adjustments and provided the new schedule.”
According to Coleman, train frequency on the Hoboken-33rd line was cut to allow for an increased number of trains on the Journal Square-33rd Street line during rush hour, based on “the significant platform crowding issues we have been experiencing at those stations in light of the high growth and ridership we have been experiencing there.”
Zimmer wrote a letter to Port Authority Chairman John Degnan asking that the old schedule be restored, which the Port Authority says it is reviewing.
Hoboken rush hour PATH service cut by 14 percent; trains moved to Jersey City lines
