NY PENN’ed UP!
May 8th 2008 07:01 pm
If you want some wonderful insight into why Penn Station is designed the way it is, I encourage you to read CONQUERING GOTHAM by author Jill Jonnes. The book brilliantly describes the design of Penn Station. You come to learn what we know–it was not designed for daily riders (a.k.a. commuters).
I ride MidTown Direct into NY Penn every day and the time it takes to get from the platform to the intermediate or top level grows by the day. My daily train generally comes in at either track 9 or 10. For the past several months, “work” has been going on to replace the escalators. In doing so, the area is boarded up and riders need to go towards the 7th Ave. end to go upstairs. Only one set of escalators is available–every once in a while. Why? Because invariably there is an Amtrak train leaving on the opposite track and the escalator is running in the down mode. I’ve written to Amtrak about utilizing the same 2 or 4 tracks they need in the morning so they don’t interfere with the hordes disembarking from NJ Transit. I’ve never received a reply and none is expected, sadly. I’ve started going into the City the old-fashioned way–through Hoboken.
capntransit responded on 08 May 2008 at 9:52 pm #
Good point, Len! Unfortunately, we’re about to spend billions of dollars on “improvements” that will do little for long-distance travelers and almost nothing for commuters. Here’s my summary of the issues - which relies on a good chunk of NJ-ARP work:
http://capntransit.blogspot.com/search/label/penn%20station
Joe Versaggi responded on 09 May 2008 at 2:58 pm #
It is more about NJT’s laziness, arrogance and incompetence, not Amtrak’s. Even on weekends, I have never encountered the 7th Av concourse escalators running at all or in the right direction. That part of the station is NJT’s turf, not Amtrak’s. Unfortunately, NJT is making Hoboken too hard to get to on weekends. PATH runs a slow, crowded, 2 route system. So on weekends, take a bus. I am taking Trans Bridge Lines on National Train Day. Why not, NJT is nothing more than a glorified bus company.
NJT will not come to the operations table and figure out an operating plan for NYPS. LIRR shares tracks with the 2 railroads and has had one for decades. NJT’s lack of ownership is not a valid excuse. They don’t own PABT either, but it has an operating plan with assigned gates with the facility run far smoother inspite of Turnpike and Lincoln Tunnel disruptions.
Eine Kleine Multi-level responded on 10 May 2008 at 4:09 pm #
That “glorified bus company” comment is often applied to SEPTA, interestingly enough. Perhaps the management structure of both companies is too centralized? because the New York MTA does not seem to suffer as greatly, even though that organization also has a single overall president.
Although both LIRR and NJT do not have any ownership of tracks in Penn, NJT is the only entity that does not have any access to dispatching, which is time-shared between Amtrak and LIRR. One thing that NJT has done that neither Amtrak and LIRR have done, though, is squeeze trains into NYP that the station was not really designed to handle. (And of course, LIRR has four tunnels on their end; the second set of tunnels that NJT intends to overspend on won’t serve NYP, as we all know.)
FTR, Trans-Bridge Lines operates bus routes that used to be NJ Transit’s, e.g. the former route 350 to Allentown (route 150 originally).
And was the H&M so slow and overcrowded back when they had two more waterfront terminals to serve (PRR Exchange Place Terminal and Erie Terminal)?
Joe Versaggi responded on 11 May 2008 at 12:04 pm #
I rode the US202 Doylestown service (their “south line”) on Saturday, which historically was West Hunterdon Transit. While there were big NEC delays due to power problems on Saturday morning, my Trans Bridge bus got in 10 minutes early, and cost $5.75 less than NJT. It was packed.
As for the I-78 Allentown route, technically, what you stated above is not what happened. The present day 117 (US22 , limited stop) is the vestigial remains of the old 350. Before NJT, the 350 was Public Service, the 114 was Somerset Bus. Before 1963, the 350/150 was Greyhound.
Trans-Bridge long had a franchise in New Jersey by ownership of Delaware River Coach Lines, which runs the local P-Burg-Easton service under contract to NJT. In the early 1980’s, they sought ICC authority and got access to PABT. The Raritan Line service to P-Burg and 350 to Allentown were still running. They all over-lapped for about a year. Then NJT decided to cut low density routes and the 350, which had stops along US22 east of Somerville and was no match for the new Trans-Bridge I-78 service, so it perished and became the 117. The 114 continued running to Clinton until 1993, when it became the 884 service, operated by Raritan Valley Bus, then became a corporate Wheels service contracted to Suburban Transit.