No Options

Here’s a typical situation. I’m in NY Penn Station and there are delays and train issues with all NJ Transit. My train is not due to leave for 20 minutes. What do I do? Maybe I can get to Secaucus or Newark on a different train out of New York and then catch a train from Hoboken. WRONG! There are no other trains that a Montclair destined rider can take to get them to Newark Broad Street in order to catch a Montclair train from Hoboken. There are trains that will obviously take riders from New York to Secaucus, but then there are not Montclair trains out of Hoboken which stop there. Riders would have to hop a train from Secaucus into Hoboken and from Hoboken ho a train to Montclair. Look at a schedule and see how long that would take. There are plenty of trains one can catch out of New York to get to Secaucus, but that doesn’t do us any good. From Secaucus there are no other trains to catch which would further our commute home until we can board a Montclair bound train. I guess one could take a train to Newark Penn Station and then ride the Light Rail over to Newark Broad Street to catch a Montclair train from Hoboken. Oh wait, by the time one does that, they might as well as waited around and just got on the Montclair train out of New York. There isn’t even a Gladstone or alternative train which Montclair riders can hop on between Montclair trains. Why can’t the Gladstone trains out of Penn Station stop at Broad Street?

I have scoured the train line schedules, light rail, path, and buses to see if there is a possibility of an alternative way home, if by some slight chance it might even be faster. NOPE. It's a dead end any which way you try to go. 25 miles west of New York, the greatest city int he world as some tout, and a commute that's not easy or short by any means...