Morrise & Essex vs Montclair-Booton

The # of trains into and out of NYC and Hoboken is uneven! If we look at the # of riders and the # of trains, there's an uneven distribution heavily advantageous to Hoboken! With more commuters going into and out of NY and less to Hoboken, there should be more trains at more oportune times going in and out of NY and not Hoboken!

Walnut Street Commuters

The train and its service are slow enough. The last thing riders going beyond Walnut Street need is any longer of a commute.

The majority of you sit in the back of the train whereby more than the average number of passengers who get off at a stop, attempt to get off the train using less doors. If you spread out and exited all parts of the train, the train would be able to pull away from the stop and allow you to cross over to the other side more quickly. Instead you all try to get out of the last car or last two cars which is much slower as everyone bottlenecks and you end up waiting longer for the train to move onto Watching Avenue.

You're doing yourselves and the riders continuing on a disservice by amassing at the end of the train. Please spread out and use all doors to exit.

Penn Station

Grand Central has a Michael Jordan's Steakhouse. Penn Station has a Houllihan's with cochroaches (I've seen them). GC has the Oyster Bar. Penn Station has sushi take out. GC has high end shops. PS has K-Mart. Grand Central is inviting, full of culture, full of shops and restaurants. It is bustling with commuters and tourists. There's an ambiance to it with an air of familiarity and safety.

It's quite the opposite at Penn Station.

I don't even use the bathroom in the NJ Transit waiting area anymore at Penn station. I don't even use the waiting area since the attack on the woman sitting in there. For those who come in the main entrance on 7th ave know that as you approach the NJ Transit section of Penn Station, you're going to be met by an array of people who I won't describe other than saying they are not commuters.

It's so nice of the Port Authority police to allow these people to mass and stay warm in the winter months, sleeping in various corners throughout the station. I don't feel safe during rush hour let alone later on at night in there. I've worked late a few times and have taken the train home after 9 and Penn Station was crawling with questionable people.

To the NYPD and Port Authority police - please clean up Penn Station. It's almost less inviting than Port Authority these days.

A Decade Later - What I Can't Hear You!

As we near the ten year mark on the attacks of the World Trade Towers and solemnly look back on the events of that day and the days surrounding, I remember taking the vow to "Never Forget".

While I don't believe NJ Transit is attempting to be unpatriotic, I do believe that they have forgotten one of the horrific driving elements to 9-11was the lack of good communication.

Ten years later and there are still a lot of train cars with poor speakers from the Public Address system. Have they "forgotten"?

To other commuters I implore you to please make note of the car number anytime you notice that you can't hear what's being said and e-mail in to this site or directly to NJ Transit. It only stands to hurt us, the riders. In the long run if we ignore the issues that NJ Transit seems to brush aside it iwll end up burning us.

Let' use this sight as a public record for what we know and find with our commute on NJ Transit. Maybe then, NJ Transit will take its commuter riders and their voices seriously!

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...

The Longest Express

Skipping one station stop does not make a train an Express!

Getting from point A to point B considerably faster than the typical train is an express. Why isn’t there truly an express train and why aren't there any Express trains after 8pm out of NY for the Montclair Booton Line?

How about an express train that goes straight from New York to Bloomfield or maybe a train that skips every other station stop or multiple express trains which skip every other stop with alternating stations? Why not a train like the one from Hoboken which goes directly to Bay Street?

Any train after 8pm at night should not take over forty minutes to go from New York to Montclair. Montclair is only 25 miles West of New York. Come on and be real. This is not rocket science. We need real express trains during off peak hours and we need faster overall trains during peak hours!

As for the so called Express train in the morning, it's actually a longer ride than the train before or after it. On average I'd say 3 if not 4 out of the 5 days of the week it is delayed and never in NY on time.

Escape from New York

All of the evening trains are at off times. People who leave work at 5pm have to wait until 5:45pm to catch a train, which leaves 45 minutes of travel time between one’s office and Penn Station. Those who leave work at 530pm have to wait until 6:18pm, which leaves 48 minutes of travel time between one’s office and Penn Station.

It’s safe to say that no one needs more than 25 to 30 minutes to get to Penn Station. Therefore, a schedule whereby trains leave at 5:30pm and 6:00pm would really be more ideal.

Let’s look at it another way. Someone leaves work at 5pm, takes the 545pm train and travels 45 minutes into Montclair. Say a modest 10 minute walk or drive back to their house and if the train left on time and actually arrived on time that commuter just spent nearly 2 hours getting home. That's ridiculous!