What's happening with weekend service on NJ Transit's Montclair train into Manhattan? The answer is: not much.
You may recall projections that weekend service would start in 2006, in the fall of 2008 and then late 2009. Ha!
Here's the latest. Try 2010, at the earliest. "We'll be taking another look at it next year," NJ Transit spokesperson Courtney Carroll told us today. And that's just a "look" - not even a projection of the service starting.
Carroll says NJ Transit is still waiting on Amtrak to finish its Life Safety Project, which closes one of the tunnels into Manhattan each weekend, and a US Department of Transportation project to replace the Bloomfield Avenue bridge between Montclair and Glen Ridge. But hey, with everything going on in Baristaville, who needs Manhattan?
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Comments (13)
It would be better if they concentrated on getting their weekday service in order for now. The Montclair Direct trains are a mess and the Northeast Direct line is even worse. Thank goodness for good old Hoboken.
Amen to that.
JG, you said it... As nice as it would be to finally have weekend service, they should focus on doing right by their daily commuters. What a headache!
I don't see why they can't do both. when I moved to the area I had an open studio and discovered after the invites went out that there was no weekend service from the city. I had to write back to all the NYC folk and clarify. no surprise that no one from the city came. there is the potential for cross polination that could only benefit the neighborhood.
The DeCamp buses run on weekends so there is an option.
Why does a monthly pass on the Montclair/Boonton line cost the same as a monthly pass on all the other lines? Shouldn't we get a 2/7 discount?
i'm in w/jerseygurl on this for sure. weekend service would just mean delays getting into NYC on Saturdays and Sundays--extending the inept reign of NJT.
Have you taken DeCamp on the weekend? They often don't show at all or are way off schedule.
Why does NJT always push back the weekend service based on the ability, or not, of running trains to midtown? Weekend trains to Hoboken would be plenty as there's PATH service to the city from there.
It's pretty clear there's something else going on, I just wish they'd be honest.
It takes 5 years to fix a 4 lane bridge?
You're fixing the tunnel? Why isn't that a problem for the other lines? Do they use a different tunnel?
Oh, I can take DeCamp? Great - can I use my NJT pass on that bus?
I'll go out on a limb here. They promote the direct to Penn service. They spent a fortune on that. They are doing their best to reduce service to Hoboken. Why would they want to admit Hoboken was actually a pretty good service after millions for the direct to Penn route?
NJT has little or no control over Amtrak which is why the Penn trains suck . Which is why they have no control over weekend service on that line. If they decided to add Hoboken to weekend service, commuters would realize how much better it is and then they'd have to explain why they spent all that money and took all those homes via eminent domain to implement direct service to Penn, which has really not been quite so direct lately.
And someone made a lot of money to overhaul the system which actually wasn't so bad before.
JG,
Excellent points, but don't forget closing 3 heavily-used stations, increasing the travel time and distance (and fuel costs) to Hoboken and tens of millions of dollars in false savings used to help justify the project (for bridge repairs that weren't needed).
Rob brings up another good point. Even if they don't add weekend service to NYP, why are we still paying for a month unlimited? Not really unlimited if we can't use the service for sometimes 9 days out of the month. Plus then I have to pay to ride DeCamp, which isn't that dependable either?
Does NJT run any buses to Baristaville on the weekend?
If you're interested in helping out with NJ-ARP's (NJ's version of the Straphangers) campaign for weekend service, visit http://www.nj-arp.org/montclair.html or send me an email at gmusser@nj-arp.org. We collected 1,000 petition signatures last year and, having seen our back-channel efforts come to naught, are planning to hold a community meeting over the next couple of months.
George