The PATH to Anger and Frustration
This is a post co-written by Spectator and Ian, about what was by far the most frustrating experience either has ever experienced at a sporting event.
As has been mentioned around here a few times, Spectator and Ian decided to purchase season tickets to the Red Bulls. So far we have almost had our dream of MLS play end due to a work stoppage, only to then endure some freezing cold April temperatures at the Red Bull Arena. But nothing could prepare us for the absolute clusterf**k that was the PATH train on Saturday.
For those of you who do not have the pleasure of knowing the PATH train, a little background. When the Red Bulls relocated to their new stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, one of the major selling points (in addition to free land on top of a former garbage dump) was easy access to public transportation to and from Manhattan. So much so that the team has used the PATH train in its advertising, and has “strongly encouraged” fans to use public transportation rather than drive to the stadium. This is all well and good, except that even by New Jersey standards, the PATH train would shame the rail lines of some third world countries.
It is exactly ten miles from Christopher Street in the West Village to Harrison, New Jersey. How long would you expect that journey to take? 20 or 30 minutes? Nope, try consistently over an hour. Even worse is the journey back home, when one or two PATH employees attempt to shoehorn 5,000 fans through six turnstiles onto the train platform. An upgrade of the Harrison station is sorely needed. And that’s when the trains are actually running, which brings us to last Saturday.
Ian and Spectator enjoyed a few pre-game pints in the West Village, and then set off for the Christopher Street PATH station. We boarded a train at 6:20 p.m., which should have left plenty of time for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. At 7:00 p.m. we arrived at Journal Square, which is in Jersey City and one stop away from Red Bull Arena in Harrison. After waiting on the train, at 7:20 p.m., there was an announcement that there will be no trains going to Harrison due to police activity, and everyone needed to exit from the train. And with that garbled PA announcement, we along with thousands of other fans received no more instructions instructions from PATH.
No further explanation. No information. No contingency plans. No one from PATH or the Red Bulls directing people on the platform. Only one scurrying PATH employee who refused to answer Spectator’s question, “So what are you going to do with all these people?” Compared to the MTA, the PATH is truly pathetic even on a good day, but especially when it comes to irregular operations. You think that if the 4/5/6 had problems and everyone was stranded at 96th street before a Yankees game that there would no further instructions and no attempt to help stranded fans?
We went upstairs to see about a cab. The lovely Jersey City cabbies were threatening to charge $25 per person to drive five minutes to the stadium. No buses to Harrison anywhere. And by this time it was 8:00 p.m., meaning that we’d already missed the first half of the game. All that was left to do was turn around and come back to Manhattan. A perfectly good evening totally down the drain. It has since turned out that the police closed down the trains for an hour due to a suspicious package. Now, we get that the police activity was beyond the control of the Red Bulls or even PATH, but what was in the Red Bulls control was: 1) not having any employees at Journal Square directing people or 2) any contingency plans whatsoever.
The alternatives going forward are either to drive or take NJ Transit to Newark and then walk a half an hour. Ironically, the parking situation is still shambolic and the club has been imploring fans to take the PATH. But trust us, we won’t ever try the PATH train again.
The worst part for the Red Bulls was that we saw families with small children left stranded for over an hour. On the ride home there was a group of twenty-something Manhattanites who said things to the effect of: “I am never coming to another game ever.” One of them was even wearing a Notre Dame-era Dane Richards jersey [update: ü75 is right... Dane didn't go to Notre Dame], exactly the kind of fans who the Red Bulls desperately need to attract. We, unfortunately, are season ticket holders so we don’t have that luxury, but trust us the lack of proper public transportation from Manhattan is making us seriously reconsider whether we will be purchasing season tickets again next season.
We know that public finances are in a sorry state and that the Red Bulls do not exactly have a ton of sway over the PATH operation, but by locating their new stadium where they did the club was relying on adequate train service. And given that the PATH is sub-adequate even when it is running, the long-term viability of the new stadium has been thrown in jeopardy. There might be a future attracting northern New Jersey residents with cars, but absent major transportation improvements attracting NYC residents is going to remain difficult. Just wait until MLS adds a team in Queens. No one will ever bother trying to get to Harrison, New Jersey, ever again.
P.S. And yes, signing Thierry Henry will go a long way to making us feel better about the Red Bulls, except when we’re stuck on the PATH with 10,000 more people stranded miles away from the stadium.
Taking the amtrak from Hamilton, NJ (near Trenton) wasn’t bad at all, but we elected to walk from the Newark-Penn and avoid the PATH. Heard some nightmare stories from people about it. Apparently they were not exaggerating.
I also just walked over from Newark-Penn, and had no problems. It takes much less than a half an hour, and it way less stressful than trying to cram into the PATH station.
Luckily I have a car (for the time being) so I’ll probably just drive from now on, but good to know that Amtrak to Newark-Penn is the next best alternative. I do promise that I will never ever take the PATH again so long as I live!
Meh. I’ve taken the PATH back from Devils games with no issues.
Dane Richards went to Clemson. I did see that team beat ND in the NCAA playoffs while he was there.
D.C. Metro works beautifully to get you to games in the area.
Nyah nyah.
Anonsters-
How’s the view from the cellar?
@Anonsters
Shame the product there is rather lacking, though
I know this will spur dozens of jokes about New Jersey, but NJ has quite possibly the worst public transportantion in the country.
As a resident of the state, I can agree with Ellis Carver. You would think a state with so many densely populated urban centers would have a decent train system. You would be very, very wrong.
As s**tty as Buck Shaw Stadium is, I do have to say the public transit options to Santa Clara are pretty solid. Train got me there in plenty of time to see the Quakes dismantle the Red Bulls last week.
Guys,
There was a bomb scare at the Harrison PATH station. A bomb scare. Someone saw something, and said something. For anyone, in real time, to set up an transportation alternative is asking a little too much. I feel for you that you were held up, but consider that all commuters, whether heading to RBA or not, were inconvenienced.
The stadium is where the stadium is. The land was a rotting brownfield, and now it’s a glittering cathedral for soccer. There’s a reason it’s there, and not in midtown Manhattan. Same reason the Fire plays in Bridgeview. Downtown urban areas are too expensive and too densely populated to build a stadium.
@Mark Fishkin
They’re not taking umbrage with the circumstance under which this duress occurred, but rather that there appears to have been no forethought given to how these situations should be appropriately handled.
You couldn’t split $25 to make it to the game?
Yeah – the Red Bulls should be responsible for getting you to the game – just like they also used to maintain the NJ Turnpike and related roads when they played at Giants Stadium.
As someone who rides the PATH 5 days a week for work – I would suggest that you get used to PATH service outages for signal problems, stuck bridges, etc. Familiarize yourself with alternate routes (busses).
Yeah guys, what Mark Fishkin said. As Mark Fishkin and the article both stated, there was nothing that could be done. This mis-hap has nothing to do with the stadium or its management. In fact, the organization has gotten its act together and we now have something we can be proud of. As has been noted, Newark Penn is the best alternative. Sure, the Harrison PATH is right next to the stadium but Newark Penn is not on the other side of the country. I walk to it after every match. It’s quite comfortably within walking distance. And no, I’m not a power-walker.
$25 per person, Barry. Or, almost as much as Baltimore van drivers charge to drive you about 2 miles.
Ok $25 per person is pretty ridiculous. I was under the impression that you could split cab fares.
Really? I’ve taken the path to every match, friendly, Open Cup, league, and never had an issue. 25 minutes at most. Even leaving the stadium, sure, trains are crowded (if you live in the city you’re used to that), but I’ve never had to wait for more than 10 to 15 minutes. I and my friends commute from Brooklyn and my only issues are with MTA trains.
It sounds like you’re trying to take the Path that goes through Hoboken, in which case it is a slower commute because (surprise!) there are different train schedules for the weekend and that train has a different route to Newark (which, if you looked at the map this would clearly tell you) than the other Paths. So maybe you should have planned ahead and taken the WTC Path (which is a straight shot) and then been to the match on time and happy like the rest of us.
Honestly, it sounds like you’re not much of a RBNY/Metro fan anyway if this is your biggest gripe; so maybe you and the Notre Dame faction can support whatever crap Mets of football team they put in Queens and write an equally obnoxious article when the 7 train is running on one track.
Since they droppped NJ from their club name, yet still put their stadium here, I choose to now blame EVERYTHING on the Red Bulls, regardless.
God damn New Yorkers..
Look guys, those are all fair responses, and I’m happy that people are sticking up for the Red Bulls. I guess the point is that Saturday was a truly miserable experience of spending two plus hours (no exaggeration) on the PATH without even getting to the stadium, but worse without any information and no alternatives made available, and we decided to use our prerogative as bloggers to bitch. But truly the very worst part was seeing other fans in the same predicament…. Many of whom this will be their one and only experience with MLS.
I am happy to keep supporting the Red Bulls, and I think Ian is too, overall it’s been way more positive than negative. The deeper problem is just that the Red Bulls keep claiming that the Arena is easy to get to from the city. And I’m sorry, but it isn’t. So, frankly, when people ask, “gee I wonder what’s up with all those empty seats,” well, there’s your problem right there. People have to really, really WANT to spend time traveling back and forth to the stadium, and I just question whether the demand will be there.
I’m sick of people from New Jersey telling me how awesome the path train is. Its like those real estate agents who promise that every apartment in Queens is “just a 15 minute” ride to Grand Central.
Spectator:
I still don’t understand why you think it’s Red Bull’s job to carry you on their back to the stadium for an unplanned event. How should they have done that? Taken the PATH to JSQ (oops, not possible)? Driven there (road closures)? Seriously – do the Giants come pick you up and hold your hand when there’s an accident blocking the Turnpike?
Also, to say that the stadium is not easy to get to from the city is just plain false. You can take the PATH to Harrison or you can do what others do and take NJ Transit to Newark and take one of the free shuttles or walk it.
I enjoy reading your site but this post and your follow up response simply sounds like you are whining because Erik Soler and Hans Backe didn’t come to pick you up and carry you on their backs.
Honestly, I think the problem is that, in the New York metro area, there are just too many parties to try and please. Build a stadium in Queens, everyone’s going to complain about the slow subway trains (7 n/r), the LIRR, or the expressway; people from Jersey will not come; people from LI will not bother to wade through Saturday traffic. People in Manhattan won’t ever come to Queens or any borough anyway. Build in Jersey, it’s the Path and NJT. Even if you built it in manhattan, people would have trouble (especially LI and NJ folks). Fact is, commuting is slow and laborious whever you live in this town (or near it). But, compared to other MLS team stadiums, you can’t tell me RBA does not offer the absolute best experience, because I’d beg you to offer a better example. If someone’s experience is tainted by the commute, then are they really going to fare better going to Giant Stadium, which didn’t even have public transport going to it?
If RBA is so difficult to get to please list all the stadiums that are significantly easier to get to; this really seems like nothing more than anti-Jersey ignorance and/or pie-in-the-sky dreaming
“But, compared to other MLS team stadiums, you can’t tell me RBA does not offer the absolute best experience, because I’d beg you to offer a better example.”
Well, I got a hand job at Toyota Park, so I feel pretty confident in saying that was better than getting stuck on the train without any information and not even being able to make it to the stadium.
@all of you: it’s pretty much standard practice, in my experience, to have transit officials provide information on how to get to a destination when there is some large event going on and there is a SNAFU in the public transit. Specifically, if something is going awry the public transit officials or somebody from the organization are there to provide alternative options to the patrons.
The point is that there was none of this. No information from anybody as to alternate routes or or modes of transportation. It’s on the organization to have a relationship with all entities that could affect attendance, particularly if it is an organization that holds regular events with “large” numbers of people in attendance.
It’s not hand-holding, it’s the dearth of information wherein a reasonable person could then make a decision on how to proceed.
Although, I would say that this sounds like more of a PATH problem than a RBNY problem.
Wow, I’m amazed Red Bull has so many defenders, especially after the crap they’ve trotted out there for the last decade.
It is not Red Bull’s fault that the Port Authority can’t react as quickly as some desire.
@corky… 15 years of absolute suckage don’t not translate to blaming RBNY for transit problems. If you had been through 15 years of this you’s have a different view on things with the org.
@Dave: But 15 years of business should at least give them enough experience as to how to deal with this sort of situation and have the necessary contacts to attempt to help out stranded fans.
I was on that exact PATH train with you guys. And like you, I tried to catch a cab. The first cab said $20 per person. The next said $25. One cab even said $100. They quickly realized they were in high demand.
I ended up walking with my girlfriend away from the crowd and snagged a cab for just $25 dollars…TOTAL. He didn’t know what was going on. But as soon as we got in, the guy on the cab’s radio DID and tried to make the cab driver charge us more (as if we couldn’t hear him talking). We didn’t pay extra.
Unfortunately however, cabs couldn’t get to the stadium…or even near it because of police. The cab dropped us on a dark highway pretty far from the stadium. Another cab full of people got dropped off there as well. We had to walk across a bridge and then the long walk to the stadium.
Worst experience ever.
P.S…and the guy at the stadium bag check wouldn’t let me in with my picture camera. I’ve brought it to a few games already. His manager let me in after sympathizing that the game was almost over. SMH…
Im sure this never happens to clubs like Liverpool where in history people die at games or in Italy/ any other country that allows people to throw flares in the stands… better to be late than dead… no offense to Liverpool… I just miss Grobelar.
I remember this one time (aka most matches) when me and many other fire fans leave the northside of chicago 2.5 hours before a match to take two trains and a bus to get to the match via public transit. Suck it up!
Section 8 runs buses from around the city for those willing to pay $10 for an easier option though. Perhaps ESC should consider doing the same.
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