Will proposed PATH service cuts really hurt our real estate appeal?

Since NJ.com published an article with the title “Hoboken officials: PATH service cuts could hurt realestate appeal, including NJ Transit's rail yards,” I have had more than one homeowner reach out to me to ask if I thought this would indeed happen.

Who am I? I first became a Hoboken PATH commuter in 1998 and became a Newport Jersey City PATH commuter in 2004. And I happen to be a real estate salesperson who still resides in town, and is a homeowner in both Hoboken and Jersey City.

So, should we be worried?

Well, first let's review what the proposed cuts are. The proposed cuts are to eliminate weekday and weekend night service from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. (that is 1 hour after midnight, for four hours). Is that really the end of the world? Back in the day, the PATH actually had a steep drop off in service between that time. They now run every 35 min or so (to put this in perspective, the 7 or F Train to Queens/Brooklyn run every 20 min during late weeknights) . Over the weekends, PATH trains run every 10 minutes between 1-5 a.m.

Yes, eliminating the service during these hours would cause a lot of problems for the 2000 or so weekday commuters who regularly have to work late and cannot afford to take taxis or Uber home everyday (10,600 “revelers” on average use the PATH daily on weekends between 1-5 a.m.). But not addressing the growing deficit of the PATH train system ($387 million deficit in 2014, expected to balloon to $500 million in 2018), would affect all those commuters and everyone else, as the PATH may raise the ticket prices again. The PATH system costs three times more to operate compared to MTA subway, and tickets recover only 40% of the cost to run the train system. Also, PATH ticket prices cost less than MTA, NJ Transit, LIRR or Metro North, with the deficit partly funded by Port Authority tolls collections. Alternatives to make PATH more profitable include proposals to raise either the sales tax rate from 7% to 7.32-7.43%, or our property tax rate by 1.56-2.09%. Now that would affect our property values.

Do I support cutbacks in PATH? Absolutely NOT. Does our area need more PATH train service? Absolutely! It is just a matter of where. We need more trains cars during peak hours, which cost significant less to operate than entire trains during off peak hours. For example, during peak hours, a 10-car train instead of 8 would significantly help now, and when the NJ Transit Railyard Redevelopment Plan (which will add 1.4 million square feet of office space) is completed and thousands more are using the PATH to get to Hoboken.  

In Jersey City, increased peak PATH service would mean less overcrowding in Newport and other areas. I struggled as a pregnant woman commuting via PATH from Newport, and I can imagine it becoming more overcrowded as almost 1200 additional residential units come on board. But the stations that perhaps needs the most attention are Grove Street and Exchange Place. With over 3 million square feet of office space coming on board (primarily from Harborside Plaza 4, 50 Hudson aka GS Tower, 55 Hudson, and Evertrust II (next to Trump), in addition to over 20,000 residential units (under construction, approved and proposed), Jersey City needs more PATH train service, period.

I commend our elected leaders in Hoboken and Jersey City fighting to push back cuts in the PATH service. However, curtailment to grave-yard shift PATH service, which even officials floating the plan call “last resort,” is far less significant than the need to increase service during peak hours for our towns to support our development. Ignoring our cities' growing needs for mass transit, primarily PATH, and then forcing a sales tax hike or property tax increase is what would truly impair our property values.

Dalia Tole
Keller Williams City Life
dalia.tole@kw.com