A ride on the PATH train would rise to $4 — a 33 percent increase — by early 2029 as part of a plan to improve service between Manhattan and northern New Jersey, the agency that runs the commuter service announced Thursday.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the PATH system, laid out a timetable for restoring daily service on all its lines for the first time in 25 years. Among the changes would be elimination by mid-2026 of the need for riders to switch trains to travel between Hoboken, N.J., and the World Trade Center in Manhattan on weekends.
“That’s a great improvement,” said Seth Huling, a stagehand who commutes to Manhattan regularly from Jersey City. But Mr. Huling said he was not happy to hear that the fare would be rising, after recent increases in fares on NJ Transit’s statewide network of buses and trains, or that it could be significantly higher than the cost of the subway.
“It seems like for New Jersey commuters, the M.O. is just a fare increase every year,” he said. “Us New Jerseyans are regularly fleeced, or so it feels, just trying to live our lives and getting around and trying to get to work.”
Representatives of PATH riders have made regular appearances at the Port Authority’s monthly board meetings to complain about the level and quality of service. More than 200,000 passengers ride the PATH on an average weekday.
To pay for the improvements, the agency said it would increase the fare to $4, from $3, in four equal increments starting next summer.
That schedule could raise the PATH fare well above the cost to ride the New York City subway. The subway fare is set to rise to $3, from $2.90, in January.
The PATH fare would go to $3.25 in the summer, then rise an additional 25 cents annually in January from 2027 through 2029, the Port Authority proposed. Unlike most other transit systems, the PATH does not receive federal funding to subsidize the cost of equipment and operations.
The Port Authority, which also operates the three major airports that serve New York City and the seaport in New Jersey, said that fares covered only about one-fourth of its costs of operating the PATH system.
The plans for the PATH were included in the Port Authority’s new 10-year capital investment program, which calls for spending $45 billion over the next decade on improving its facilities. Among its bigger projects would be the construction of a $3.5 billion terminal and replacement of the AirTrain system at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The Port Authority has begun the first phase of construction on an $11 billion replacement for the main bus terminal in Midtown Manhattan. The 10-year plan also calls for the Port Authority to contribute $2.7 billion to the Gateway program, which is building a second rail tunnel under the Hudson River to increase train capacity between Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan and New Jersey.
Patrick McGeehan is a Times reporter who covers the economy of New York City and its airports and other transportation hubs.
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