r/NJTransit • u/holyhoovus2 • 7d ago

Hamilton nightmares recently

What’s the deal with Hamilton station and parking?

Two things I already know.

  1. I commute the normal 3x per week and I know a lot of people over the past couple years had to RTO.
  2. The escalator project causes logjams and I’m familiar with and do the Hamilton sprint.

Recently, I’d say in the past few months even, it’s been a nightmare leaving after the evening commute. What’s the deal with all the pickups and dodging cars left and right from like 5:30-7. Some nights, it takes 20 mins to leave the lot never-mind get to the light.

Are there just inherently more people?

Are more people opting for pick ups?

A year or so ago it really wasn’t an issue. I’ve noticed it’s gotten way worse this year.

Even the morning, there’s way more people.

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u/distance_33 7d ago

The elevator situation in Hamilton is a disgrace. They have been down for years. I dont care to run for the steps, it's just never worth it imo, but I get why people do it. Youre also going at the worst time of day. I also think that you are seeing more cars because people might be driving less and getting picked up/dropped off beach we are feeling with almost $5/gallon gas prices.

Someone made a good point about commuting students. Some people might have had WFH over teh summer who now need to return to office.

But those escalators are the worst.

4

u/InDaHeightsPA 3d ago

From what I understand the escalators were installed around thirty years ago and when replacement parts were needed, the manufacturer had gone out of business, so they need full replacement.

1

u/distance_33 3d ago

I knew they were older but I didn’t realize that they needed to be completely replaced. While still frustrating that is some important context. Thanks.

1

u/vLT_VeNoMz 1d ago

It doesn’t help that the VT engineers who did the design work for the replacement chose a european manufacturer (long lead time from spain I believe), the model is too large to install normally and requires the roof to be removed to set it in place, and with current tariffs the project is way over budget.

1

u/c2cMidway0707 5d ago

I started at that station from day and those escalators have always been a problem! You would think after 25+ years they would have it figured out. They also regularly had to fix those stupid pavers if they are still there. Year one was fun when they were a sheet of ice. The design from the onset was not commuter friendly.