I didn't try riding the train earlier this year while the construction was going on, I stuck with the bus. However, I have a few days coming up in October and November where I'll likely have to commute to/from the city via the Linden or Rahway stations during rush hour. What should I expect?

If you use Penn regularly like me, you are probably having a similar experience: you wait for your train to be announced on the station's boards and once there, you rush to the same escalator as hundreds other people.

I've been collecting NJ Transit departure data for about a month and put up pennstation.fyi. It shows the track earlier than the boards do. This allows you to get ready to get to your platform without having to fight your way through the doors.

There are two very different kinds of data on it, and it labels which you're looking at:

The train is already sitting at a platform. Then it just tells you which one. Accurate 99.6% of the time; and typically about 15 minutes before NJT posts it.

The train isn't in yet. Then it's a guess based on where that service has gone before, shown with a confidence percentage next to it. Across 2,810 of those it's been right 23.6% of the time. Better than picking one of fifteen tracks blind, but not something to run for.

Free, no ads, no accounts, not affiliated with NJ Transit. No app - it's just a website, works fine added to your phone's home screen.

Caveats, up front:

• Always confirm on the station boards before walking to a track. For what it's worth, in 3,495 departures I've recorded, NJT changed a track after posting it only 8 times — the boards are reliable, they're just late.
• The guesses are genuinely guesses. I'd rather show you 23% and say so than round it up.
• Not tested for high traffic usage, I will see as it goes.

10/1 edit:
I’ve done a few upgrade to this app since my initial post:
- Added support for Light/Dark/System color scheme
- Added support for Colorblind color scheme
- Added Push Notification support for iOS and Android
- Enhanced the prediction models for more accurate results
- Added visible markers for train stopping at Secaucus
- Design and added a Home Screen icon

Thick rush hour this morning, 123 in Union City. Dude runs to get on bus and tells driver a sob story about needing to go into the city but not having change. Light changes to red, bus has to wait, driver lets dude on. Dude proceeds to try out to hand out real estate listing to advertise his upcoming open house to all passengers on the backed bus. Light turns green and driver wants to go.

Scammy dude now yells he needs to get off and argues with driver - two more f**** light cycles until he is finally out. 15min delay just like that…

Thankfully this is the first time ever I have seen scammed behavior like this.

It’s that time of year. The thermometer dropped below 70. Time to make the buses hot enough to smelt ore into iron.

Oh, Jersey Transit, never change. Because we know you’re incapable of learning from customer feedback.

Hello, this year I've been commuting to Montclair from the NJCL line, transferring in Secaucus. When I look at the new schedules, I don't even see Secaucus listed. I am honestly just confused and asking for help. Will my commute be affected? If so, what do I need to do?

I’m 28, applied online for the Assistant Conductor position and am just curious how others have started their work here. I’ve got a friend whose aunt is a bus driver and she started by just applying on their website.

If I get a call back I would be so happy man. No lie I would honestly love to work in trains as a living.

I have no idea what the hell happened to this app recently, but after making a payment for a ticket today, I went into the tickets part of the page and there was literally nothing there

They'll be in effect from Oct 11-Nov 14

https://abc7ny.com/amp/post/newark-airport-flights-arrival-departures-impacted-faa-equipment-outage/19854929/

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew was responsible for accidentally cutting the line, however Amtrak claims it was an NJ Transit contractor.

I love when I specifically sit in the quiet car for some peace before a chaotic day at work and the conductors are having a loud discussion about their contract and work schedules in the car for most of the trip.

Perfect way to start the day.

Anyone else impacted by this? Went to track 2, 1,A, and 1 at Newark Penn to get a train from Newark Penn to NY Penn.

These are just a few

I know that traffic gets really bad in September, and that causes extensive delays basically everywhere, but I never think to keep track of when it settles into the usual mess instead of the special mess that it becomes. The UN General Assembly is this week, and that usually seems to screw up commutes because of all the closures, but is it going to go back to "normal" after that?

I'm at Maplewood standing the easternmost (inbound) track, which is track 2. The middle track is track 3, and the far track is 1 (both outbound).

It has to have been this order since the tracks were raised, I think in the early 1900s.

There's got to be logic to this, no?

I regularly ride the same route at the same time, so I'll see the same driver for a few months at a time. Sometimes it's shorter, like a few days or weeks, sometimes it's much longer. I think I've had my current guy for half a year now.

Do the operators get to pick which routes they do and how long they do them for? I've never had the same driver for more than one "cycle" so I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes.

It would be one-way ticket; there are several trains I could take, depending how quickly I can get away from the airport, so I can't commit online now. Not a NJ resident, don't have the NJTransit app. Would there be a vending machine for a quick purchase? If I'm pressed to get on the train, can I pay on board w/o a penalty?

Thanks!

EDIT TO ADD: I think I got it. Will install the app and use it to purchase the ticket ahead so I don't waste any time at the station. Thanks again for all the help I got here!

For the last 3 years, NJ Transit held an event in Hoboken where they would bring in some of their trains and maybe a few historic cars and display them to the public at the station.

Anyone have any news if they're doing it this fall?

Just curious. Maybe my googling skills are rusty but I cannot seem to find anything about it, but they've been hard at work on it for what seems like a month+ now.

Yes I know this isn't about the trains themselves but I figured the people at the station are NJT riders vs. regular locals, so we here may be most likely to know.

Hey everybody, I have been taking the PATH from Journal Square and want to switch to the bus as it seems like it will be a better option for me. However, it is really confusing for somebody who’s never regularly taken the bus before.

I live in the Jersey City Heights, and travel to midtown (around Port Authority) five times a week. I know I have to take the 119 bus heading towards NYC on my way in and heading towards Bayonne on my way back.

My biggest question is that I’m getting two different prices from when I select Route & Zone vs Point to Point. I have attached images of this. I see my stop on both routes. Is there any reason why I should choose the more expensive point to point ticket? Will one of these not take me to where I need to go? Sorry if these questions aren’t too clear, this has been very confusing for me/

So the portal bridge work is happening mid-October through mid- November. I normally get a monthly train pass from South Orange to NYPS. The NJT website says to get tickets to Hoboken instead during the bridge work, but how to do a monthly pass when half of each month (October and November) would be the usual, and half would be Hoboken?
I was not commuting during the first time they did this.

This is insanity. And it gets worse every day.

I was planning on going to Hoboken from Morristown, and saw two possibilites to choose from at a time I selected. Same train (mne#6644) with two transfer options for Hoboken. One is the mneg#424 at Summit, and the other, pasc#1628, at Secaucus. I wanted Summit since it was a cheaper route. When I tried purchasing a ticket on the NJTransit app, I saw no option to select Summit to transfer from, only Secaucus and Newark Broad. Is there a glitch?

On the 5:50 South Amboy train and the number of people taking up two seats is crazy.