Hearing Tweets on the PATH Train

Tweeting is a sound that one doesn’t associate with the crowded Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rapid transit trains that connect Hoboken, Jersey City, and Newark N.J. with lower and midtown Manhattan in New York City via underneath the Hudson River. A wayward starling or wren that flew in at one of the two above-ground stations, Harrison and Newark, would be hard-pressed to find breathing room.

 

Unless those tweets are from Twitter accounts. And for commuters waiting at a PATH station or are on a bus, or Amtrak, commuter, light rail, or subway train and want to know about making a connection, they can get the latest information via PATH’s Twitter account and its revamped Web site.

 

The Port Authority’s can follow the agency’s PATH TwitterNew Jersey Transit, which connects with PATH, also uses Twitter. account for service information, events, and other customer-service questions in addition to the electronic alerts that customers opt to receive on their mobile device or e-mail account.

 

PATH’s new interactive Web site allows riders to access schedules and destination information. They can also more easily learn about changes and upgrades to the PATH system, including the addition of 340 new rail cars that will give them more elbow room. PATH handles some 75 million trips yearly

 

The Twitter account and Web site will also give PATH riders further piece of mind in case there is another disaster, like that which occurred on 9-11-01 that still is in the backs of the minds of those who live and work in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut region. PATH personnel played a vital part in preventing the horrific loss of life from climbing even higher by launching an emergency program that prevented passenger-carrying trains on its line to the World Trade Center from being flooded and crushed when the towers collapsed. Passengers at the station were evacuated on an awaiting train just before that happened.

“The new Web site and Twitter pilot program are the latest steps in our comprehensive effort to modernize PATH and make traveling easier for our customers,” says Anthony R. Coscia, Port Authority chairman.

“Helping customers get to and from their destinations is what we're all about,” adds Port Authority executive director Chris Ward. “By testing the most state-of-the-art technology, we hope to make their trip as carefree as possible.”