PATH is the railroad under the Hudson that New Jersey actually uses to get into Manhattan. It is not NJ Transit. It is not the subway, though it feels closer to one. Flat fare, turnstiles, four lines, and a weekend pattern that finally looks like a visitor railroad again.
Use it when you are sleeping in Hoboken, Jersey City, or Newark and spending part of the day in New York. Do not use it to reach Asbury Park.
This is an independent guide. It is not the official New Jersey tourism office.
Where PATH goes
New Jersey stations: Newark, Harrison, Journal Square, Grove Street, Exchange Place, Newport, and Hoboken. Manhattan stations: World Trade Center downtown, and Christopher Street, 9th, 14th, 23rd, and 33rd Street uptown.
Think in four lines, not in a subway map:
- Newark–World Trade Center — the long one. Newark, Harrison, Journal Square, Grove Street, Exchange Place, then Lower Manhattan. About half an hour from Newark Penn’s PATH station to the World Trade Center.
- Journal Square–33rd Street — Jersey City into Midtown, often via Hoboken depending on the trip. Use this for 14th Street, Chelsea, Herald Square.
- Hoboken–33rd Street — the short Midtown hop from Hoboken Terminal. Roughly a quarter hour.
- Hoboken–World Trade Center — Hoboken to Lower Manhattan, with Newport and Exchange Place on the way. Weekend service on this line came back in 2026 after a long gap. Confirm in the RidePATH app; construction still rearranges weekends.
9th Street and 23rd Street close overnight for maintenance, typically midnight to 5 a.m. Use Christopher Street, 14th, or 33rd instead.
Fares
One ride is a flat $3.25 in 2026, the same from Newark to Midtown as from Hoboken to the World Trade Center. Children 5 and under ride free.
Pay at the turnstile with a contactless card or phone, or with a PATH TAPP card. MetroCard and SmartLink stopped working on PATH on September 1, 2026. OMNY on the subway is not TAPP. Budget for two systems if you are chaining PATH and the A train.
Multi-ride TAPP packs shave a little off the single fare if you are crossing every day of a long weekend. A one-day unlimited exists if you are ping-ponging. For two or three crossings, singles are simpler.
PATH versus NJ Transit versus ferry
PATH: Hudson County and Newark into Manhattan. Frequent. Cheap. No Coast Line, no Princeton, no Shore.
NJ Transit rail: Penn Station New York to the rest of the state. You will take it to Asbury Park, Princeton Junction, and most places PATH never heard of. Some NJ Transit trains also terminate in Hoboken, where you can walk downstairs into PATH.
Ferries: NY Waterway, Liberty Landing, Seastreak and the rest. Useful when you want daylight and a skyline, or when you are going to a pier PATH does not serve. They cost more and they notice the weather. A Hoboken–Midtown ferry is a mood. PATH is the errand.
If the weekend is Hoboken and a dinner in the Village, PATH. If the weekend is Asbury Park, NJ Transit. If someone in the group refuses tunnels, look at a ferry and accept the fare.
Nights and weekends
PATH runs overnight on the core lines, thinner than daytime. Weekend service improved in 2026: more direct Journal Square–33rd Street and Hoboken–33rd Street trips during the day, plus the restored Hoboken–World Trade Center weekend trains. Frequencies in the middle of a Saturday are often every 10 minutes on the Midtown lines. That is still not “miss this one, another in ninety seconds.”
Always open RidePATH before you leave the bar. Planned work is normal. A weekend map from memory is how people end up in Harrison.
Liberty State Park and the waterfront
PATH does not stop in Liberty State Park. Get off at Exchange Place or Grove Street and take the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail toward the park, or walk if you packed for it. The park is the lawn, the Empty Sky 9/11 memorial, the Liberty Science Center, and the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty — the last of those is a separate ticket and a separate line.
The Jersey City waterfront (Exchange Place, Newport, the promenade) is a PATH walk. Hoboken’s river path is a PATH walk. You do not need a car for that weekend. You need decent shoes and a plan for the last train you are willing to take.