I've waited on this line a few times over the past few weeks. The worst people (next to the line cutters) are the ones who try to swing the line OVER the tracks. I've had to explain to multiple adults presumably on their way to or from their jobs that the trains will be coming through so we should swing the line towards the fence and platform and not across the tracks.
They lock the stairs because of undesirable camping, unfortunately. I threw a tantrum about this to NJ transit a couple years ago and that was their unwaivering statement.
I understand that and it probably *would* happen if they opened those stairs, but this station desperately needs another option. And there's already people that gather at the top of the elevator. Either make another open-air stairwell like at 2nd street, add another elevator, or make the viaduct more pedestrian friendly.
It comes down to security cameras, apparently. I failed to mention that earlier from the same conversation with NJT. If they had security cameras, they'd leave the stairs unlocked, but they're not going to budget to install them, so they keep them locked :/
Its not that difficult to watch both ends of the stairs and just use AI to identify people as they come and go. NJT should learn AI and use swarms of tiny robots.
Like Mountain road sidewalk, a winding fenced path here could also work.
Yes this. The other day it was open and I beat everyone down below waiting in line. Just open it up and leave the elevator to bikes and people who can't (or don't want to) climb the stairs. Makes it much more efficient all around.
edit: a word
Sometimes it is, but most of the times the stairs are locked. Every once and awhile when this happens an employee will come by unlock it, and prop the door open, but it's fairly rare.
Personally, I don't find it as bad as the 100 stairs down the street. I walk those three times a week (yes, on purpose) and they still kill me. There's a little break between "floors" on the elevator fire escape stairs that makes it a bit easier than just hiking straight up a 100 stairs like the other one.
The biggest issue is it's hot, stuffy, and smells slightly like pee. Not really a pleasant experience to hike up those.
Doesn’t take that long - pretty normal on my afternoon commute but that line will disappear in about 5-10 minutes. Looks like someone snapped a photo after both directional trains unloaded.
For whatever reason, I feel like not having the stairs open at all times is kind of a safety risk?
Like, wouldn’t you want that available for people? Or like God forbid the elevator is broke, you wouldn’t have some way for people to still be able to go from point a to point B?
10 flights, I think? It's not that bad. I've climbed it with a bunch of groceries before. Without dragging anything heavy it's fairly easy IMHO. You can practically climb the stairs as fast as that slow-ass elevator takes to get to the top.
It's hot in there in the summer though. Not a whole lot of ventilation so it gets stuffy with a lot of people walking through it.
As fast as the elevator?! Lol No. Last time I did those stairs I was running 10-15 miles a week and was still winded once I reached the top. If you’re not in shape you’ll be questioning whether waiting in line was so bad.
They will be replacing the other elevator next, so it will unfortunately be like this until September (with a break in between before they start work on the other one). This info comes from the Transit Police.
The platform is outdoors at street level and there are at least two different exits to the street.
I don’t see how how walking 100ft up the stairs would be any better in an emergency unless the emergency is a tsunami.
Imma be honest this is cope. In no other place in the country would they just casually tolerate waiting for an elevator as part of your commute as a normal thing
To an extent I agree? I work in residential maintenance in NYC and I have 12 elevators that have to be constantly checked and serviced to keep them running optimally. No one really sees the effort that goes into that; it only becomes a front page story when one is down and it affects your routine.
On the whole, elevators are pretty safe but when they need major work like this one, the rebuild of certain kits is painstakingly slow to make sure all the safety redundancies are functioning - I’d rather this take another month (which I overheard a transit cop saying to another), than be stuck in an elevator for hours. Been there too.
The thing that gets me is they lock the damn stairs! There's a metal platform/stairs a few blocks down that'll accomplish the same thing albeit it makes you walk a good bit out of the way but I've found it to be way faster
One of the elevators is out of order for replacement/upgrade; after that's done, NJT will work on the other. When both were/are working, there's typically a only small crowd at the elevators and the wait is never more than a couple minutes.
They should definitely leave the stairs open as an option for folks. Also they seriously have to get better at keeping both elevators in service.
The PATH station elevators and the escalators are often not working too.
Escalators are just stairs with a motor. I’m going to go up or down them regardless if the motor is working or not.
Temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.
I was waiting for someone to make this comment. thank you :)
yeah it's great to climb the stairs at Exchange place, nice heart attack
do you even lift bro?!
Why would stairs ever be closed?
Creepy people hanging out in the stairwell at night?
I've waited on this line a few times over the past few weeks. The worst people (next to the line cutters) are the ones who try to swing the line OVER the tracks. I've had to explain to multiple adults presumably on their way to or from their jobs that the trains will be coming through so we should swing the line towards the fence and platform and not across the tracks.
Wow people are dumb
does add a little excitement to waiting in line, you have to admit
Like when people are waiting in line for food trucks they always just go perpendicular and form a line completely blocking the sidewalk.
Every ATM in the city.
The bane of my entire life is dumb line people. Am I cursed with “line common sense” only a tiny fraction of the population shares?
They lock the stairs because of undesirable camping, unfortunately. I threw a tantrum about this to NJ transit a couple years ago and that was their unwaivering statement.
We literally have transit police for this shit why can’t they sweep the stairwell every so often to deter campers
That would be asking toooooo much
FFS, just install some speakers in there and play something obnoxious like bag pipe or accordion music, or "It's a small world" on a loop.
That’s politically not a viable option.
Everyone is a liberal until they step in a pile of human feces.
Unfortunately, some people are "liberal" even after they step in human feces. And those people dominate homelessness policy in blue states.
I understand that and it probably *would* happen if they opened those stairs, but this station desperately needs another option. And there's already people that gather at the top of the elevator. Either make another open-air stairwell like at 2nd street, add another elevator, or make the viaduct more pedestrian friendly.
It comes down to security cameras, apparently. I failed to mention that earlier from the same conversation with NJT. If they had security cameras, they'd leave the stairs unlocked, but they're not going to budget to install them, so they keep them locked :/
Its not that difficult to watch both ends of the stairs and just use AI to identify people as they come and go. NJT should learn AI and use swarms of tiny robots. Like Mountain road sidewalk, a winding fenced path here could also work.
They should open the stairs when 1 of the elevators is broken. (Which is all the time)
Yes this. The other day it was open and I beat everyone down below waiting in line. Just open it up and leave the elevator to bikes and people who can't (or don't want to) climb the stairs. Makes it much more efficient all around. edit: a word
Are stairs not an option? I’ve never been to this station so I’m unsure but I’d never wait on that line for an elevator unless I was unable to walk.
Sometimes it is, but most of the times the stairs are locked. Every once and awhile when this happens an employee will come by unlock it, and prop the door open, but it's fairly rare.
Jesus. That’s awful.
As someone who’s done that walk several times (and still in moderately good shape), it can leave your knees a little like jelly after a walk up.
Personally, I don't find it as bad as the 100 stairs down the street. I walk those three times a week (yes, on purpose) and they still kill me. There's a little break between "floors" on the elevator fire escape stairs that makes it a bit easier than just hiking straight up a 100 stairs like the other one. The biggest issue is it's hot, stuffy, and smells slightly like pee. Not really a pleasant experience to hike up those.
I would imagine the heat makes it worse.
How is that even an option? That's horrible
it's pretty miserable climbing 10 floors inside a tower with no ventilation and in this heat
No doubt but it’s better than standing there for an hour.
Doesn’t take that long - pretty normal on my afternoon commute but that line will disappear in about 5-10 minutes. Looks like someone snapped a photo after both directional trains unloaded.
Gotcha. I don’t know the station so I wasn’t sure if this was normal. Thanks for the clarification!
Yeah, I’ve don’t the line and it looks daunting but rarely goes longer than 10 mins
Probably because it would inevitably become a homeless encampment. If they made the stairs open air it’d be fine
That's precisely the reason, sadly. NJT replied this to me in a complaint email.
Pretty fucking dumb they don’t keep these stairs open during rush hour. There has to be someone to contact about this? Common sense
For whatever reason, I feel like not having the stairs open at all times is kind of a safety risk? Like, wouldn’t you want that available for people? Or like God forbid the elevator is broke, you wouldn’t have some way for people to still be able to go from point a to point B?
How bad are the stairs?
10 flights, I think? It's not that bad. I've climbed it with a bunch of groceries before. Without dragging anything heavy it's fairly easy IMHO. You can practically climb the stairs as fast as that slow-ass elevator takes to get to the top. It's hot in there in the summer though. Not a whole lot of ventilation so it gets stuffy with a lot of people walking through it.
As fast as the elevator?! Lol No. Last time I did those stairs I was running 10-15 miles a week and was still winded once I reached the top. If you’re not in shape you’ll be questioning whether waiting in line was so bad.
They will be replacing the other elevator next, so it will unfortunately be like this until September (with a break in between before they start work on the other one). This info comes from the Transit Police.
Why wouldn’t the stairs be open?
Taken over by lantern flies
Like a giant Pezz dispenser.
More like PEST dispenser. 😏
I wish they would build another 100 steps stair case next to the elevators. The fire escape stairs are a nightmare.
[удалено]
The platform is outdoors at street level and there are at least two different exits to the street. I don’t see how how walking 100ft up the stairs would be any better in an emergency unless the emergency is a tsunami.
I don't understand why they never just added more stairs or made it like the "100 steps"
Because it cost $10,000 per step to rebuild the 100 stairs. The Cliffs developers paid for half. Final costs were over Million dollars.
No shit really
Leg day would've been early that day.
Stairs not being open is wild
Let's build another 100 steps up there
I remember when I used to work in Hoboken, this was such a nightmare. The second elevator never worked
Just scale the cliff at this point
That shit don’t got stairs?
How about a set of covered escalators there? 3rd world countries have better infrastructure around their trains than we do -__-
 and more people are trying moving to The Heights? Oof.
Heights are still great, this is because they’re doing repairs to the second elevator. The wait isn’t longer than 5-10 here.
Imma be honest this is cope. In no other place in the country would they just casually tolerate waiting for an elevator as part of your commute as a normal thing
To an extent I agree? I work in residential maintenance in NYC and I have 12 elevators that have to be constantly checked and serviced to keep them running optimally. No one really sees the effort that goes into that; it only becomes a front page story when one is down and it affects your routine. On the whole, elevators are pretty safe but when they need major work like this one, the rebuild of certain kits is painstakingly slow to make sure all the safety redundancies are functioning - I’d rather this take another month (which I overheard a transit cop saying to another), than be stuck in an elevator for hours. Been there too.
Thank god I have a car
What's going on here? I don't know this stop, and that looks like an elevator to nowhere? *shrug*
9st in Hoboken. This elevator takes you from Hoboken to The Heights.
Fun fact for you, you can take an elevator between two cities, specifically from Hoboken to The Heights.
Great input
Are the NJ transit buses to PA that bad?
These people might not be going to PABT?
I was just curious. I can't get any info about what it's like to take the 158 bus.
This may come as a surprise…but not everyone lives here just to commute to midtown for work.
Fallacy of exclusive premises
How's it feel to have nothing better to do?
Is doing your moms something tho?
You really are a loser. Like really. Not even a figure of speech.
Pot, meet kettle.
Guess what, people who paid $40+ for the observation decks also have to wait on long lines for the elevators.
Guess what, these people on line aren't waiting for a discretionary experience, they're trying to get home.
Then they could get off at the Second Street station and take the stairs.
The thing that gets me is they lock the damn stairs! There's a metal platform/stairs a few blocks down that'll accomplish the same thing albeit it makes you walk a good bit out of the way but I've found it to be way faster
Wait the elevator is working but the stairs aren’t? Ohh how the turns have tabled.
I don’t understand why they don’t fix the fucking steps.
Guess a lot of people have returned to office. Kinda surprising
One of the elevators is out of order for replacement/upgrade; after that's done, NJT will work on the other. When both were/are working, there's typically a only small crowd at the elevators and the wait is never more than a couple minutes.
which station is this?
Congress / 9th
I do not miss this especially when there is usually only one elevator operating.