NJ Transit Fare Holiday Adventure

When Governor Murphy announced the Fare Holiday week, which included Labor Day weekend, I knew I had to take advantage of this!  The question became when and where? It is the end of summer, so my thoughts were of ‘Summer things’ (at least in my mind). The Jersey Shore? Most certainly! But which beach? I took the Atlantic City Line train to Atlantic City on Memorial Day, which was already checked off for the summer of 2024. Maybe this was the excuse I needed to get on New Jersey Transit’s longest bus line: The 317 which runs from Philadelphia to Asbury Park and passes right in front of my home in Mt. Holly?

  After checking maps and weather, the plan began to come together: First Stop: Point Pleasant Beach. What comes after that, I don’t know. After spending two-plus hours on a bus, maybe I won’t want to do this much more.

After spending some time on the boardwalk, I can walk a few blocks to the train station, where a few buses stop also, and see where I end up. Maybe I could bus-hop along the coast all the way south to Atlantic City or Cape May?

The 317 bus runs bi-hourly on holidays so my first shot was 8:10 AM (I wasn’t getting up any earlier on a holiday) which would get me to Point Pleasant Beach at about 10:30. I got on the very empty in Mt. Holly just a few blocks from my home, which was not expected. I doubt I will get this lucky on the rest of my odyssey.

I put on my Bluetooth headphones and listened to the No Agenda Podcast as the bus snaked its way around the Joint base (McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst) and skirted the Pine Barons National Reserve slowly making its way northeast. I may have even dozed off at one point because the next thing I knew we were pulling into the Lakewood Bus depot, but with only four bus lanes, ‘Depot’ seems like an exaggeration.

  Maybe I dozed off again, but I looked up and we were in Point Pleasant borough, which is a separate municipality from the borough of Point Pleasant Beach oddly enough. I checked my phone, and I realized there were less than 3 miles to go. The trip seemed like time just flew by. The Point Pleasant Beach train station is the closest bus stop to the boardwalk, but my first stop was Pop's Corner Restaurant & Bakery, a little local cafe where I got a cup of coffee. I only had half a cup of coffee at home this morning because I was concerned about having to go to the bathroom on such a long bus ride. They had MANY tasty-looking and smelling treats there, but my brain was already set on boardwalk food.

  It is only about an eight-minute walk from the station down Arnold Avenue to the boardwalk which has good sidewalks on both sides of the street, not something I encounter frequently.

  The first I hit the public bathroom, which was quite clean. There were many signs advising patrons not to use it as a changing room. There was not a person cleaning and asking for tips, which I often encounter elsewhere.

  The city was asking for $13 to get onto the beach, and for me who only wanted to dip my toes in the water and take some photos that was out of the question. I walked up the boardwalk to the northern end, where the Manasquan Inlet empties into the Atlantic Ocean. There I took some photos and watched the boats pass by for a few minutes. 

 I was tempted to go into the very nice Jenkinson’s Aquarium, the first place I have ever been to where you are permitted to ‘pet the sharks’ but I had just missed the penguin feeding time and just to pop my head in for a few moments didn’t seem a good value.

  I went back down south and peeked into some of the shops and admired the homes along the boardwalk. There were a few that advertised they were available as rentals. I was tempted to take photos of the signs to check them out later, but I knew I already had too many wishful thinking ideas on my proverbial “someday/maybe’ list    None of the food stalls I passed looked or smelt inviting. But what caught my eye was an advertisement for Monmouth Park Racetrack. Oh... that is not too far away and the train from here stops there.  Checking my phone, I saw the next train heading in that direction was leaving at 12:30, so there was plenty of time. I continued south until I got to the end of the boardwalk and the only thing, I came away with was a key chain that featured a French fry stealing seagull.

 

There I checked my phone again and realized that I was now closer to the Bay Head station than Point Pleasant Beach, So I set Google Maps to guide me there. Walking along the beachside street, appropriately named Ocean Avenue, which thankfully had nice and WIDE sidewalks, I saw an unguarded beach access point. It may have been “private beach’ access, but there was no sign that I saw (maybe I just ignored it?). So, I walked two blocks or so south on the sand across the mostly deserted stretch of beach. I did get my toes wet, only to say I did. But then walked west on the also appropriately named Sea Ave (so, yes, there is an intersection of Ocean Avenue and Sea Avenue in the borough of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey), and The Great Google led me through a hotel parking lot and into an apartment complex and to a fence. But at the end of the fence, there was a gap between it and the neighboring fence. With some trepidation, I got through there and I was immediately at the back of the small station, just as The Great Google said! What a shock this turned out to be.

 

  I have ridden many, many miles on NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line train over the years, and it was once a part of my daily commute for two years. but have never been here to its southern terminus (but NJT officially calls it “West”). This is a quite small but very well-maintained station. There I spent a few minutes talking to three Rail Fans (that some people call ‘foamers’) and they had been taking maximum advantage of the fare holiday. Hitting every line and many bus and light rail routes throughout the week. I was a little envious but was quite excited about my adventure of the day.

 

  It is not often I get aboard an empty train and right from the staging yard no less, but this happened today. There were less than a dozen people who climbed on with me, yes there were no platforms, and we had to use the stairs. It was a three-car consisting pulled by a diesel locomotive engine. It was less than a five-minute ride until we got to the Point Pleasant Beach station, but it was there that the train began to fill up. The stretch from Bay Head to Long Branch only has trains every other hour so I should have expected this. This leg of the journey is scheduled for 40 minutes.

 Continuing north the little train was quite full, almost every seat was taken by the time we got to Long Branch. It was there we had to change trains to an electric one that would go all the way to New York Penn Station. I made sure I was one of the last to board because mine was the first stop. I stood in the vestibule for the six minutes it took to get to Monmouth Park station.

The station is little more than a bus shelter and gravel, being that trains only stop here during the racing season - Memorial Day through mid-September.   It is not ‘accessible’ in the least, there is not even a ticket vending machine or lights.

 It is a ten-minute walk to get to the gate of Monmouth Park, you even must cross a street where there is not even a traffic light, just a yellow sign asking drivers to yield to people in the crosswalk, not even the silly blinking yellow lights.

 

  At the gate to the track, there was a $6 entrance fee, which I paid in cash.  I haven’t been to Monmouth Park in over a decade, but little seems to have changed, not even from photos that were displayed of the facility of what it looked like in the 1940s and 50s.

  There were about 10 minutes until the next race and just for laughs I looked at the names of the horses involved. There was one named “Just Being Honest”, so I went up to the betting counter and explained to the lady that I hadn’t done this in a long time (has it been 25 years?) and bet $2 ‘Across the board’ on number six.

This means that I put a $2 bet for the horse to win, a $2 bet on the horse to ‘Place’ (come in second), and a $2 bet on the horse to ‘Show’ (come in third).

After this, I wandered around the cavernous hall taking photos. I was waiting to be told that it was not permitted, as I found out at an Atlantic City casino in May, but I was far from the only one doing this.

  A large crowd moved up to the rail just before things got started, there were shouts and cheers, even from me as my horse was near the front of the pack the whole trip around.  In just over a minute, it was all over. My horse came in second and when the payouts were posted on the video board, I realized that I was up $1.40, go me!  I went up to the same counter and the same clerk paid me out.

  Next, there was a visit to the “gentlemen” restroom, as it was marked, which also seemed to be out of the 1940s. But everything was clean and functional, and care for the facility was obvious. After this, I went out to another entrance and got my next surprise: a food truck festival!

  I wandered around taking in the sights, sounds (there was a live band), and smells. The scene seemed to be dominated by BBQ places! I did the circuit and was mesmerized by a bacon spot with sausages on a grill, I got one wrapped in bacon.  The only drinks that seemed to be for sale were alcoholic, so I passed.  My lunch was very tasty.     

  I went back inside and made my way up to the grandstand, I think the area was for people who paid for seats, but I sat anyway, being that 95% or so were empty.

 

It was only a few minutes until the next race so I stayed and watched. 

I had set my alarm for 2:45 to be sure to catch the 3:05 train, and I was already on my way when my phone buzzed in my pocket.  It was a ten-minute walk back to the station, but there was no rush, I was following things on my phone and the train didn’t leave Long Branch until 3:15, 15 minutes late. While waiting there was a person who was wearing a Statue Of Liberty T-shirt, this gave me the idea to go to Liberty State Park in Jersey City. I checked my phone and learned that the free park shuttle bus was operating until 7:00 this evening.

  Once the train did come it didn’t even begin stopping until it was past the ‘station’. It took them 12 minutes to back up 25 feet to let us onto the last car. This was a bad sign. The engineer seemed to have an issue at each stop along the route.

At first, I was thinking about getting off at Red Bank but as I was still contemplating this Red Bank came and went.  I noticed that people were boarding wearing New York Mets gear, so I concluded there was a game today. This was fun to think about until I noticed all the people getting on in Boston Red Sox jerseys. I figured out who was visiting Citi Field tonight!

  The train began to get very full when we got to Rahway and by the time we got to Newark Liberty Airport the train was jam-packed. We were stuck even longer at Newark Penn Station because people were trying to get off the train by climbing over air travelers’ luggage that jammed the full length of the aisle.
   By the time we had gotten to Secaucus Junction, and I exited the electronic sign told us that it was 5:40 PM and our train had been scheduled to arrive at 4:30. I had grown quite frustrated at this point. My idea of going to Liberty State Park became futile because the free shuttle was ending at 7:00. It was a very long walk to the back of the Statue of Liberty from the Hudson Bergen Light Rail stop, about two miles each way. Of course, the train from Secaucus to Hoboken was running late too.

 I had taken the opportunity to visit the men’s room and go into the snack stand and get a Diet Coke and a Payday bar, This little snack cost $8.00! What kind of rip-off is this? It was odd that they also were selling beer in the same fridge as the soda and water. I was still in New Jersey, right? Then I noticed that two men in the line in front of me were buying beer, and they were the only ones who were given bags, plain brown paper bags at that.

  There has been some backlash in the media over this whole Fare Holiday thing. If the governor wanted to appease the daily riders who had such a bad summer trying to get in and out of New York and the Northeast Corridor line due to Amtrak issues, why didn’t they just give the Monthly Pass purchasers a partial refund? Or make their September passes discounted? Those are the people who were most affected and are the core of the daily rail commuters in New Jersey. But still, I appreciate the gesture, and I shouldn’t get frustrated just because many other people are doing the exact same thing I am doing for the exact same reason.

  It was less than ten minutes on the train to Hoboken, what was originally the terminal for the Delaware - Lackawanna- and Western Railroad. They have done a great deal to preserve the historical aspects of this station. You can easily imagine what this place was like in the days of coal-fired steam trains. In the year 1900, people would arrive here from western locales, even as far as Chicago, and then walk from the platform and up a ramp and take a ferry across the Hudson River to Manhattan. Today commuters from Northern New Jersey, Rockland, and Orange Counties in New York do the same thing but step off diesel-powered trains. 

I walked around Frank Sinatra Park, which is along the river just north of the station. While my brain was trying to recalculate what I should do next, I turned back south walked through the station again, and headed south along the riverfront, shortly after leaving the station was the border of Jersey City.

   Thirty years ago, this area was dominated by rotting piers and derelict warehouses, now this is towered over by residential high rises which house million-dollar condos and luxury apartments. Very stunning architecture at prices, I could not begin to imagine.

Along the river are small green spaces, playgrounds, dog parks, and even a three-court Pickleball spot.

I came across a large sculpture of the head of a girl pressing her finger to her lips as if to tell everyone across the river to shush up! It was interesting to see as I walked all around trying to take photos from many angles.

At this point, the sun was beginning to set, and it was interesting visually because it was growing dark on the ground, but the not-so-distant skyline was still catching the sun’s rays. Continuing south I was starting to get hungry. I was tempted to head back to Hoboken to eat but I saw a sign for ‘market and restaurants’ I made a right and one block in I saw the grocery store, with tables inside and on the sidewalk, but there were not any restaurants in sight. When I turned around, I saw a line in front of a food truck. This must be a decent place because DoorDash drivers were picking up orders there.

  I saw the gyro slab spinning in a giant skewer which was very tempting, but I ordered chicken and lamb over rice and a Coke. While waiting I saw on the menu that they offered “Cheese Steaks”, and I took a photo and sent it to my friend with the message “You know you are a long way from Philly when ‘Cheesesteak’ is two words. It took less than five minutes, and I was on my way back towards the river to find a place to sit and eat.

   There was an unused group of Adirondack-style chairs, and I snagged one. By now the city skyline was lit up, just waiting for the darkness to envelop in the sky around it. Even the shushing head was all lit up on the pier just north of where I was sitting, maybe 500 yards away. I just sat and enjoyed this incredible meal, which didn’t cost much more than the Diet Coke and Payday bar I got about an hour and a half earlier.

  With a tasty meal in my belly and a whole lot done in the day, this after long days the two days before. It was time to head towards home.  I walked up towards the Newport PATH station when I saw the Hudson-Bergan Light Rail approaching, So I hustled and jumped on that to Exchange Place where I got onto the PATH train to Newark Penn Station. Being the PATH is not New Jersey Transit it was not part of the Fare Holiday, and I had to pay for this, $2.75. 

While standing on the platform I realized that the RiverLine I was counting on catching from Trenton probably wasn’t running late on this holiday. I put this all into Google Maps and it recommended that I catch an Amtrak from Newark to Trenton scheduled for 8:40 (also not part of the Fare Holiday) in rder to catch the last RiverLine from Trenton at 9:30 and the last 417 bus from Burlington back to Mt Holly at 10:15. It was a good thing I already have the Amtrak App on my phone. When I punched these figures into it…. The next Amtrak train wasn’t until 10:15! Google may have known the schedule, but it didn’t have the live train information.

   The PATH train came, and I climbed aboard while my head was busy trying to come up with a contingency plan. I was now looking at the New Jersey Transit app on my phone, trying to find the next train to Trenton from Newark Penn Station. The Departure Vision screen said there was one leaving in ten minutes, but there was little chance I was going to catch that. I didn’t bother to check the schedule for the next one, knowing full well that the schedules were all shot to hell at this point. The next one would come eventually. Figuring I would get to Penn Station at about 8:40 which meant it was more than 12 hours since I left home this morning. Not such a bad adventure, but I was unsure when or how I was going to make it home.

   The PATH train tracks straddle the Northeast Corridor (the trains coming from New York City into Newark) tracks as they cross the Passaic River and enter Penn Station. The PATH tracks were on climb in elevation at this point because the platform is on the upper level of the station. As we were on the final approach, I was looking out the window I saw we were passing a slow New Jersey Transit train that had ‘Trenton’ showing on its electric sign. Could I possibly make this one?

  From the Upper Level of Penn Station, known as ‘Track H” there are two ways down: The most commonly used way is using the main escalators and going down two stories to the main concourse and then going up to the tracks for departing trains, but there is another route.  To the south of that exit is a ramp that will bring you right down the platform that serves tracks 3 and 4, where the approaching Trenton bound train, we just passed would be heading to. I hustled off the PATH train the moment the doors slid open and dashed through the crowd rather rudely, flying past the main exit and zipping down the ramp as fast as my out-of-shape-sandal-wearing self could go. Approaching the bottom of the ramp I saw the Trenton train on track 4, its doors still open. I pushed my way through the crowd and squeezed into the vestibule of the car. Not 15 seconds later the chime rang, and the door shut behind me!

  As I collected my breath and thanked The Lord for allowing me to make it, and not tumble down the ramp, I saw that this train was just as busy as the train I got off at Secaucus Junction at 5:40!  I then realized that I should have expected this, but this was all OK because the whole lot of us were now in motion out of the station

  Checking my phone, I saw that it was now 8:42 and I knew there was very little chance of making it to Trenton for the last RiverLine at 9:30. Maybe they are running late too? The way things are going I don’t think that we’ll make it to Trenton until 10:00. Now I must find some other way from there back to Mt. Holly. There was a scheduled 10:00 409 bus that went from Trenton to Philadelphia that passed through Burlington City. I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if I got home in an Uber from there. Disappointing: Yes, but not the end of the world.

  As the train chugged along people were exiting at each station stop, and by the time we got through Metropark I was able to get a seat. I used my phone to find where the bus stop was that I needed for the 409. I used the 409 for about six months as part of my daily commute, but I never boarded it in Trenton before, its origin. 

  We got to Trenton about 9:50 and I had the chance to visit the men’s room before crossing the plaza to the ‘North’ bus stop. At the bus shelter, others were waiting also, there were plenty of lights and signage, so I knew I was in the right place. About 10:10 the bus pulled up and everyone boarded. I was slightly concerned because it would be past midnight by the time this bus would finish this leg of its trip in Philly, Would the driver have to begin collecting fares at some point in the journey at the designated end of the Fare Holiday? I was curious but not concerned because I would be off before then anyway. The bus slowly snaked its way south through the towns of Trenton, Bordentown, Fieldsboro, Roebling, and Florence stopping every few blocks or so it seemed, before turning into Burlington City where I exited near the RiverLine stop at the intersection of Broad and High Streets.

    Sitting on the bench I pulled out my phone and saw that it was 11:14 PM. Just for laughs I checked and the only transit out of this location before sunrise in any direction would be a 409-bus headed back to Trenton in another hour and a half. I opened the Uber app and summoned a ride. The app told me that is had been 13 months since I last used it, which I felt pretty good about, although Uber may feel otherwise.

   I summoned a car, and this took a long time to find a driver, over 5 minutes. But the driver opted out, several more minutes before finding another driver and the same thing happened. This happened a total of 5 times, this has never happened to me before, and I found it odd. Finally, a driver was heading my way. I did some scrolling on the map on the Uber App, and I saw that according to Uber I was standing in front of an establishment named ‘Third State Brewing’. Maybe the app was telling the drivers I was waiting at a bar instead of an old bank that had “for sale or lease” signs in the windows? Is that why they were passing on my fare?

  It was 11:52 by the time the car showed. It shouldn’t have taken 38 minutes for this, even this late on a holiday.  The driver was friendly, and I was quite happy to be in a vehicle of any sort on my way home at this point. It is a straight 7.5-mile ride down “County Highway 541” which is known as High Street in Burlington, High Street in Mount Holly, and curiously enough as “Burlington – Mount Holly Road” in the smaller municipalities in between. By the time we pulled up to my place, it was 12:17 AM. My happiness of arrival was tempered by the fact that none of my neighbors had bothered to put the trash cans or recycling bins on the curb, thanks, guys.

  Just a few minutes later I was inside my apartment for 16 hours and 20 minutes after I left.   I checked my phone as I plugged it in and saw that I had taken 193 photos on this adventure. The Great Google told me that I went 69.7 miles by bus, 120 miles on trains, and walked 8.6 miles in the last 24 hours. I quickly stripped and showered and was snoring by 1:00 AM.