New Jersey Transit took some blows in the press this weekend as every paper hustled for follows to the gruesome death of young Jennifer Moore, whose booze-filled night in Manhattan ended tragically.
First, let's look at this Bergen Record piece, which paints a picture of young women boozing it up on NJ Transit trains -- just warming up for a night of binging in the big city.
Hoboken's PATH station is a conduit for young people bound for New York. Several PATH conductors complained that kids are often drunk by the time they arrive, fresh from drinking on NJ Transit's commuter trains, which permit passengers to consume alcohol. They yell at one another, and fumble to put their tickets into the turnstile's reader.A PATH station official shook his head at the mention of kids running onto trains bound for binge drinking in the city.
"They are totally undisciplined," said the PATH official, who asked not to be named because his employer does not allow workers to be interviewed without permission. "It's nothing you can control, because New York City is the magnet."
The New York Post talks to young women who grouse about NJ Transit's schedules, the eternal transit lament of suburban youth. If you're caught in Manhattan after 1 a.m. you're stranded:
Rachel, the Columbia student, said the problem of getting home is particularly daunting for Jerseyans like Moore - New Jersey Transit buses and trains stop running at around 1 a.m."Having a train leave more regularly gives people more options," she says. "It would make people drink less heavily beforehand, so they wouldn't come home too late or feel tempted to drive in.
"I think it makes people drink really heavily until 1 so they feel they're not missing out. I've had friends who've slept in the station and I've also had friends that were so drunk they missed their stops."
-- Rolando Pujol
