You’re standing at Exchange Place or maybe grabbing a coffee near Grove Street, and you realize you have to get to Newark. It’s only a few miles. On a map, it looks like a breeze. But if you’ve lived in Hudson County for more than a week, you know that the trek from Jersey City to Newark is a gauntlet of drawbridges, rail delays, and the absolute chaos of the Pulaski Skyway.
It's basically an urban obstacle course.
Most people assume the PATH is the only way. Others swear by their cars, thinking they can beat the navigation app's ETA. They're usually wrong. This stretch of New Jersey is one of the most densely packed transit corridors in the world. Between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers lies a mess of industrial wetlands, heavy rail lines, and highways that were designed before most of us were born. Getting it right saves you forty minutes. Getting it wrong means sitting on a bridge watching a barge move at the speed of a turtle while your meeting starts without you.
The PATH Train Reality Check
The PATH is the backbone of this commute. It’s cheap. It’s frequent. But it is not always "fast."
If you are starting at Journal Square, you’re golden. The ride to Newark Penn Station is roughly 10 to 12 minutes. That’s it. You spend more time waiting for an elevator in some buildings. However, if you are starting in Downtown Jersey City—say, Newport or Grove Street—you have a decision to make. You can take the Newark-bound train directly if you're at Grove, but if you're coming from the waterfront, you’re transferring at Journal Square.
Transfers are where dreams go to die on the weekend.
On a Tuesday at 8:00 AM, the headways are tight. You'll barely wait three minutes. On a Sunday night? You might be staring at a dirty track for 20 minutes. According to the Port Authority’s own performance dashboards, the Newark-World Trade Center line generally maintains a high on-time percentage, but "on-time" in transit-speak doesn't account for the sheer volume of people trying to squeeze into a car at 5:30 PM.
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Driving the Skyway vs. The "Truck" Route
Don't drive. Seriously, just don't do it unless you have to transport a literal refrigerator.
If you must, you're looking at the Pulaski Skyway (Route 1/9). It is a structural masterpiece and a driver’s nightmare. There are no shoulders. If a car breakdowns, the entire eastbound or westbound flow stops. Period. The Skyway takes you from the Tonnelle Circle area straight toward the Newark flats.
Then there is the "Truck 1/9" route. This is the gritty sibling. It takes you past the scrap yards and the heavy industrial zones of Kearny Point. It’s where you go when the Skyway is backed up because of a fender bender.
The secret here is the Wittpenn Bridge. The new vertical-lift bridge on Route 7 actually improved things significantly compared to the old one, which seemed to get stuck "up" every time you were in a rush. If you’re coming from the northern part of Jersey City (the Heights), taking Route 7 through Kearny into Newark is often faster than trying to dip down to the Skyway.
NJ Transit: The Forgotten Stepchild of this Route
People forget that NJ Transit buses exist. The 1 bus and the 48 bus crawl along these streets. Honestly, unless the trains are completely stalled out due to a signal failure at Harrison, the bus is a desperate move. It hits every single stop. It feels like it takes three years to get through the Ironbound.
But there is a rail alternative that people overlook: The NJ Transit Newark-World Trade Center connection isn't a thing, but you can take a train from New York Penn that stops at Secaucus and then Newark. This is useless if you're in Downtown JC, but if you’re near the North Bergen border or Secaucus, it’s a viable pivot.
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Harrison: The Weird Middle Ground
You can't talk about Jersey City to Newark without talking about the stop in the middle. Harrison.
Harrison used to be a ghost town of empty warehouses. Now it’s a forest of luxury apartments and Red Bull Arena. If you’re heading to Newark for a Devils game or a concert at Prudential Center, sometimes it’s smarter to jump off at Harrison and just walk across the Jackson Street Bridge.
Why? Because Newark Penn Station can be a bottleneck. The walk from Harrison into the Ironbound district of Newark is actually pretty great. You can grab some of the best Portuguese food in the country—think churrasco at Ferry Street BBQ—before you even hit the downtown Newark core.
The EWR Factor
If your "Newark" destination is actually Newark Liberty International Airport, the math changes.
The PATH does not go to the airport. Repeat: The PATH does not go to the airport.
If you take the PATH from Jersey City, you end up at Newark Penn. From there, you have to grab a $20+ Uber or wait for the NJ Transit "Airport" line to go one more stop to the EWR Rail Link station, where you then get on the AirTrain. It is a three-step process that feels like a heist movie.
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From Jersey City, if you're heading to the terminals, a rideshare is usually the only sane option. It’ll cost you $30-$50 depending on the surge, but it saves you the physical toll of dragging luggage through three different turnstiles.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that the distance determines the time. It doesn't.
Water determines the time.
The Hackensack and Passaic Rivers are working waterways. This isn't just for show. Large vessels move through here. If a bridge opens, the schedule is out the window. The PATH uses fixed bridges that don't open for river traffic in the same way the lower road bridges do, which is why rail is almost always the "expert" choice.
Another tip? Watch the schedule for the Newark Light Rail once you arrive at Newark Penn. If your destination is the Newark Museum of Art or Rutgers-Newark, don't walk it from Penn Station in the rain. The Light Rail is a quick, clean underground-to-above-ground hop that people from JC often forget to utilize.
The Ironbound Detour
If you have an hour to kill, don't just sit in the station. Newark Penn is a beautiful Art Deco building, but it's chaotic. Walk three blocks east into the Ironbound.
The transition from the urban density of Jersey City to the European feel of Ferry Street is one of the coolest parts of living in North Jersey. You can find authentic pasteis de nata at Teixeira’s Bakery that will make you forget the PATH train was delayed.
Making the Trip Work for You
- Check the PATH Twitter (X) feed first. They are surprisingly honest about delays. If the Newark-WTC line is "suspended," do not go to the station. Call a car immediately or look for the NJ Transit bus alternatives.
- Use the "Curb" app instead of just Uber/Lyft. Sometimes the yellow or green cabs in JC or Newark have flat rates or better availability when the apps are surging.
- Download the RidePATH app. The "real-time" clocks on the platform are sometimes aspirational. The app is slightly more grounded in reality.
- Learn the Jackson Street Bridge. If you are biking (yes, people bike this, though the Pulaski is illegal and suicidal for cyclists), the Jackson Street Bridge is your primary crossing from Harrison into Newark.
- The "Secret" PATH Hack: If you are at Newport and the Newark train is 20 minutes away, take the 33rd Street train to Christopher St and swap for a WTC-bound train, then swap again at Journal Square. It sounds insane, but sometimes moving is better than standing still in a cold station.
This trek is a rite of passage. Whether you’re commuting for work or heading to a game, the key to the Jersey City to Newark route is flexibility. Don't get married to one mode of transport. The moment you do, the Wittpenn Bridge will lift, a signal will fail, or a "track fire" will turn your 15-minute hop into a two-hour saga. Keep your eyes on the apps and your sneakers laced tight.