And weather also can slow her travels, as it did on a recent night when heavy rains stretched her evening commute to three hours. Striking at once Sometimes many delays strike at once, as they did one day last fall. She spent an hour battling congestion on the way to Netcong before turning around and backtracking to the Lake Hopatcong station. 20 minutes late she overheard conductors talking about traffic delays in getting to work and a half-hour wait ensued in Dover, where she had to switch trains. The commute took five hours that day.
Today is better, however.
She reaches the Dover station with nearly 10 minutes to spare, giving a familiar greeting to the conductor just before the train pulls away for the 90-minute trip. She has her choice of seats in the morning, but coming home is different. Rat in a maze Some people wait at a particular track, gambling that they ve picked the right one, she says. It s like being a rat in a maze. Daily ridership on the Midtown Direct has more than doubled since 1996, when it was inaugurated to let passengers take the train directly into Penn Station rather than transfer to a PATH train in Hoboken.