Page 12 - Hudson & Manhattan / Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH)

The Catalog of Transit Fiscal Ephemera & Exonumia from the City of the New York
(pre-Metrocard)
featuring the collections of George S. Cuhaj & Philip M. Goldstein

Page 12

Hudson & Manhattan:	Fare Collection	Fare History	Tokens	Tickets	Refund Coupons	Receipts	Passes
Port Authority Trans Hudson:	Fare Collection	Fare History	Token	Tickets	Refund Coupons

The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad - A Brief History

The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad (Hudson Tubes) predates the New York City Subway. Originally planned in 1873, technology for boring of the tunnels under the Hudson River did not yet exist. Construction on the tunnels began in 1883 and lasted until 1890, when finances were exhausted. Construction would resume in 1900 until completion.

With the tunnels completed by 1906, stations, lighting and finishing work was at a stage to allow non-revenue test trains in late 1907. Revenue service officially commenced at midnight on February 26, 1908; with President Theodore Roosevelt pressing a button in the White House that turned on the electricity in the uptown tubes. This was strictly symbolic as a train carrying passengers and officials had run the previous day.

This map shows the routes in service (solid red lines) and the anticipated extensions of 1912 (dashed red lines) (which never came to fruition):

courtesy of Columbia University Digital Collection

Several route extensions quickly followed, along with passenger connections to the New York Subway System. After several decades of service, ridership reached a record setting milestone of 113,000,000 million passengers in 1927.

Thereafter ridership began to fall: the Holland Tunnel was opened that same year and the convenience of direct automobile travel into or off of Manhattan had begun (Prior to this, a ferry ride would be required). Successive Hudson River crossings compounded the decline in passengers, with the opening of the George Washington Bridge (1931), the Lincoln Tunnel (1937) drew even more ridership away from the the H&M.

In December 1937 the 28th Street was closed due to it's proximity to the 33rd Street station.

This map shows the routes and stations in service at 1947:

courtesy of Columbia University Digital Collection

In August 1954, another station was closed: 19th Street and ownership of the H&M entered receivership, and operations were conducted under bankruptcy protection.

By the early 1960's, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operated the Hudson River vehicular crossings was planning to construct the the World Trade Center. (History continued in the PATH chapter)

Fare Collection

The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad used a vastly different system of fare tariffs, than that say of other transit systems throughout New York City / New York City Transit Authority; where one flat fare allowed you to go anywhere the New York City subway (and the exception to this was the Rockaways which was a double fare until 1975).

The Hudson & Manhattan utilized a tiered system based on the destination and direction of the passenger;

The reason for this tiered system of fares was because it was nearly impossible to determine the final stop of a passenger without a conductor. As the stations were close together in New Jersey as well as Manhattan, there was insufficient time for a conductor to have "worked" a train (either selling and/or collecting tickets from each passenger on the train, like most commuter or long distance operations can.)

This, could lead to an unscrupulous passenger saying to a ticket clerk at Newark at time of purchase, "I'm going to get off at Journal Square", and then go to Manhattan instead.

So prepayment of the full fare for the maximum distance was the answer, and then the issuance of a refund coupon for those passengers not going the full distance; ensured no passenger went further than they were supposed to, as well as ensured no passenger was overcharged for a non-interstate trip.

The tier based system, also charged an additional fare for traveling north of Christopher Street on the Sixth Avenue segment.

So to recap (and if I understand this correctly):

the base fare from any station in New Jersey to another station in New Jersey (intrastate) - 5 cents
from one point in New York to another point in New York (intrastate) - 2 cents
an additional fare for New Jersey to Christopher Street, New York (interstate) - 5 cents

To make matters more complicated, there were originally two different fares based on direction of travel in Manhattan: going uptown cost more that going downtown, and when the H&M RR line was extended to Newark Penn Station, the fare to or from Newark - Penn Station regardless of destination or origin point was a flat 40 cents, as service was shared with the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Compounding this variable fare schedule, was the fact that different methods were in place to pay the fare which depending on the location and destination of travel, as evidenced by the following article found in the Electric Railway Journal:

Thanks to this article, it clearly explains the usage of the 5 and 2 cent fare tickets, the Exit Coupons and the Refund Coupons beginning in 1911.

As we can surmise, every southbound passenger embarking at the Sixth Avenue Stations regardless of destination was issued a refund coupon. Those that traveled through to New Jersey stations did not have cause to turn them in, therefore becoming a valueless piece of paper. It can only be imagined how many interstate commuters had these refund coupons bundled in their coat pocket. This being said, explains their prevalence on the collectibles market.

Add to this, the Hudson & Manhattan also sold 15, 30 and 365 day / 1 Year "Excursion Tickets" good for a round trip at reduced fare, if a passenger was to prepay their trip that in advance.

Fare History Fares were prepaid for maximum rate of fare, with refund coupons for shorter distances traveled.
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad
1908	5¢
December 24, 1911	All passengers prepaid 7¢ and received 5¢ and 2¢ tickets: Fare: 5¢ between NJ and Hudson Terminal, NY or 7¢ cents between NJ and 33rd Street Terminal, NY For northbound travel: a passenger received a 2¢ refund coupon if passenger did not go farther than Christopher Street, NY on northbound travel from New Jersey; For southbound travel from 33rd Street, NY, passenger received a 5¢ refund coupon if they did not go farther than Christopher Street, NY
1919	2¢ in Manhattan
1920	5¢ and 1¢
1921	5¢ and 1¢
1925	6¢ from Journal Square, NJ to downtown Hudson Terminal, NY or 10¢ from Journal Square, NJ to uptown 33rd Street Terminal, NY 1¢ refund if passenger boards and alights in NJ
1927 downtown direction	6¢
1927 uptown direction	10¢
July 25, 1938 downtown direction	8¢
July 25, 1938 uptown direction	10¢ - 2¢ upon leaving
June 26 through November 26, 1946	10¢ single ride or 9¢ with 11 tokens purchased for $1 and 5¢ refund coupon for intrastate travel only**
November 26, 1946	flat 10¢ fare instituted
April 1950	ICC grants a 5¢ interstate fare increase to 15¢.
December 13, 1951	20¢
Port Authority Trans Hudson
? to January 29, 1962	40¢ interstate from Newark Penn Station, NJ to Manhattan, NY 25¢ interstate from Jersey City / Hoboken, NJ to Manhattan, NY 15¢ intrastate in New Jersey
January 30, 1962	40¢ interstate from Newark Penn Station, NJ to Manhattan, NY 30¢ interstate from Jersey City / Hoboken, NJ to Manhattan, NY 20¢ intrastate in Manhattan 15¢ intrastate in New Jersey
1967	30¢ interstate from Newark or Journal Square, NJ to Manhattan, NY 30¢ intrastate - system now completely flat rate
November 8, 1971	tokens removed from service, reverted back to all cash system
July 29, 1973	50¢
January 2001	$1.00
2002	$1.50
2008	$2.00
October 1, 2014 and currently	$2.75 (not include discounted bulk fare cards)
** The refund coupon was redeemed upon exit from a New Jersey station, if the passenger had boarded in New Jersey; or at a New York station, if the passenger had boarded in New York.

To assist in dating the issues below, the following table is under compilation reflecting signatories on the tickets and coupons

year	president		comptroller
1912	William G. McAdoo		Hamilton S. Corwin
1914, 1915, 1917, 1918	Wilbur C. Fisk		Fletcher. H. Sillick
1919 (United States Railroad Administration - WW1)	K. B. Conger
1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930	Oren Root
1931, 1932, 1933, 1935	C. D. Emmons
1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939	C. S. Klumpp
1946	Walter Brown
1947	Robert Carleton
1950	William Reid
		1951	J. J. Fritsch
		1956	Stichman

Hudson & Manhattan Tokens

Please note; Hudson & Manhattan Railroad tokens were ordered without a mandate to have the "H" oriented properly with the rim legend, thus a collector can find them with the "H" in nearly every degree of rotation.

The following information was originally published in the "The Fare Box", (the newsletter of the American Vecturist Association) by Albert Field, a long time member of the AVA. In this article, he relates the following:

H&M: two regular use tokens, three others because of the special problem. The token entitles a passenger to ride as far as Journal Square (Jersey City). If you go on to Newark, a ticket is needed, which is collected between those two points. During rush hours an agent stands by the turnstiles, and those with tickets go through a special gate. During after hours and holidays and as no agent is posted at the gate, a token is used to let ticket passengers through the turnstile.

From June 26 through November 26, 1946 - tokens were 11 for $1.00 and NY630AJ 16mm cadmium plated was used. During this period ticketed passengers used these same tokens.
From November 26, 1946 through March 19, 1950 - the fare was a straight 10 cents and the ticketed passengers used the hub token, NY630AL.
From March 19, 1950 to December 13, 1951 - the fare was 15 cents and NY630AH was used. Ticketed passengers used the solid brass token, NY630AI.
On December 13, 1951 - the fare was raised to 20 cents. The regular token has been brass plated: NY630AK. Ticketed passengers use the same brass token.

The tokens for ticketed passengers were not sold to passengers, they were to be used by them to pass the turnstile and remained at all times the property of the company.
And true to form, these should be Journal Square (Jersey City) tokens not NYC listings as that is where they were used, but as the H&M has their headquarters in New York City, they are attributed to Manhattan.

Hudson & Manhattan Railroad: 1907 - 1962
	reverse same as obverse	June 26, 1946 through November 26, 1946 - 9 cents (11 tokens for $1.00) (all passengers) 16mm, copper (cadmium?) plated, H cut out Atwood-Coffee NY630AJ

		November 26, 1946 through March 19, 1950 - 10 cents (ticketed passengers only) 18mm, bronze, hub token - 9mm hub, 5mm hole Atwood-Coffee NY630AL

	reverse same as obverse	March 19, 1950 to December 13, 1951 - 15 cents (unticketed passengers) 16mm, copper nickel, H cut out Atwood-Coffee NY630AH
These two tokens (the one above ▲ and the one below ▼) were used concurrently.
	reverse same as obverse	March 19, 1950 to December 13, 1951 - 15 cents (ticketed passengers only) 16mm, brass, solid Atwood-Coffee NY630AI

	reverse same as obverse	December 13, 1951 - 20 cents (all passengers) 16mm, brass plated, H cut out Atwood-Coffee NY630AK

Hudson & Manhattan Tickets

Daily Tickets - 2 cents
		intentionally left blank
2 Cent - 1908-1921 33rd Street, Manhattan, NY Rand McNally 2" x 1"
. .
Daily Tickets - 5 cents
	.....	intentionally left blank
5 cent - 1908-1921 Hoboken, NJ Rand McNally 2" x 1"
. .

5 cent - 1908-1921 Church Street - 1 M. B. Brown P & B Co. 2" x 1"		5 cent - 1908-1921 US Government Rand McNally 2" x 1"

15 Day Excursion

Church Street Station, Manhattan, NY - August 29, ???? (1917-1920) United States Railroad Administration - during World War I K. B. Conger, General Manager Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"	Church Street Station, Manhattan, NY - May 24, 1927 Oren Root, President Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"
.

	Hudson Terminal - June 26, 1937 Carl S. Klumpp, President & General Manager Rand McNally
.

33rd Street - October 13, 1933 Carl S. Klumpp, President & General Manager Rand McNally	Hudson Terminal - August 23, 1936 Half Fare Carl S. Klumpp, President & General Manager Rand McNally
.

23rd Street - November 15, 1924 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

33rd Street - January 7, 1930 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

Grove Street Station, NJ - February 20, 1928 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

Hoboken Station, NJ - August 3, 1927 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

14th Street, Manhattan, NY - January 28, 1934 Carl S. Klumpp, President & General Manager Rand McNally
.

14th Street, Manhattan, NY - February 12, 1927 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

Christopher Street, Manhattan, NY - October 23, 1926 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.
	intentionally left blank	intentionally left blank
33rd Street Station, Manhattan, NY - August 6, 1919 United States Railroad Administration - during World War I K. B. Conger, General Manager Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"
.

33rd Street Station, Manhattan, NY - March 10, 1933 C. D. Emmons, President Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"

30 Day Excursion

Church Street Station, Manhattan, NY - March 17, 1915 Wilbur C. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"	1/2 Fare Grove Street Station, NJ - October 14, 1917 Wilbur C. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"
. .
.
	intentionally left blank	intentionally left blank
Lackawanna Terminal - Hoboken, NJ - December 28, 1914 Wilbur C. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"
. .

Church Street Station - February 1, 1918 P. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally
.

9th Street Station - July 7, 1931 C. D. Emmons, President Rand McNally	Erie Terminal - December 16, 1925 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

33rd Street Station - November 10, 1932 C. D. Emmons, President Rand McNally	Church Street Station- November 24, 1929 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

Grove Street Station, NJ - August 13, 1926 Oren Root, President Rand McNally	Lackawanna Terminal, NJ - January 19, 1935 C. D. Emmons, President Rand McNally
.

14 Street, Manhattan, NY - March or May 7, 1926 Oren Root, President Rand McNally	23rd Street, Manhattan, NY - July 16, 1927 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

Christopher Street Station, Manhattan, NY - June 1926 Oren Root, President Rand McNally	Hoboken Station, NJ - July 28, Oren Root, President Rand McNally
.

Pennsylvania Station, Manhattan, NY - September 6, 1926 Oren Root, President Rand McNally

Good for One Year

19th Street Station, Manhattan, NY J. J. Fritsch, Comptroller Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"			33rd Street Station, Manhattan, NY - unoknown date J. J. Fritsch, Comptroller Rand McNally 2 3/4" x 1 7/8"

First Class

Erie Terminal - November 28, 1917 Wilbur C. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally			9th Street Station - September 28, 1917 Wilbur C. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally
.

33rd Street, Manhattan, NY Wilbur C. Fisk, President & General Manager Rand McNally

Receipts

	F. H. Sillick; Comptroller

Pennsylvania RR Coupon for travel from Newark to Harrison	Joint receipt issued by the Pennsylvania Railroad to show that a passenger has paid the extra fare for travel on the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad line.
4 1/16" x 1 3/16"	4 7/8" by 1 3/4"

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Refund Coupons

Another oddity of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad fare system was the use of refund coupons.

The use of this system is best explained by the 1911 Electric Railway Journal article in the chapter above and following New York Times article dated December 25, 1911; which I have highlighted:

New Jersey Issues

3 cent refund coupon - August 1 (ca. 1938-1941) Erie & Pavonia Avenue Station C. S. Klumpp, President & General Manager Rand McNally & Co.

	.....
5 cent refund coupon - February 12 (pre-1951) Henderson Street / Grove Street Station J. J. Fritsch, comptroller Rand McNally & Co.


10 cent refund coupon June 19/20 (post-1951) Henderson Street / Grove Street Station Rand McNally & Co. J. J. Fritsch, comptroller 5 7/16" x 2" w/ PM stub
. .

Refund Coupon - April 29 (ca. 1956) Journal Square Herman T. Stichman, trustee F. U. Masterson, comptroller Rand McNally & Company
. .
New York Issues

November 11, 1937
. .

Passes

In keeping with the policy most passenger railroads followed, passes were issued to officials of other railroads, certain railroad related agencies (telegraph and communications, express freight, et al); and to employees, their wifes, as well as members of the clergy.

No Series and Series A - Annual General Issue

Mr. J. M. Davis; President Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad - 1928 Oren Root, President Rand McNally
. .

A - 1946 Walter F. Brown, Chairman of the Board and President Rand McNally sample
. .
.
A - 1947 Robert A. W. Carleton, Chairman of the board and President Rand McNally sample
Series E - Employee

1939 (4) October, November, December C. S. Klumpp, President Rand McNally & Company sample
. .

1947 (2) July, August, September, October, November, December Robert A. W. Carleton, Chairman of the board and President Rand McNally & Company sample
Series EW - Employees Wife

1939 (1) January, February, March C. S. Klumpp, President Rand McNally & Company sample
. .

1939 (2) April, May, June C. S. Klumpp, President Rand McNally & Company sample
. .

1939 (3) July, August, September C. S. Klumpp, President Rand McNally & Company sample
. .

1946 (2) July, August, September, October, November, December Walter F. Brown, Chairman of the Board and President Rand McNally & Company sample
Series WX - Womens unknown

1946 - WX Walter F. Brown, Chairman of the Board and President Rand McNally & Company sample
. .

1947 - WX Robert A. W. Carleton, Chairman of the board and President Rand McNally & Company sample
At some point within 2010 - 2020, a great deal of samples printed by the Rand McNally Company; including passes, tickets and other fiscal items & forms for many transit companies (especially for the New York area) have surfaced on the retail market. It is unknown whether the samples are actually a form / ticket / pass ordered by and used by the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad and kept as a record of production by the Rand McNally Company (the most likely explanation as other companies are observed) or were samples were for prospective designs as proposed by Rand McNally. We have yet to see an issued example in counterpart to a known sample. Most appear to have been affixed into an album and exhibit some form of damage.

Port Authority Trans Hudson

In return for the rights to construct the World Trade Center complex on the footprint of the Hudson Terminal, the PANYNJ purchased the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad and this was formalized in January 1962. In April, the PANYNJ organized two wholly owned subsidiaries: The Port Authority Trans-Hudson "PATH" Corporation to operate the former Hudson and Manhattan lines, as well as a second agency to administer to the construction and operation of the World Trade Center, and the leasing of space within.

Had this subsidiary not been organized, the entire operation of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey agency would have been subject to federal Interstate Commerce Commission regulations. The creation of the PATH Corporation alleviated this and only required the PATH operation to be under the jurisdiction of the ICC.

In September of that year, PANYNJ formally took over operation of the H&M operation and rolling stock. The PANYNJ immediately began investing in modernizing the operation to the tune of $70,000,000. Adjusted for inflation, this equated to $608,000,000 in 2021.

162 new cars were also ordered in 1964 to replace the H&M rolling stock, of which most dated back to 1909; with the new cars being delivered in 1965. With now two states funding the operation, PATH literally climbed out of the gutter, allowing commuters to reach lower Manhattan from the "undeclared" suburbs of Western New Jersey.

But this would not be without trials and tribulations either, with those stories best left for a more comprehensive history by someone else..

Port Authority Trans Hudson - "PATH" Token: 1963 - 1971 PATH fares were paid with brass tokens beginning in 1963. The PANYNJ ordered 1,000,000 tokens in 1962, and 500,000 in 1967. Ultimately, the token system was discontinued in January 1971, which coincided with the NYCTA issuing their 23mm token. New turnstiles were purchased that were able to take 30 cents in exact change, and automated change making machines eliminated fare agents at low-use stations.
		1963 23mm, bronze, slot cut out Atwood-Coffee NY630AQ two varieties

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Elimination of the token:

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PATH Tickets

This next issue is simply a 10 trip ticket, with primitive magnetic data stripe encoding, in both unused (left) and used (right). These tickets were used in an automated turnstile, where each successive use would chop off the next trip remaining on the left edge of the face, as well as imprint the ticket with a printed code. Upon the tenth trip, the ticket was invalidated.Unfortunately, the meaning or deciphering of printed code is currently unknown..
		.....
4 15/16" x 1 13/16"

PATH Refund Coupons

What is astonishing, is to learn this refund coupon usage lasted into the PATH operation!


4 15/16" x 1 13/16"


Page 1: Fare Tickets & Employee Passes	Page 7: Half Fare Tickets - Sundays / Weekends
Page 2: Tokens	Page 8: Half Fare Tickets - Senior Citizens & Handicapped
Page 3: Continuing Ride Tickets & Transfers - Rapid Transit	Page 9: School / Student / Pupil Reduced Fare & Free Passes
Page 4: Continuing Ride Tickets & Transfers - Surface; Streetcar Lines	Page 10: Special Issue Tickets
Page 5: Continuing Ride Tickets & Transfers - Surface; Bus Routes	Page 11: Staten Island Rapid Transit
Page 6: Continuing Ride Tickets; Surface; Add-A-Ride	you are on Page 12: Hudson and Manhattan & Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH)

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