Prior to the pandemic, I commuted from Jersey City to Times Square everyday. However, in mid-March I switched to a 100% work from home role. I hadn’t visited New York since then, which for me — a born and bred New Yorker — was unheard of.
A few weeks ago, I took my first trip back into the city — here’s everything I saw and experienced on my day trip into the city.
Commuting into Lower Manhattan
I took the PATH train from Exchange Place at around 10:30am. The morning rush hour is mostly over by then, but Exchange Place was extra empty on this Wednesday morning. The PATH platform had no more than 11 commuters waiting for the WTC train. (Everyone was properly masked). As much as I tried to isolate myself from the middle of the platform, people would still come and stand near me. So I just kept inching my way to the head of the PATH train (and away from everyone else). When the train arrived, the first car was empty except for myself and one more commuter. The train itself looked clean and the engineer’s space was blocked off with police tape.
The view from Battery Park / Tribeca
My trip to NYC lasted a full day and I mainly stayed in Battery Park/Tribeca. The Oculus was completely empty, which immediately set the tone for the rest of the trip. Stores were all closed (the Apple Store has since reopened) and the corridor leading to Westfield was practically vacant.
Brookfield has always offered outdoor seating, but I really liked how they’ve distanced tables from one another. Their outdoor tables were more than 6 feet apart.
Oddly, Battery Park looked and felt the same as always. There were plenty of runners, cyclists, and parents with expensive strollers out and about. Most were not masked. To be honest, Battery Park felt like there was no pandemic at all. In a completely unscientific poll, I found that 9/10 runners along Battery Park were not masked. (By comparison, I feel like the majority of Jersey City runners mask up when running outdoors).
Tribeca, on the other hand, felt abandoned. It felt like everyone was out of town for a long holiday weekend. Many restaurants I once visited were either empty or permanently closed. The few restaurants that were open had plexiglass stands in between their tables. (So far, Honshu is the only JC restaurant I’ve seen do this with their indoor tables).
One restaurant near Brookfield — El Vez — even had a temperature scanner/machine ready to take your temperature prior to offering you a table. Meanwhile, neighboring Seamore’s — usually loud and packed prior to the pandemic — was quiet and only had one table of diners.
Commuting back to Jersey City
I took the 6:40pm PATH train back to Jersey City. The train had noticeably more people than my late morning commute, but it was nowhere near pre-pandemic capacity. The WTC platform was mostly empty and everyone in my subway car was well spaced out. More importantly, everyone was properly wearing their mask — with the exception of one passenger who it appeared wasn’t even carrying a mask. I didn’t see PATH personnel enforcing the use of masks.
I got off at Grove this time and excluding a handful of commuters who exited with me, the station was eerily empty.
I wouldn’t say New York is dead, but lower Manhattan has certainly changed. You feel it the minute you exit the PATH. This is all based on a day trip into the city, so everyone’s experience will likely be different. That said, the PATH train into New York wasn’t that bad. Aside from that one unmasked rider, I didn’t spot anyone wearing chin guards or with exposed noses. However, if I had to go back into the city — I’d probably take the ferry to and from.
All it takes is one unmasked rider to put everyone at risk on a PATH car and after reading the NYT’s article on what happens to viral particles in a subway car — that’s a risk I’d prefer not to take.
