So How Do I Get From Newark Airport To Manhattan Tomorrow?

PATH remains suspended due to damage to signal, control and substation equipment in multiple stations.

— PATH Rail System (@PATHTweet) November 5, 2012

Hello, welcome to another edition of The Awl’s Business Travel Answer Bag, where we bring you business travel weather on the fives. Today’s question is from a gentleman arriving in New York tomorrow via Newark Airport. He asks, “Uhh, where exactly am I supposed to stand, at 6 p.m. tomorrow, and what am I supposed to have, as far as exact change or school vouchers or tickets, in order to board some kind of public transportation or emergency shuttle or maybe one of those crew rowing boats, so I can go to Manhattan and then Brooklyn? Also will it be super cold or what, what’s even happening over there? Is it like that Art Bell movie?”

Good question! One thing we can safely predict is that an “alien invasion” probably won’t be that bad, compared to all this other stuff, and also because everyone is well prepared for a space-monster attack on New York because of all the Hollywood blockbusters that routinely conclude with the destruction of Manhattan by mile-wide UFOs. As far as your Newark problem, it is true that the PATH trains remain out of service. PATH is a wonderful system used by more than a quarter-million commuters each weekday … when the system isn’t destroyed by Frankenstorms or terrorism or god knows what next! We have been following the PATH Twitter to see what’s going on and, well, it doesn’t look too good for the short term. Do you have a friend with a car in Elizabeth or Union who might give you a ride to Manhattan? Traffic would be going “the other way” at that point, so you could maybe take him to one of those giant sports bars around Times Square, kill an hour or three eating fried things in a basket while sporting events appear on many flat screens, and then he could drive home.

You can try tweeting to PATH to see if you get a different result, but it seems like the only thing PATH will tweet is this same message, again and again: “PATH remains suspended due to damage to signal, control and substation equipment in multiple stations.”

At least there’s a clue buried in all that Debbie Downer talk: The ferry might be running, one of them anyway, so go look at the ferry Twitter or New Jersey Transit if it’s so important!

New Jersey Transit has a very accommodating and helpful Twitter Robot. Ask a certain thing, and you get an answer!

@nj_transit Hello! What’s best for Newark Airport to … anywhere in Manhattan, NYPenn or otherwise, tomorrow afternoon? Thanks!

— Ken Layne (@KenLayne) November 5, 2012

So let’s just wait here for a few minutes, see what happens. An answer should be coming soon. Here we go, thanks!

@kenlayne we have rail service operating btwn #EWR & NY Penn you can find the modified schedule here njtransit.com/pdf/NEC_WITH_N…

— New Jersey Transit (@NJ_TRANSIT) November 5, 2012

That’s it for today’s “Ask The Awl Answer Bag For Business Travelers,” join us again on the quarter hour for the latest updates.