Newark Penn Station

November 5, 2025 1:54 pm I'm here to take the Greyhound/Flixbus. This is a nice station as far as an older building is concerned. I have one too many bags to go across the street or to bother sightseeing. People watching is no different and just as interesting as the other many stations I've been to. All kinds of normal and not so normal people. God bless the crazy and unfortunate. My highlight here was Roxanne at the Customer Information booth. She is nice and was helpful. Say Hi to Roxanne when you come here.

There's just no nice way to describe Newark Penn station. Many people have tried but there's always mention of homeless natives ,bad smells ,dirty , overwhelmed staff. I had the luxury of missing the last NJT train leaving Newark Liberty airport ( around 1:48am) thanks to Frontier's delays but that's another story. So I had to take the 62 Bus to Newark Penn station for the Path train to NYC. The rusty bolt bus (there's that old ,dirty and smelly descrip again) was stuck on the highway for about 40 minutes due to a fatal 2 car accident. ( R.I.P) and condolences out to the families of all those involved. Upon arriving to Newark Penn station it was a sight to see,full of homeless and the couple of people who got off the bus with me were scared , to say the least . So they followed my lead and headed to Track 1 for the Path train to NYC . More of the same, dirty , smelly and a very unsafe feeling as we held our breath and literally stepped over and through homeless natives sleeping on the stairs leading up to Track 1. The upper platform was dirty and unsafe . Like I said there's no nice way to describe all this ,so I'm not being mean with my description of events . As a tri state native this is embarrassing and we all have to do better. There's no concise way to implement a cleanup process but it has to happen. This is not a good look . So I did all this so you don't have to, just call me Newark Jesus. My advice,take the Uber. Signing out, 💕 love on someone today.

Lovely old station. It felt safe and had good security. The bathrooms were clean and also their is good signage for the trains. On the platform they also have good music. It was easy to connect between WTC and to locations down the NJ shore.

Newark Penn Station is a major transit hub with good connectivity to NYC and other parts of New Jersey. The station is busy but generally clean and well-maintained. There are plenty of food options and shops inside, which is convenient for travelers. Security feels adequate, though it can get crowded during peak hours. Overall, a practical and efficient station for commuting or traveling.

• Convenient Connections: Travelers praise the station’s access to Amtrak, NJ Transit, PATH, and local buses. It’s a key gateway to New York City and other destinations A B. • Historic Charm: Some admire its classic architecture and central location in downtown Newark A. • Safety & Cleanliness: Despite high foot traffic, many note that the station is surprisingly well-maintained and regularly patrolled B. Common issues which I noticed: • Restroom Conditions: A recurring gripe is the unpleasant state of the bathrooms B. • Crowds & Noise: As a major transit hub, it can be chaotic during peak hours. • Limited Amenities: No luggage storage and few food options inside the station itself, though nearby restaurants are highly rated.

The main hall is truly impressive – it has a unique vintage charm. However, it’s best to avoid this station after dark - the number of weird and sketchy people I saw there was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Inside, the architecture is beautiful and historic. I wouldn’t want that to change. However, the seating/waiting situation could really be updated. I was on edge the entire time because we had luggage and our kids with us, and even though they tried to keep non-passengers separated, some were still wandering through and trying to sell us things. If you’re passing through, it’s fine. Don’t plan to comfortably wait for a long time though. There are food and beverage options that satisfied everyone.

This train station is okay. Buses run 24/7 here and they run on time for the most part. NJ Transit service SUCKS for the main line! PATH train service is impeccable. Train station itself could use some renovation and lots of improvement. I pass through often enough they do clean the place but it still looks and feels very dirty and run down. There are often with homeless/mentally challenged people around who often cause public nuisance (at this point, they should be redirected to a better place). There is also transit police here so that’s cool. The escalators are often off and their elevators are NOT reliable. To the point that I’ve seen a wheelchair bound person having to be lifted up and brought down a flight of stairs by their caregiver and the caregiver having to go back up the stairs to bring down the wheelchair themselves. The unreliability of the elevators is absolutely upsetting and unacceptable!

This is Newark ,New Jersey Penn Station there the Greyhound Bus Terminal stops here , Amtrak also serves here and the N.J.Transit Trains, and Also a major hub for N.J. Transit buses and there also Path Trains to Metropolitan states (N.Y.-N.J.) town areas . There always Port Authority Police officers here for you're safety , I usually pass here when going back to New York City. My school friend lives in New jersey in when the N.J. Transit train stop running in his town , there usually drive me to this train station to get the train back to New York after long night of hanging out over there house , fun times !!!!! P.S. Not to be confused with New York Penn Station 34 -street !

Newark, not New York. You definitely will not get the two confused upon visiting either of the Penn Stations. Newark is small and above-ground. NYPS is huge and below ground. Pretty small station yet spacious seating near the main entrance. Plenty of police and security keeping non-passengers out of the seats and the building. Limited food and beverage selections. If traveling from EWR Newark Airport, this is a better option to leave from here as the airport station has limited service. Seating can be limited due to the majority of passengers alighting in NYC or points west of the station.

Nice station with lots to offer and lots of police to help feel safe. I was a bit lost and asked them for directions and they were really nice. Same with the employees that work here. No complaints

True metro facility. It's ALOT of movement here. So stay very much alert and know where you are going.

One of the most important railway stations in NJ ! Lots of connecting trains from Newark EWR to other places . Very nice station but most of the automated ticket counters don't work . Especially the Path tickets .. worst .. it takes 10 mins to buy Path tickets ... We generally go to Newark Penn station to go to downtown New York .. WTC and other places .. Path trains go from Newark and hence we get seats to sit and go ! Overall average experience ..

I've been to this station a handful of times and it has been an overall decent experience. The station is far from a modern one. From what I noticed, this station does haven't much tracks. Also, the escalator is very narrow. Once you get off the train, there are many people attempting to go down the escalator all at once. I normally come here whenever I go to an event at The Prudential Center.

It is Newark after all. Thoughts: 1. I saw Police presence which is assuring in some level 2. There should be more Spanish speaking staff for each ticket area as there is a large clientelle and they need support with their NJT/Amtrak needs 3. Clearer signs on where to get to the bus, etc. 4. Why is getting an Uber here such a long wait? I usually wait over 20 minutes! It is that bottleneck area where cars pull up.. That is why. 5. NJT - not all your customers have digital devices. Please have someone at the empty/closed ancient counter.

What a beautiful station. The architecture is sooooo delightful! Bathroom was spotless. Nice to see police there to keep things safe

This is the worst transportation center I've been to, so use it when you need it and don't linger. This place is dirty and doesn't feel safe except for the visibility of police, which is maybe the only good thing. Food and drink options are limited. There's unconfirmed bench seating for ticketed amtrak customers.

The panhandling and depressing vibe is subject to forces beyond the control of Penn Station and NJ Transit but the operational side of things also seems to be getting worse. In a truly historic moment, the station sign said the 1:25 was a Metropark train, the train itself indicated Trenton, while the conductor was forced to deal with repeated inquiries, yelling the apparent truth, "Long Branch! Long Branch!"

The only redeeming quality of Newark Penn Station is its connectivity. With plenty of trains and a reliable schedule (shoutout to PATH), it's a convenient hub for travel. That said, if you can avoid lingering here, I highly recommend it. First, the smell is atrocious--like walking through a portable toilet covered up with overpowering cleaning supplies. It's genuinely unpleasant. There are a few places to eat, but many look unsanitary. Case in point: the Starbucks here is one of the most unkempt I've ever seen, which is surprising given how consistent they usually are. My mobile order took forever, was still incomplete, and left me wishing I hadn't bothered. Seating is extremely limited and supposedly reserved for Amtrak customers, but anyone can use it, leaving actual travelers scrambling for a spot. While there is a noticeable police presence, the station still attracts some sketchy characters who hang around the corners. Bottom line: only arrive with just enough time to catch your train, and don't expect much else from this station.

Brick City for the win! Not much needs to be said about Newark Penn. This and Newark Airport makes the Jersey Drop Off/Pick Up legendary. IYKYK

It was okay at best. It reminded me a bit of the Los Angeles Union Station back home. Nice looking building, but plagued with too many sketchy and/or homeless people. The layout was not at all intuitive, but there were plenty of signs to help direct you on where to go. I only needed to take the PATH train to and from NYC so that was easy enough to figure out. One way fare was $2.75. I was staying at a nearby hotel, so I exited on foot and headed into Downtown Newark. Near the entrance of the station were people trying to sell me random stuff.

I got here very shortly to take a bus that would take me to my airbnb so it was a short lived stop here from what I remember there were signs showing you where to go. Thankfully watching youtube videos on this definitely helped me for my trip in NJ

It's the station that will never go away, and neither will the riff raff. What more can you say... just keep it moving.

I was dropped off here and ran to get my train into Manhattan. This place is run down. I ran up a some flights of stairs until I got to the platform. Trying to figure out the ticketing system is confusing. I couldn't find the station I wanted on the ticketing system I was at. I had to ask somebody and I was in the wrong section but signage wasn't great to let me know that. Headed over to the correct ticket machine and got my ticket. I had some time to kill or I would have taken an Uber straight into Manhattan. I think I'll just stick to that or taxi for the next time vs coming through here.

There were more people riding bikes and scooters than there were people walking. A very danger situation for people walking and the riders curse at you. Horrible place.

Omg this place is gross. The signage is completely useless. Even google maps couldn't help me get from the path train to newark light rail. Newark should bulldoze this entire complex and build something useful.

This is a centrally located station for businesses in Newark, NJ. There's local trains (PATH) as well as Amtrak and others and busses too. There are covered walkways that'll take you from the station to many buildings nearby. Just watch yourself, especially at night, as there are a lot of unsavory characters walking around, as well as zombie-walking druggies. Fortunately each time I used this station recently, I saw police officers on patrol, plus there's a police substation in the main terminal.

Pretty confusing station and front was littered with trash like chicken bones. Just like a lot of train stations in the area there's a large homeless population outside. The monitors showing the Amtrak times toggles so quickly with pop ups I couldn't tell when my train was departing and from where so I had to ask a police officer. Set up of the station is confusing too- had to go upstairs by elevator to hit the platform and even then it was a bit confusing which track was where. Couldn't really tell where bathrooms were located but whole spot smelled the way the subway does, a bit like pee.

Kinda of confusing. Thankful for all the cops and attendants because I barely caught my train. Overall a great way into New York/Penn, EWR airport and Trenton

Dirty ,smells like piss Homeless all over the platforms .urine is never cleaned up and soaks into the concrete. People walk in the urine onto the trains causing them to smell the same . What a joke keep raising the tickets

For the most part, this transit hub is not too bad to navigate to get you where you are going via train. You most definitely will have to ask questions to differentiate where to catch an NJ Transit Train, NJ Light Rail Train, and NJ/NY PATH Train. They are not the same and do not go to the same places. The buses are divided between Raymond Blvd and Market Street to board. So be careful which side you are on and make sure you know exactly which bus you need or you will be out of luck as some buses do not run nearly as frequently as others. There is food court of sorts with a Starbucks, Dunkin', McDonalds, Pizzeria, Chase/Bank of America ATM's, Wine & Spirits, and small local shops inside. In terms of cleanliness, it could be better. The platforms are routinely clean save for the smokers who insist on smoking on the platform. The bathrooms would be much cleaner were it not for the homeless in the area who utilize the bathroom as of it were their own. Try as they might, the police and employees cannot get a handle on it completely. As far as safety, there are police at the station 24/7 and are highly visible even late night. Keep your wits about you, ask questions if you are unsure of where to go, pay attention to your surroundings, and you'll be just fine utilizing this place.

This station is trash. No working escalators. You will get stuck in an elevator every now and then. The stores are expensive for no reason. ...but there is a Starbucks so...enjoy lol

It got the job done in terms of hopping on/off a train and I appreciate that stopping here avoids having to deal with the traffic in and out of the city. Other than that, the station's very meh. The women's bathroom is atrocious. I actually took a few steps in, smelled and saw enough to make my stomach churn, then turned around and decided to just hold it for the rest of my trip. It was that bad. Food options inside the station are extremely limited. There's a Starbucks with the tiniest food counter I've ever seen and a Zaro's selling sugary carbs on carbs on carbs, which may be your best options if you don't feel like eating a giant bag of chips. I wish the announcements system was more updated than just having to rely on the giant screen of flickering numbers/letters right above the waiting area (and the smaller screens posted next to the tracks). My train departing the station was delayed, and I ended up heading up to the track 20 minutes earlier than I should have. The track was mostly deserted and eerie, even in the middle of the day. Good thing there was a PATH coming every few minutes on the other side and so there was still some foot traffic, but if it was just me, I would've felt really on-edge. Waiting area is not the cleanest, with some litter strewn about, and smelled of urine. Pick-up/drop-off in front of the entrance to the building was relatively hassle-free. I don't know the surrounding area at all, but if you search online, there are some Reddit threads that talk about what other places to drop people off that lets you avoid the long lines of cars out front. Bottom line: if you're a woman on your own, the station is totally fine during the day (though I still put away my phone and earphones and focused on where I was going), but at night, I could see how it gets REALLY seedy.

We had a 3 hour layover from one bus to another coming back from NYC. We had about 20 minutes of precious time in the waiting room with actual benches, until security came in and announced that the waiting room was closing. We were confused, but went with everyone else into the hallway. In the hallway, after standing for at least 10 minutes, we and other people started sitting on the floor, because we are human and my mother has a bad knee and hip. We were then promptly chastised for even *sitting* on the hard marble floor. There were families with children as well who were denied the smallest comfort of sitting on the miserable floor in the middle of the night. We then decided to just go outside, but the entryway we had initially gone through was blocked off with caution tape- and that was where the drink and snack machines were... aside from this hellish series of events, the bathrooms had people screaming, and shattered bottles of alcohol in some of the stalls. I did not pay hundreds of dollars on transportation to be treated less than human like this. Maybe its Newark, maybe it's just this bus/train station, but the sign outside the station saying "our city, our family" needs to torn down and replaced with "abandon hope all ye who enter here"

The station itself is easy to get to from outside and is fine inside but the men's room is the most disgustingly filthy bathrooms I've ever had to use. There was trash and vomit on the floors, I saw theee people doing drugs together, you can't use the toilet because people have taken up residence in there. Outside the men's room there were 3 police persons. I have been to Egypt where you had to defecate in a hole in the floor and those bathrooms were cleaner than the Newark train station.

This place is a disgrace. Would give it 0 stars if I could. Arrived 6am for 7am train. What a mistake. I should have arrived 6:50 and ran to the train. No one should spend more than 10 minutes in that place Nowhere to sit. Homeless people sleeping on all the benches. Head further into the station to find a place I deemed safe. Went up to the next level where trains arrive. I was told there is a waiting room there. No good. Bodies laying all over the benches there too Back down to McDonalds. Maybe that's safe? Get some breakfast and approached by men looking for money inside the restaurant. They go away then a fight almost breaks out because someone's coat got caught on another persons backpack. She started yelling why are you so close to me?? Get away from me??!!! Very hostile people I hide there and head up to tracks just as train is coming and again approached by men for money. I will try to never use this place again and if I need to get there 10 min before. The entire time i saw one police officer there and he disappeared never to be seen again. The entire place is also in need of maintenance. Chipping paint. Rain leaning through the roof. What a dump and an embarrassment to the state of NJ. I headed to Washington DC. Got off at union station and thought I was in paradise !!!

One of the worst places in New Jersey, its dirty and smells horrible. Don't use the bathroom, no matter how badly you have to go. Trains, buses, and cabs etc are never on time. Its filled with drug addicts and homeless people, if you are visiting, just get an uber from your hotel, its not worth the hassle.

Why the heck does Path not post correct signage in Penn Station??????? You can take the path on track 1 or track 2 EXCEPT for night, weekends, or when ever they feel cute and go gate off access from track 2. Fine. Just have access from gate 1, but POST A SIGN. I have missed this train at off hours almost every time I'm in Penn Station, and the wait for the next train is 30 mins+ PSA- For Path Train Service from Newark Penn Station take: track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1 track 1

Decided to take the Path into the city instead of driving and regret it! Still dirty and bums milling around. Even though it's been awhile since I've taken the Path everything pretty much looks the same.

It's not a great station. The Path is almost always delayed, everything is old, and the infrastructure looks like it's from a post-apocalyptic scifi movie. It does make it slightly faster to return to NYC if you want to avoid taking an uber all the way from EWR to the city, and definitely a good alternative to taking the airtran to nj transit and then transferring to the subway at NY Penn Station.

Staff's rudeness and lack of manners problems, from ticketing woman to food server, Public Announcement (PA) is not clear and comprehensible, stations arrival anouncement unclear, train is not properly marked with all applicable train numbers, Newark Penn Station's waiting and boarding areas are not safe, not enough securities personnel, procedures enacted on trains to help passengers recognizing their destinations are not clear.

This is not a station. This is a hellhole. This is the reason I will rarely step foot in Newark. The station is dark, dingy, dirty, and lots of homeless people walking around asking for a meal they probably would throw away if I offered them one, or change that they would waste away. Some are pretty aggressive too. More aggressive than at New York Penn. This is why you need to avoid coming here. This city is in a serious decline and likely will never recover. This is a problem that will likely never be resolved in my lifetime, or the generations after. This is why the eating options are poor, and the options that are not are outrageously priced. This is why this station gets a bad grade in my book.

Penn station needs to be updated and cleaned. There are homeless people and addicts laying around. So sometimes it smells really bad. They have been updating the stores, so that's a start. The bathrooms are typically clean, and police is always on premises.

It always amazes me that the powers that be in NJ state government don't take a wrecking ball to our mass transit infrastructure and start over. It's a mess from one end of the state to the other and offers daily reinforcement (fair or unfair) that the Garden State is a fiscal basket case and richly deserving of our last in the nation status for business climate. People's exhibit number one is Newark's Penn Station, an 85 year old gargoyle that remains an unnavigable eyesore. Everything here screams Great Depression and offers commuters nothing in the way of modern amenities, comfort or ease of entry or exit. This interminable terminus was built for the days when stock quotes were delivered via mechanical tickers, top hats and monocles were the rage and train volume was a third of the present load. The station was never meant to service the current capacity requirements of Amtrak, NJ Transit and the PATH trains. Looking for a functioning restroom? You'll be much better served wearing a diaper or depositing your waste outside. I personally guarantee that no one will notice the difference. Someone picking you up? Expect to circle like a maniac as parking and vehicular standing room is virtually non-existent. There's a reason NJ leads the nation in one-way U-Haul rentals out of the state. Actually, there are many reasons, Newark's Penn Station just came to mind first.

A miniature version of NY Penn station. They both serve the same purpopse but Newarks on a slightly smaller scale but messy especially on the outside. Just like Newark airport its a mess coming here to either pick up or drop off someone. There are few places to even perch, there is really no efficient way to come down here and the way the streets are its just a headache. The station itself is fairly clean and the tracks are easy enough to get to but when coming off trains like every place else is hassle as everyone funnels into tight corridors out into traffic. What I do like about Penn though is its convinence to downtown as well as Ironbound section of the city. The NJ transit light rail tracks will bring you to and from Penn which really handy also. It could be worse, could be better.

I really dislike this train station, for many reasons. I use it frequently to commute from DC to Northern New Jersey. Bring a pretty frequent train traveler, I can say this station is one of the ones I find the worst on the east coast. -General organization and navigability: I find the signage to be confusing here. I'd recommend that you arrive at least 15-20 minutes early to figure out what platform your train is leaving from. At night, many doors and the most direct routs to certain platforms are closed and locked off, making it hard to figure out how to get to your platform. There are also not many station workers present at night, and all the police tend to congregate in one area, so if you are lost it's kind of on you to figure out where to go. Your best bet if you are lost is probably to look for a police officer here. Announcement for upcoming trains are somewhat sporadic and infrequent, making it more difficult to keep track of the status of your train, as well. Everytime I make it to my train, I breathe a sigh of relief. -Drop off/pick up: There really is no convenient parking did this station. Everyone seems to get dropped off or picked up in the same area, which creates a lot of traffic, beeping, confusion and general chaos, especially if you haven't been here before. -Safety: During the day it is ok in terms of safety. As a single female I wouldn't recommend traveling through this station at night, unless you are quite comfortable with it. This definitely a station you want to be really alert in. I don't wear headphones or look at my phone while walking through. I've been approached many times by people asking for money. There is a lot of open drug use and the station and surrounding area is full of homeless people, many of whom are high or seemingly passed out on the ground. There are police walking around but they seem to be mostly grouped together in the middle of the station. There is a big discrepancy in the ratio of beggars and open drug users to police present. Every time I have traveled at night to Newark Penn, I try to balance my desire to not spend any extra time here because of my safety concerns, with the fact that the station can be tricky to navigate, and I often end up a bit lost for a few minutes. -Cleanliness : I think it must be hard to manage the cleanliness of this station given the large amount of homeless folks who seem to reside in it. Without being too negative, I'll say that the station is certainly far from the cleanest. Not a place you'd want to get comfy sitting at or sired any significant amount of time at.

Ok to pass through but it lacks the charm of its sister station across the river. I imagine that back in the day this place was amazing, but now it is in the need of some tender loving care. I'd suggest they boost up security and clear out the transients. There was a guy literally walking around with his pants down with no underwear. He wasn't harming anyone - but no one wants to see this!!! The police were standing immediately across from the scene and were doing nothing about it. They really need to try and clean this place up. It wouldn't be that hard. With NJ PAC, the Prudential Center and Seton Hall Law School all within walking distance, this station should be the pride of Newark once again and not something that people just want to exit from as soon as possible.

It smells.. bad. But honestly all the cops and employees are nice to you. Just don't touch your eye or lick your fingers after leave or while in the station. If you are lost or have any questions ask them not a Rando cause some of that information is fresh for the day. Routes and tracks may change so ask the employees. Here is a review of Greyhound customer service in the USA as of 2023: https://youtu.be/-GT_4uYjc6A?si=OBlctwozQPS4v4ZH

Still filled with people and connections between buses, PATH, NJ Transit and Amtrak which is the good. The bathrooms are in serious need of cleaning and a few squatters living in the stalls, talking back and forth with each other as if over a fence in the yard. And neighborhood gets sketchy later into the night, so parking too far is a gamble. Metropark, Harrison or Secaucus an easier point of access depending on what you want to park by but if in transit within as a stopover, you are fine.

I've been through this station back in the day. Our most recent visit confirmed its conscience. This time we weren't locals. We came from DC. We were able to find decent priced parking nearby the day of. Getting to the track was easy. Purchasing tickets was easy. Everything ran pretty smooth. There was a minor slow down on our way into town, but no more than a few minutes of sitting still. And I appreciated that they made announcement about it to keep us updated. On our ride back from Manhattan, no slow downs at all. We were able to easily find seats both times - on the way in it was a Friday about noon and on the way out it was about 3p on a Sunday. We will be back!

Can I borrow a Penn? It looks like Newark borrowed a Penn from Manhattan, and apparently they borrowed a good Penn and didn't give it back, because Penn Station is actually a bit of a hellhole compared to Grand Central, whereas Penn Station in Newark is the towering, Grand centrepiece of the whole city. It's right on the edge of the amazing Ironbound neighbourhood, and the 2 or 3 times I've arrived here by train, it was a lovely place to disembark. Yes it's old a.f. but it has a charm. It's much more Grand Central than it is Penn. You could actually say that Newark's Penn Station is a lesson to Manhattan on what a Penn should be like. Anyway I've written enough with this Penn.

I pass through Newark Penn Station every day. It's a major hub for NJ Transit and Amtrak, as well as a final stop on the PATH line. Bus lines are on the Raymond Blvd side of the station, and Greyhound is nearby on Raymond Plaza West (across from the Hilton). The drop-off/pick-up lane and taxis are on Raymond Plaza West, too. For train riders, schedules are displayed on television screens throughout the station. Bus schedules are posted at the depot on Raymond Blvd, but you can also pick up schedules at the info kiosk in the main train station waiting area. There are a few stores inside - Hudson News, a book store, liquor store, bar (the Blue Comet), Zaro's, Brooklyn Bagels (very good btw), a dry cleaner, a Chickpea, a Dunkin, and a Micky Dees (McDonalds). There are also a few kiosks that sell wares, flowers, popcorn and nuts, and one that fixes cell phone screens. Overall, Newark Penn Station is A-OK with me. Sidebar - I respect other reviewers' opinions, but hey, Newark Penn is a major transit hub in an urban area, there are going to be panhandlers (just like New York Penn station). Homelessness is an ever present issue in cities. As long as no panhandlers are being physically or verbally aggressive to commuters and travelers, let them be and just say no if you don't want to give money. That's my take on it - I can't fault the station in this review for that.

I travel to this station frequently from Union Station, DC. Like another reviewer, I know that the depressing and incessant panhandling may be beyond the station's capacity to control, customer service, however, is in their control. I am in the senior age group and additionally, I recently injured my knee, and needed redcap assistance to get my bag on the train. The person at the customer service, while pleasant and smiley, had me wait until the very last minute to have someone help me. The person who was helping me only pulled my suitcase through the station, which I am quite capable of doing. It's the getting it on the train while trying to step over the gap that is an issue for me. When we got up to the elevator to go up, she told me that Amtrak employees are not allowed to put suitcases on the train! And I'm like well, then what's the point? In DC, red cap is very efficient and friendly, and they put your suitcases on the train for you, a half an hour before departure. Cmon Newark do better!

I'm not a fan of Newark Penn because the place is old and outdated, but it is convenient and ultimately gets you where you need to be. It is both the bus station (Bolt Bus and Greyhound) and train station (Amtrak, PATH, and NJ Transit). The layout is weird and getting to your platform can be confusing. There are a lot of security and police officers around, so safety is a major concern here I'm guessing. I feel like there are a lot of homeless people are found wandering and sleeping inside. Bathroom cleaniness also a problem. I would try to hold it in unless you absolutely have to go. There is no parking lot for Newark Penn, and the traffic outside for drop-off is horrendous. There's no traffic person to point directions. Cars just start piling in and stop in the middle of the road to let passengers off. Drivers even get out to help with luggage and say their farewell, which backs traffic even more. Cars start honking in an attempt to move. I wouldn't be surprised if accidents, fender benders, and sideswiping happened in this small area. Good luck.

I'm a fish out of water. A West Coast girl trying to figure out this East Coast thing so she can meet up with one of her closest friends. Train station kind of like Bart but not. I had to find my way over to the Newark Penn Station instead of the New York Penn Station. REALLY GUYS. I almost got so confused. But I'm not afraid to ask around whether the person is official or not. That's the way to do it unless you like being lost. You do you. Some parts of this station looked run down and a bit forgotten. Restrooms that I visited were a mess. Careful of the pit pocket people. They are around and they like causing mischief. There's a lot of homeless around. But there's a lot of police and security to counteract that too. The staff I encountered were friendly enough. They always directed me to the right location. I'll give it to trains here. They have waiting rooms where you can sit and there's vending machines for drinks and food. BART sure doesn't have that. A-okay! 3/5

It's a train station. It's functional and just what you need to make all the right transportation connections. Every train station is confusing at first, then you figure out how to navigate the signage and the tracks and you get used to it. 3 stars here, because there is nothing that makes it stand out as the latest and greatest. It's not an architectural marvel or an interesting place to explore. It has just enough stores for the quick little things you need to pick up. It's old, and it just works. Yay!

If I could give a negative rating for Greyhound Bus Transportation, I would! Horrible customer service. I will be going with another bus transportation service moving forward!