Newark Penn Station — Local services in Newark

They have clean up in the station TREMENDOUSLY however there is still room for improvement. I often choose NOT to Travel FROM or TO this station based on the conditions around the station and the public transportation conditions. However my route from SOUTH ORANGE NJT station to get to work for a Graveyard shift was rerouted due to local public transportation lack of availability. THERE ARE 3 DIFFERENT COMPANIES OPERATING TRAINS FROM NEWARK PENN. I learned this last night AUG 2 2022 simply trying to get work. I was OUT OF UNIFORM IN CIVILIAN CLOTHING. I read the teleprompter which informed me that there was a train arriving shortly on track 2 going to Penn Station. I purchased a ticket from the ticket machine awaited and when the train pulled in is when I NOTICED that it was an AMTRAK train. I watched a passenger get on who was in their occupation uniform I went behind him and was STOPPED I was told NO cause I had the wrong ticket with NO FURTHER instructions I EXPLAINED I WAS TRAVELING to work however I was still DENIED the COURTESY of traveling. Seeing the uniformed guard board precisely before me WITHOUT being questioned was DISTURBING. I felt DISCRIMINATED against. I afterwards went to AMTRAK OFFICE TO ATTEMPT TO PURCHASE A TICKET SINCE ANOTHER TRAIN WAS 5 MINS BEHIND IT AND THE OTHER TWO TRAIN COMPANIES TRAINS WERE RANGING FROM 25MINS. TO 35MINS GOING INTO NYC. AMTRAK Ticket COUNTER CLOSED. It was after 11pm. I figured if I showed my SECURITY BADGE the HUMAN BEING in THE CONDUCTOR. Uniform on the SUBSEQUENT train into NYC which is ONE QUICK STOP FROM PENN STATION would EMPATHIZE and extend the COURTESY. Again DENIAL without a 30 sec Explanation. I would of responded differently. I would of consider the fact of the TICKET COUNTER BEING CLOSED.I Would EMPATHIZED for the traveler IGNORANCE due to the fact that there are TICKET MACHINES right on the EXACT platform as the train ITSELF which can easily be confusing for those machines to only sell tickets for ONE train company. Where are AMTRAK ticket machines in Newark Penn Station? Why can't TICKETS be Purchased ONLINE according to the CONDUCTOR of the last train before 12am this day Aug 3 2022 on the Amtrak train going toNYC from Newark Penn???? FIX THIS . PUT SOME TICKET MACHINES IN PENN STATION IN NEWARK. HIRE CONDUCTORS WHO MAKE YOUR BRAND LOOK GOOD. I should get the same RESPECT if I am in uniform or Out of uniform because I an COMMUNICATING CLEARLY POLITELY AND...

This was the most disgusting night I've ever spent while traveling Greyhound, and I've traveled Greyhound all my life, so that's saying something. My daughter and I had a 3 hour layover between buses in the middle of the night at Newark last night. For maybe 20 minutes we had the luxury of sitting on the benches in the waiting room. Then "security" went around bellowing at everyone that the waiting room was closed for the night. All of us travelers just looked at each other, confused. There were families there, single moms traveling with small children. We got up and went into the hallway. After about 15 minutes of not knowing where to go to wait for our bus for THREE HOURS or what to do, my daughter and I sat on the hard marble floor. I'm 63 years old with a hip replacement and a bad knee. I couldn't imagine standing for 3 hours waiting with all our luggage. Two cops came over and told us to "get up" in a threatening way, so we did. Took me a minute to get up since I was in pain. We wandered about with our heavy luggage, realizing they wanted all of us outside. The icing on the cake? We saw caution tape blocking the area where the soda and snack machines were. I remember thinking, what if someone's a diabetic -I am- and there's an emergency? The order of the day was cruelty. We weren't even treated like we were human. Mind you, there were very few homeless people around, almost everyone were typical bus and train travelers. "Security" should have been checking the filthy restrooms and not harassing us- there were screaming people in the ladies room and a smashed bottle of alcohol spilling all over the first stall. There was a sign outside the terminal that was laughable: it read "Our city, Our family". What a sick joke. Never again will we travel through Newark NJ. It truly lives up to the filth pit reputation it has, but not for the reasons you'd think. Travelers are treated like criminals, like garbage. Shame on those cops and security people. If I could give zero...

Alright, let me get the positives out the way:

Its a bustling station hub with many modes of transportation that can take you to/within Newark and beyond. NJ Transit train and buses, PATH, Newark Light rail, Greyhound, AMTRAK all stop here. The architecture of what it once was is very nice. There are a lot of quick bites to eat within this station.

Other than that, this place is absurd. The amount of homeless and mentally unstable homeless roaming around and lying about the place is mind-boggling. It's truly a damn shame how nothing is done about it. I've seen homeless people sleeping and making themselves at home in the most random places. I would advise you stay twice as alert as normal because there's always some sketchy unstable person up to no good. So many unsavory characters dwell in this place. And outside the station, it's just as bad or even worse, since you're exiting out of no man's land. The other reviewers aren't being hyperbolic when they say the stench hit punches you in the face. The moment you come off any of the modes of transportation, you are hit with that stench of unkept homeless crazies. And I am NOT trying to vilify the homeless, no. Its just more so of the fact that no station in America should look like this. And NO ONE regardless of whether they are housed or not shouldn't be walking about being a threat at a station (or anywhere for that manner).

PROS: -Without all the trash, loitering, and homeless crazies roaming the place, the architecture is nice. -Many modes of transportation to get into, around, and out of (this is what you'll want to do the most) Newark -Lots of quick bites available -Good, spacious, waiting area for the Amtrak

CONS: -The infamous Newark Penn stench -Way too many mentally unstable homeless and super sketchy characters victim hunting, roaming -Dirty and unkept a lot of the time -Mostly...