Now, this direct line ($15.65) is more expensive than breaking the trip up as South Amboy to Rahway ($3.85) & Rahway to New York Penn. Station ($10.90). Whoever design the fare rates here is not very smart.
Holes are punched (not all the time) onto the receipt which then becomes the valuable pass placed on each passenger's seat and is meant to be carried by the passenger at all times during the ride before taken away by the conductor. Some thieves love to steal other people's passes due to this system. The pass color also changes from time to time to avoid copycats. This is the site for the Zones of North Jersey Coast line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Jersey_Coast_Line
I made this (would need to be updated from time to time due to fare changes) Excel spreadsheet (Saved on Backup as "Work\Home\NJTransit North Jersey Coast Line Fares.xlsx") as a guide, Stations: South Amboy, Perth Amboy, Woodbridge, Avenel, Rahway, Linden, Elizabeth, Newark, Secaucus, NY. I then pasted the table from the excel workbook to MS Word in order to be copy pasted onto WordPress here:
| SA | PA | Wb | Av | Rw | Ld | Eb | Nw | SEC | NY | |
| SA | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.55 | 3.85 | 4.95 | 6.45 | 10.65 | 15.65 | 15.65 | |
| PA | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.55 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 9.45 | 14.45 | 14.45 | ||
| Wb | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 7.65 | 12.7 | 12.7 | |||
| Av | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.55 | 6.45 | 11.5 | 11.5 | ||||
| Rw | 2.6 | 2.6 | 5.9 | 10.9 | 10.9 | |||||
| Ld | 2.6 | 4.95 | 10 | 10 | ||||||
| Eb | 3.55 | 8.5 | 8.5 | |||||||
| Nw | 4.95 | 6.15 | ||||||||
| SEC | 4.95 | |||||||||
| NY | 15.65 | 17.05 | 15.3 | 15.05 | 14.75 | 14.95 | 14.95 | 16.8 | 20.6 |
Last row NY shows rate comparison according to mid point station. Thus, Rw column is cheapest $14.75.
Even AI (Google Gemini) figured this out, once I fed it this spreadsheet:
Based on the fare data provided in Sheet2, the cheapest way to travel from South Amboy to New York (NY) is by purchasing a combination of two tickets rather than a single direct ticket.
Cheapest Combination:
The most cost-effective route involves splitting your journey at Rahway:
- Ticket 1: South Amboy to Rahway — $3.85
- Ticket 2: Rahway to NY — $10.90
Total Cost: $14.75
Comparison:
- Direct Fare: $15.65
- Savings: $0.90 per trip
By using this combination, you save $0.90 compared to the standard direct fare of $15.65. Other combinations, such as splitting at Elizabeth ($14.95) or Woodbridge ($15.20+), are more expensive than the Rahway split.