Happy birthday to the Port Authority Trans-Hudson train, better known ’round these parts as the PATH. The NY Times has a nice story on the PATH’s barely noticed centennial, which meant for free rides for skeptical commuters yesterday.

David W. Dunlap charts the H&M train’s genesis as a link from Jersey to the “Ladies’ Mile” shopping district at 19th and 6th Avenues (H&M meant “Hudson & Manhattan”, not the Swedish retailer of clothes that always seem to be too tight unless you’re built like one of their mannequins) to a primary means of transportation for Manhattan commuters as Hoboken and Jersey City became popular residential hubs for young professionals.

The ride from Hoboken to 19th Street took 12 minutes a hundred years ago. When Dunlap tried it yesterday, it took 11, though the 19th Street stop is of course no longer there.

One other interesting note: the PATH’s busiest year was 1927, when it had over 113 million riders. That same year, the Holland tunnel was completed, and PATH ridership was never the same.

Anyone got a funny/interesting PATH story?