A suggestion to eliminate overnight PATH train service on weeknights, recommended as a money-saving effort by a panel looking into the future of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has been tabled.

"I have agreed to do so," Port Authority chairman John Degnan wrote in a letter Tuesday to New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto.  "The panel's suggestion hasn't even been presented to the board of commissioners."

The suggestion had been included in a report on Port Authority reform released last month. Some have suggested the report, commissioned by the governors of New York and New Jersey, was merely political cover since it was released the same day the two leaders vetoed bills passed by their respective legislatures that would have reformed the Port Authority.

But the blowback to the idea of cutting PATH's overnight service was fierce. Soon after the report was released, Hudson County legislators went on the offensive, calling the potential cuts "short-sighted" and "unbelievable." Senator Robert Menendez called it a "travesty."

The panel floated several other recommendations, including seeking federal funding, changing the PATH's regulatory structure, and finding a third-party operator for the PATH,which were not addressed in the letter..

"Everything else is still in play,” said one Port Authority official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Ltr to Sweeney-Prieto From Degnan