People who commute on PATH are accustomed to the crowded platforms, the packed trains and the mad rush to get onboard.

In recent days, however, commuters say the commuter crush at PATH station platforms has become so bad it borders on being dangerous and unsafe.

Overcrowding was reported by commuters Thursday on social media at PATH’s Grove Street, Exchange Place, Newark Penn Station and Newport stations. The crowding and movement of the mass of people surging toward and away from packed trains left riders concerned for their safety and questioning how the PATH is handling crowd control.

Some riders called it worse than the infamous crowding on the New York City subway.

“I was almost pushed onto the tracks this morning at Exchange Place. The platform was so crowded it was seriously dangerous,” said Natasha Markley in a tweet. “Beyond the delays, the threat to safety is totally unacceptable.”

“This was easily one of the top five worst days in past 10 years. I could not even step foot onto the actual platform area, due to the amount of people already there,” said Gary Toriello, who rides PATH from Grove Street. “When a train finally enters the station, people surge forward. Then, when they find they cannot physically get onto the train, they then surge backward.”

“If there was a police or medical emergency and people had to disperse quickly, people could have ended up being pushed on the tracks,” Toriello said. Because people are waiting for 33rd and World Trade Center trains at Grove Street, half the crowd is pushing, while the other half is waiting for their train, he said.

When asked, PATH officials issued a statement on the delays but did not address questions asked about crowd control or why PATH didn’t authorize cross honoring on NJ Transit buses and light rail trains.

“PATH service was delayed for a time this (Thursday) morning by a signal problem. In addition, a disabled train outside the Christopher Street station forced a brief closure of the Hoboken PATH station until the train was removed, which took about 5 minutes,” PATH officials said in a statement. “The two issues caused some trains to be held in station until the situation was resolved, and led to residual train delays and additional crowding for a short time afterward toward the end of the morning rush.”

at Grove St. there was terrible overcrowding on the platform. a 33rd st train came but was already at capacity. a few brave souls pushed their way on. second train came about 10 minutes later, still crowded but some of us were able to get on. at that point it was at capacity. — DogtownNative (@DogtownNative) November 29, 2018

“Someone is going to get hurt whether they are pushed/fall on to the tracks because the platform is so dangerously packed and everyone is standing at the very edge of the track in an attempt to get on any train they can,” said Marie Bela Oldham of Jersey City on Twitter, who rides PATH to New York City from Grove Street.

She said she had to let five trains pass before she could squeeze on one.

“Every train that arrived at Grove was packed, conductors telling people to wait for the next train but no trains arrived that you could actually get on,” Oldham said. “(It was) beyond dangerous. People were angry. This will lead to someone getting hurt.”

Other riders said reported a crush at Newport station and Newark Penn Station.

“It was the most packed PATH train I’ve ever been on. The mass of humanity at Newport that got on an already packed 33rd St train made the journey from there to Christopher St feel like an eternity,” said Nick Fernandez, of South Plainfield. “People literally just pushed themselves onto the train. .”

The MTA/Subway gets all the attention, but @PATHTrain has become a daily hellscape. Massive delays and overcrowding are the norm. And I feel like I've seen the degredation happen over the 3.5 years I've lived in JC. PATH used to be reliable, now it's a perpetual nightmare. — Jordan Rabinowitz (@JordanRab) November 29, 2018

The delays compounded record ridership on PATH trains fueled by new development and additional riders from those buildings. As of October, 68.6 million people have ridden PATH in 2018, according to agency statistics. The system hit a record 80 million rider mark in 2017.

“(There were) massive crowds at Newark. There was almost no room to enter the platform from track 2 side. I had to wait for one train to go before being able to get on the next train,” said Rasika Udugampola, who responded to NJ Advance Media questions on a Facebook PATH group. “It was larger than normal because of the signal failures, but I’ve been in situations where it was much worse than today.”

Overcrowding has been a constant complaint of PATH riders and the system is being overwhelmed with record numbers of riders. More riders are being added from new developments in Hudson County, that advertise proximity to PATH and New York as a selling point.

“People are frustrated, they’re angry. I’ve seen people come close to fighting because of the overcrowding,” Oldham said. “I’ve been riding the PATH since I was a teenager, it gets worse every year.”