Although some of those weekend trains have disappeared south of Long Branch and on the Morris & Essex Line Gladstone Branch, more trains will be added across the rail system during rush hour and for the coming Christmas holiday season, when new timetables take effect Oct. 29, NJ Transit officials said.

David Peter Alan, president of the Lackawanna Commuter Coalition, criticized NJ Transit for cutting the weekend trains between regular schedule changes and doing it with little warning.

"We object to these cuts for their severity and the fact they were implemented without advance notice to the riders, their communities or organizations like us, who advocate on their behalf," Alan said.

The new schedule shows 15 weekend trains going to and from stations south of Long Branch. The current schedule has 23 trains to and from stations south of Long Branch.

Rider Mark Musarra, 47, of Spring Lake was one of those caught off guard when some Coast Line trains disappeared.

"Last month at Spring Lake, the 11:30 train didn't come," Musarra said. "It does affect me. I don't have a car, and I take the train all the time."

Off-peak fares increased by 25 percent last year, which Alan and other advocates predicted would bring ridership down on weekend and off-peak trains. Alan said he fears that could start a cycle of further drops in ridership and more service cuts.

"We fully expect further cuts, possibly on the Gladstone Line and possibly on the Raritan Line," Alan said. "Continuation of the present cycle of high off-peak fares and cuts is a recipe for disaster."

The eliminations were made as a cost-cutting measure because of low ridership on certain trains on both lines and to better use equipment, said Penny Bassett Hackett, NJ Transit spokeswoman.

Some of the weekend Gladstone trains to Hoboken had as few as 30 passengers, she said. Before the cuts, 39 weekend trains were offered to Hoboken. That was reduced to 17 trains, Bassett Hackett said.

"They were common-sense adjustments to match limited equipment with ridership," she said.

The North Jersey Coast Line trains that were eliminated ended an experiment over the past several years to continue running extra summer trains in the off-season to attract riders.

"We went back to the historic practice of consolidating the schedule between Long Branch and Bay Head, reducing the seasonal trains to the Shore (in the off season)," Bassett Hackett said. "The last couple of years we kept them on to see if they'd sustain ridership. We gave it a couple of years to catch on. They didn't."

Those trains were eliminated Oct. 1, but the schedule changes were announced Aug. 1 "to give people returning from vacation time to adjust," she said.

Weekend riders interviewed at the Belmar train station said the changes will be inconvenient.

"It's kind of stupid to minimize train service," said Robert Van Nostrand, 15, of Point Pleasant, who takes the train to New York and to Belmar. "It will be slower to wait for a train."

Looking forward to getting his driver's license, Van Nostrand said he will definitely get a car.

"They'll lose me as a rider," he said.

Mike Dinsmore, 18, and Vittorio LaTessa, 17, both of Jackson, were headed for New York. They said the schedule change will make it harder for them and for friends coming to visit.

"It will definitely make me drive," Dinsmore said. "It will be more inconvenient."

Jason Menser, 26, of Wall said he rides the train to New York on weekends and said the change will affect him.

"I'll probably have to drive halfway to New Brunswick and catch it there," he said. "It's easier to come here (Belmar) and drop the car off."

Alan said that in some cases, the revised schedule leaves a two-hour gap between trains. He contends the change is unfair to riders who depend on transit.

Musarra agreed, and said he takes the train instead of the bus because bus schedules are more sporadic.

"I was used to a train every hour on the hour," he said of the schedule change.

But what the commuter agency takes away from one part of the system, they'll give back on some rail lines when new schedules take effect Oct. 29.

"In October, we're adding seasonal service through November and December on the Northeast Corridor and Morris & Essex lines," said Tom Morgan, NJ Transit senior director of rail service planning.

In addition, seven new peak-hour trains will be added throughout the system: three on the Northeast Corridor Line, two on the North Jersey Coast Line, including a new morning express from Long Branch and a new local from South Amboy; one new train on the Morris & Essex and one on the Main-Bergen Line.

Those added trains will provide an additional 4,000 seats, NJ Transit officials said.