Hell, its not even a given when living in Manhattan. I lived on West 191st and the amount of times I had to switch to a shuttle bus after a late night out or deal with slow trains after 42nd street was crazy. Literally, after 1am, all the trains are shit and its just as difficult to get around with the same wait times as the path. I take knowing my train will be here in 40 minutes over the "next train in 15 minutes", but its actually 40 minutes of the MTA.

Plus, at least the path is 24 hours... yes you have to wait a bit if you dont make the connection or the subway takes a bit longer to get you where you need to go, but atleast its not Metro North or NJ Transit were if you miss the 2 am train you are pretty screwed until 5. Its not seamless, but you really dont have to consult a schedule. You are not locked out of leaving NY until early morning if you so happen to miss the last train because the Path doesnt have a last train.

I get that it sucks to use the path overnight or even during the day on weekends, but again, unless you are in Midtown-Downtown Manhattan, shitty weekend and overnight service is pretty universal throughout upper manhattan, the other three boroughs and urban jersey near the path train