By Sunayana Prabhu
TRENTON – New Jersey Transit (NJT) is offering a week of free rides for all from Aug. 26 through Sept. 2 in an effort to pacify customers frustrated by the disrupted services in recent months. The fee holiday will cost the public transportation network millions of dollars but will it be enough to win over public trust?
Next week NJT will waive fares across all modes of transportation in its network, including buses, light rail and commuter trains. Commuters who’ve already purchased an August pass that covers travel through the end of the month will automatically receive a 25% discount on their September monthly pass purchase through the mobile app, at ticket vending machines or at ticket windows.
In an Aug. 15 press release, NJT announced the fee holiday as a “thank you” for customers’ “continued loyalty and patronage, particularly during a time when transit service has not consistently met their expectations – or our own.”
Thousands of Two River-area commuters use public transportation. Eric Sanders, a Red Bank resident who travels to New York City daily on the train, said, “It’s nice” NJT is “doing a free service, just to get people happy about it.” Still, he was quick to point out the company pushed through a rate hike not too long ago and tickets are “pretty expensive. So, if they’re trying to win people over… that’s nice, but it’d be nice if the price was lower.”
While many appreciate the weeklong fee waiver, others are asking for more accountability and longterm solutions.
“The number of delays and cancelations that we’ve had to deal with over the years, I think it’s just the least they could do,” said Juliana Hymanson, a regular Middletown to New York City commuter, as she departed the southbound train in Middletown, mildly appreciative of the agency’s effort. “I’ve been riding the train for probably 10 to 15 years and I can’t remember a time they’ve ever done this.”
Middletown resident Brandon Fuertes rides the train “every single day” and experiences delays. While the reason given by NJT for the delays is often “overhead wire issues,” Fuertes said “no one really knows what the real issue is. It’s just what they say.” He called the fee holiday “a weird Band-Aid solution for a larger problem that isn’t really getting addressed.”
That Band-Aid is going to cost NJT millions in revenues. “We expect the fare holiday to cost about $19 million,” John Chartier, director of media relations for NJT, told The Two River Times in a follow-up email to the Aug. 15 announcement.
“Understanding that our commuters have faced many disruptions this summer, we are providing a one-week fare holiday for NJ TRANSIT riders,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in the release announcing the fee holiday. “As we work diligently with Amtrak to investigate and address the issues that have occurred this summer, especially on the Northeast Corridor, we hope this fare holiday offers our commuters some relief. We also encourage New Jerseyans to take advantage of this opportunity, and we continue to be thankful to the many New Jerseyans who depend on public transit.”
NJT has been grappling with a range of problems, particularly on the Northeast Corridor Line, the “busiest corridor in the country,” which runs from New York Penn Station to Trenton. NJ Transit shares the track for this line with Amtrak which is responsible for its maintenance.
The state’s rail line issued several alerts on its website this summer, notifying commuters about frequent delays, cancelations and overcrowded trains. These issues also affected commuters from the Two River area who travel on the North Jersey Coast Line.
The North Jersey Coast Line runs from Bay Head to New York Penn Station and runs on the same track as the Northeast Corridor Line from Rahway to New York Penn Station. Commuters stranded due to disruptions on the Northeast Corridor Line could continue their journey on North Jersey Coast Line trains, causing overcrowding and further delays.
“Many of the recent service disruptions have occurred on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC),” NJT clearly stated in its release, blaming the system’s aging infrastructure. The catenary system – comprised of overhead wires – that powers the trains has been prone to failures, leading to delays that have impacted the entire network. Addi- tionally, the track signal systems and substations along the corridor have been malfunctioning, further exacerbating reliability issues.
According to the release, “significant short-term actions” have already been taken to address these problems. “NJ TRANSIT personnel have increased equipment inspections on platforms, while Amtrak has stepped up its efforts in inspecting and repairing their catenary (overhead wires), track signal systems, and substations along the NEC. These collaborative efforts have already led to a noticeable decrease in infrastructure-related incidents.” NJT is also pursuing additional grants through the Federal-State Partnership Grant Program to expedite the replacement of critical infrastructure elements.
Officials from NJT and Amtrak leadership met with Murphy June 27 to initiate a joint improvement plan. The plan includes long-term actions to correct Amtrak’s failing infrastructure, such as increasing the testing of transformers in substations and expanding the amount of time repair work can be completed by adjusting train schedules. This could help fix problems faster and accelerate upgrades.
While the NEC has been the most visible source of NJT’s problems, other parts of the system have not been immune to difficulties. In its release, NJT also noted ongoing problems with the River LINE light rail service, which runs between Trenton and Camden. That line has experienced significant performance issues in recent weeks with frequent delays and service interruptions, leading NJT to implement a supplemental bus plan earlier this week to provide more reliable weekday service.
NJT has attributed the River LINE’s problems to maintenance issues with the light rail vehicles and held its contracted operator accountable for expediting necessary repairs and upgrades to restore the service “as quickly as possible.”
According to NJT’s website, the network is the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system, providing over 925,000 weekday trips on 263 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines, and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third-largest transit system in the country, with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations, and over 19,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
The article originally appeared in the August 22 – 28, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
