All Aboard the Improved NJ TRANSIT Experience

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NEWARK- Despite the many challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, NJ TRANSIT is continuing to enhance its service performance and reliability. Over the past year-and-a-half, NJ TRANSIT has been on the move, offering full weekday service while continuing to improve the on-time performance of its trains, buses, and light rail.

Every day, NJ TRANSIT operates thousands of trains, buses, and light rail trips. Since January 2018, the company has made considerable progress to fulfill mandatory safety requirements, modernize its fleet, communicate real-time service status conveniently, and recruit and train for critical positions such as new bus operators and locomotive engineers.

From 2019 to 2020, on-time performance for NJ TRANSIT trains has improved from 90% in 2019 to 93.6% IN 2020. On-time performance for buses improved from 91.3% in 2019 to 94% in 2020. Light rail performance improved from 96.6% to 97.5% in 2020. Customers can view the statistics for themselves on NJ TRANSIT’s website. A public performance dashboard is included to view statistics on performance, reliability, and service.

As NJ TRANSIT rail customers return to the office, they’ll see cancelled trains due to engineer availability has been virtually eliminated. The company has fully restored its depleted ranks of engineers to more than 390, graduating more than 100 new engineers since 2018. NJ TRANSIT has also added more than 1,000 bus operators since 2018 and continues to recruit, hire and train for critical frontline positions, including locomotive engineers, conductors and bus operators.

NJ TRANSIT marked the full implementation of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) mandatory Positive Train Control (PTC) requirement. The agency received its certification from the FRA on December 18, 2020, despite being only 12% complete toward an interim December 2018 installation milestone in January 2018 – completing approximately seven years’ worth of work in less than three years.

Customers may also find themselves on a brand new bus with improved amenities. New buses mean improved reliability with fewer breakdowns. NJ TRANSIT began deploying the first of the 110 new articulated buses, the longer buses that bend in the middle, marking the first expansion of the bus fleet in a decade. More than 300 new buses have hit the road over the past two years.

NJ TRANSIT has also purchased 113 new multi-level rail cars – complete with improved amenities, such as USB charging ports and infotainment monitors – the first of which are expected to arrive in 2023. The first two of 25 new dual-mode locomotives arrived earlier this year, which will continue to build on the efforts to improve mechanical reliability and operational flexibility.

A series of improvements to bus service in Hoboken has increased capacity, created efficiencies, enhanced convenience and reduced wait times. The No. 126 bus line in Hoboken, already one of the busiest NJ TRANSIT lines in the state, now has the capacity to better serve its customers thanks to improvements including additional stops and new buses. NJ TRANSIT also added, extended, or provided enhanced bus service on more than 100 bus routes over the past two years including the 1, 86, 119, 123, 126, 128, 158, 166, 409, 412, 413, and 772 Routes.

Weekday train service at NJ TRANSIT’s Avenel station has increased by more than 40% and a full schedule of weekend service is running there for the first time in 34 years.

The air will be cleaner along NJ TRANSIT’s River LINE light rail between Trenton and Camden. Vehicle engines have been upgraded and are expected to improve reliability for customers and reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by at least 57% and lower particulate matter by 90%. Meanwhile, increased weekday peak period service on Newark Light Rail's Broad Street extension allows trains to operate every 10 minutes to improve train connections and convenience.

To accommodate environmentally friendly first-mile, last-mile travel options for customers, the policy on personal vehicles has been updated to now allow e-bikes, e-scooters and hoverboards under the existing bicycle regulations.

NJ TRANSIT is also remaining on the leading edge of technology to promote safety with a lifesaving partnership with Waze, which identifies the location of grade crossings on the Waze app. The new feature automatically alerts drivers that they are nearing a railroad crossing and reminds them to proceed with caution.

While customers have been away, NJ TRANSIT has worked hard on improvements to ensure reliable service now and in the future as ridership continues to grow and the economy reopens and will continue to build on this progress to further improve on its performance and reliability in the future.

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