Was chatting with someone over on YouTube about our two systems and they provided me with this exellent critique of NJ Transit
| NJT NJT Board Members actual ride the System , but they live on the good lines like the Morristown line or Northeast Corridor...1 takes the bus and thats it. So they really don't see the core issues of the system. 1. It has kept up with Growth in Central Jersey or Urban Jersey , there are large gaps in the Regional Rail network that were supposed to be built by now but were put off for whatever reason. There solution was a Bus Rapid Lite system which hasn't solved the problem all that much , if anything its gotten worse... The Growth is along the Rail corridors , the BRT is along the Highways which go through the sprawly sections so its band-aid solution which is leaking. 2. Essex - Union - Passaic and Bergen Counties have been neglected over Rich sections of Hudson County. The real reason behind building the Hudson Bergen Light Rail was to stimulate growth in the Brownfields of Jersey City and Hoboken which it has. But most of the People in those developments are rich and do not use the Light Rail. They put off Expanding the Newark Light Rail network which would have serviced Poor and Middle Class Urban and Suburban Urban Jersey along with areas that were neglected and needed to attract developers. Unlike the Hudson Bergen Light Rail which mainly served developers.... The Full buildout Ridership on the Newark LRT would have been around 450,000. The overcrowded core lines would become Light Rail ,some lines are approaching 50,000... 3. To much Emphasis on New York commuters over Urban Jersey Commuters , they pumped billions into regional Rail upgrades catering to New York Commuters but have ignored Urban Jersey which a big part of that was not Expanding the Newark LRT which would also connected into the Passaic-Bergen , and Union County LRT networks. They neglected a few Urban Jersey Regional Rail lines instead of upgrading them and encouraging TOD , some even closed completed others lost their stations while Suburban Jersey and NY lines were upgraded. Combined all stations lost serviced 8,000 riders... Some of the lines lost will come back as LRT , but they keep focusing on NYC so who knows when will that happen. I think once the Amtrak Gateway Tunnel / Bridge / Station project is completed they will switch to Urban Jersey again. 4. Lack of a Integrated Fare system , we do have free transfer between buses and Light Rail but thats about it. When your commuting into or out of Urban Jersey or into NYC your most likely going to use a Regional Rail + Light Rail Combo or Bus+PATH (Urban Jersey Subway) combo you have to path separating. The PATH and PATCO which are the 2 Rapid Transit systems in NJ have Smart cards ,so there already ahead of Transit... They keep saying they will have a Smart card system compatible with the PATH and PATCO but so far they have decided to waste money on a stupid Google wallet system that very few use. New York should have a Card system but 2016 , and Philly will have one later this year...which leaves Transit the only large system in the Northeast without a Smart card its ridiculous. It would speed up the Bus Boarding process which takes forever and allow for a easier commute. You can load up the cards on the Internet at work or home , then tap at the machine to charge them and then your on your way , no pulling out ur cards or cash. They don't even have pre-paided on thier so called BRT lines... NYC does and Connecticut will have it. 5. Overcrowding on certain routes is getting to dangerous levels , on the Northeast Corridor they scrapped the idea of High Capacity EMU's which New York and Connecticut use on their Electric suburban system instead they bought Double deckers which have when huge draw back , it takes forever for people to board and de-board at the larger stations , sometimes up to 5mins during rush hour compared to the Older EMUs and Single levels which are a breeze....to get on and off. During Rush hour due to the overcrowding on the Urban Jersey bus network which due to the lack of expanded Urban Rail , most the outer dense urban riders tend to pile onto the Regional Rail were talking close to 30,000 people commuting a short distance to avoid the Bus crush mess , but this causes the already overcrowded standing room only Regional Rail to become dangerously overcrowded...sometimes they won't allow anymore people to get on...its just a mess...and this could have been lessen. But the Regional Rail crowds are a walk in the park compared to the buses which you sometimes have to wait for 4 or 5 of them due to the crowds... In NYC its even worse , the Jersey Bound buses are subject to whatever fun goes on in the tunnels if theres one accidents everyones fucked for hours...which causes lines which are already extremely long to spill out the Terminal. Sometimes lines are up to 9,000 people deep and due to the lack of Rail Expansions these people have no other means of getting home. They have started running more shuttles either in bus or Rail format in Urban Jersey but thats just another band-aid. 6. Communication , its not that good except at the Major Rail and Bus Terminals or stations. Even though they supposedly have GPS trackers on the buses , there are no countdown clocks on the BRT lines which are really just wrapped buses. The Hudson Bergen LRT has them but their never right , the Newark LRT and River Line LRT just display the times instead of the Train schedules or countdown...but those 2 lines are rarely delayed unlike the HBLR or buses. The PATH has them ,but there rarely right either , NYC has them ,and so does Boston. LRT and Bus aside , the Regional Rail is the huge problem , its not the fact that its delayed often ,those are rare. Its the fact that even those they have speakers they never use them to announce Trains and thats a problem. So trains are express and the Conductor doesn't always tell you , so sometimes you will pass your stop and have to backtrack which can sometimes take a full hour... Major Stations have announcements for Bus , Light Rail and Regional Rail , but most Suburban stations do not unless there's an accident. Even when there's an accident , it sometimes takes 30mins for the info to reach the stations...its ridiculous. So I went on a bit of a rant on whats wrong with our system , its not like the Board listens at the very few meetings or community outreaches. You would think after the whole Sandy-Damaged Train debacle they would be fired and fresh people brought in but that hasn't happened yet.... Sent to: PortlandsTransport |
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