March 2021 FYI Customer Newsletter
FYI is NJ TRANSIT’s popular customer publication. To read stories from the latest issue, click the headline. Sign up to receive an email when there is a new edition of FYI.
Introducing FlexPass NJ TRANSIT is offering a new pilot ticket option called FLEXPASS. Available only through the NJ TRANSIT Mobile App, FLEXPASS is a 20-trip ticket that is sold at a 20 percent discount off the one-way fare! FLEXPASS tickets are available for purchase on bus, rail and light rail service
Portal Bridge Project Advances NJ TRANSIT recently signed a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for construction of the new Portal North Bridge on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The new bridge will replace a century-old swing-span bridge with a fixed-span bridge across the Hackensack River, located on the NEC between Newark Penn Station and Secaucus Junction
WRTC Redevelopment Plans Announced Governor Phil Murphy recently announced plans for a $250 million redevelopment of the Walter Rand Transportation Center (WRTC) in Camden. The project would replace the existing facility to better serve and connect customers with NJ TRANSIT buses, the River LINE, PATCO service, intercity buses, and support future Transit-Oriented Development work
NJ TRANSIT to Purchase First Zero-Emissions Buses NJ TRANSIT continues to advance a zero-emissions bus program, recently releasing a Request for Proposals to purchase eight battery-electric buses that will be deployed in Camden. The limited deployment enables NJ TRANSIT to study the benefits and challenges of using zero-emissions vehicles in a real-world setting
Access Link Mobile App Access Link customers now have control of their trip from start to finish, right at their fingertips! The new Access Link mobile app allows Access Link customers to schedule and cancel trips, monitor their reservations, pre-pay their fares electronically, manage their EZ-Wallet contactless payment accounts and more.
NewBus Newark NJ TRANSIT is launching a new initiative that will revitalize bus service in the Greater Newark area. NewBus Newark will use a detailed performance analysis of the area’s 38 local bus routes, as well as community input, to design a new intrastate bus network for the Newark region. Recommendations will help to address the Newark area’s evolving regional mobility need
NJ TRANSIT Teams Up with Veterans Group NJ TRANSIT is teaming up with the Edge4Vets jobs preparation program to help connect New Jersey veterans, National Guard members, transitioning military service personnel and their spouses with careers in transportation. The program will be presented in a series of online workshops this spring. Veterans learn how to translate their military strengths into tools for success
COVID-19 Update NJ TRANSIT continues to work hard to make your travel experience a safe and enjoyable one. That includes redoubling our efforts to clean and sanitize our fleet and facilities in the battle against COVID-19. Among the more recent safety enhancements: installation of plexiglass partitions; upgrading and frequently replacing HVAC system filters; adding cleaning shifts to sanitize frequent customer touch points, and testing new technology.
Garden State Film Festival The Garden State Film Festival (GSFF) will be held virtually this year from March 23-28, 2021. GSFF is a not-for-profit organization that offers independent filmmakers the chance to exhibit their work and gives New Jersey audiences a chance to experience new, cultural, and artistic endeavors through the medium of film. We’re partnering with GSFF to offer you a $5 discount on a Virtual Multi-Pass
NJ Transit to benefit from Penn Station expansion. Here are the details
NJ Transit is expected to be the primary operator at the proposed Empire Station complex that would add as many as nine new tracks by expanding train operations south of the current New York Penn Station.
Plan for new N.Y. Penn Station would allow for more trains from N.J.
A proposed addition south of Penn Station would have nine additional tracks and five new platforms to accommodate NJ Transit trains, and be in operation in 2028, the same time it predicts new Gateway Hudson River tunnels would be completed.
Chairman Bruce Bergen participates in NJ Transit Board Meeting
One hour into the video below
Newark Penn Station and improvements to the Newark Bus Lines Briefing
Briefing on 11:00 AM, Monday, 1.25.21 by the Newark Regional Business Partnership on the upgrades. Registration is at www.newarkrbp.org. Registration is $25
Governor Murphy announced today NJ TRANSIT with their consultant, Parsons, have completed the requirements for installation, testing and training of Positive Train Control
This is a significant milestone for NJ TRANSIT.
“Celebrate” the 110th anniversary of the North River Tunnel and Portal Bridge – lets hope they are replaced soon!
Happy 110th birthday to the Hudson Tunnel! Originally built during the Taft administration, it’s time to #buildgateway to aid in our recovery from the pandemic and build infrastructure to last another 110 years!
110 is a lot of candles, but we need that many to celebrate the birthday of the North River Tunnel. It’s past time for us to #buildgateway and modernize our region’s rail system!
It may require a sledgehammer to knock it back into place every once in a while, but we’d like to wish a happy 110th birthday to the Portal Bridge! Let’s #buildgateway to improve reliability and our quality of life.
Raritan Valley Rail Coalition to Hold Virtual Public Meeting on October 7
The Raritan Valley Rail Coalition (RVRC) will hold a public meeting – remotely via Zoom – on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. The featured speaker is Rep. Tom Malinowski and he is expected to discuss the Gateway Project and in particular the Portal Bridge Project. This virtual event is free to attend and pre-registration is required.
Those wishing to attend can pre-register at https://bit.ly/2HjuPPt. Participants with questions during the meeting, can use the chat function or the hand raising feature, located on the participant screen. Please try to enter about ten minutes before the start of the meeting.
“The progress that has been made by the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition has been beneficial to many Union County residents,” said Union County Freeholder Chairman, Alexander Mirabella. “We are grateful to the RVRC for their hard work over the past 20 years.”
The Raritan Valley Rail Coalition, which represents Union, Somerset, Middlesex and Hunterdon Counties, was created nearly two decades ago to campaign for a one-seat ride on the Raritan Valley Line, which has 23,500 passengers daily, making it NJ Transit’s third most-used rail line. While track connectivity existed into New York, Raritan Valley riders always had to get off in Newark and switch trains because their diesel engines were not allowed into the tunnels under the Hudson River.
That changed in 2014, when NJ Transit began using dual-mode locomotives that could switch from diesel to electric power, making it possible to have a direct ride into New York City. A limited, one-seat ride was introduced during off-peak hours in January, 2015 by NJ Transit, and returned after a period of suspension last year. After another suspension earlier this year, the limited one-seat ride is back.
“The RVRC has been working diligently for years, and continued to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic, to improve service for over 23,000 daily riders,” said Raritan Valley Rail Coalition Chairman, Bruce Bergen. “Many residents along the Raritan Valley Line continued to require regular transportation into New York City even with reduced workforces having been implemented during the shutdown.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, public transportation services were heavily affected. The Raritan Valley Line was no exception. One-seat rides were cancelled when New Jersey Transit reduced its service to accommodate for plummeting ridership during the 2020 Spring and Summer shutdown months. One-seat rides on the Raritan Valley Line have since been reinstated but only back to their off-peak hours from Monday to Friday, meaning passengers still have to transfer trains daily if travelling to and from work during rush hour.
“Raritan Valley line riders deserve a more even distribution of one-seat rides to and from New York during rush hour, ” said Freeholder Liaison to the RVRC Bette Jane Kowalski, “We have been told that the Gateway Project, with its additional tunnels, could be necessary for that to happen. But we believe it should be possible to add a few more direct rides to New York, especially with ridership currently reduced by the pandemic.”
Please find links for the full report of NJ Transit’s One-Seat Ride report as mandated, as well as the summary presentation. Raritan Valley Rail Coalition Chairman Bruce Bergen commented on the reports during a private meeting with NJ Transit. Bergen noted that the report is a starting point for continued discussions on how to realistically implement an expanded one-seat ride. This report was mandated by state legislation championed by the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition in effort to improve service. The report was formally presented to the state legislature earlier today for review.
On January 13, 2020, Governor Murphy signed legislation enacted by the New Jersey State Legislature that directs NJ TRANSIT to “conduct a study on the feasibility of providing rail service on the Raritan Valley Line (RVL) that offers full-time direct rail service to New York City,” that is defined as “a one-seat ride to and from its termini and that operates on weekdays and weekends, during peak hours and non-peak hours.” The RVL schedule in effect prior to Covid-19 included direct rail service via the Northeast Corridor (NEC) to Penn Station New York (PSNY) during the weekday midday and weekday evening off-peak periods, but not during the weekday morning and evening peak periods and during weekends.
In compliance with this legislation, NJ TRANSIT reviewed RVL, NEC and PSNY operating conditions and alternatives for providing fulltime RVL one-seat ride service that would be feasible in the context of physical infrastructure investments and capital and operating funding circumstances. This study provides the methodology and results of the aforementioned review and analysis.
Several scenarios for implementing RVL one seat ride service in the peak hours were developed. Some scenarios include substitution of existing NEC and/or NJCL trains with RVL trains. The displaced NEC and/or NJCL trains would terminate at Newark Penn Station (NPS), requiring PSNY-bound passengers to transfer. The scenarios which re-allocate NEC / PSNY capacity to the RVL would have negative customer impacts, as they reduce both rail system ridership and carrying capacity to PSNY, are estimated to result in overcrowding at NPS and Secaucus Junction, and would potentially degrade on time performance. The proposed peak hour RVL PSNY trains would provide a one-seat ride but would not markedly reduce travel times for RVL riders since these one-seat ride trains would no longer operate with a skip stop pattern but would stop at all RVL stations due to the limited available train slots. Each of the scenarios would require increased annual funding for operation and maintenance and significant capital investment. The study determined that full-time direct rail service to Manhattan will be best achieved by expanding trans-Hudson and PSNY infrastructure capacity based on the overall Gateway Program, which would benefit riders on all of NJ TRANSIT’s northern New Jersey rail services, including the RVL.
The Raritan Valley Rail Coalition reached out to NJ TRANSIT, and we are
happy to announce the Raritan Valley Line’s one seat ride will resume on July 6th as part of NJT’s plan to bring their rail and light rail weekday service back.
RVRC Chairman Bruce Bergen will continue to attend NJT board meetings to help advocate for more One Seat Ride service and improvements our residents deserve.
Beginning Monday, July 6th, NJ TRANSIT will operate full weekday service for rail and light rail providing added capacity to improve distancing on board vehicles, which aligns with “The Road Back”, New Jersey’s roadmap for restoring economic health through public health. Bus service has been operating on a regular weekday schedule since Monday, June 8. Read more.
Commuters and Friends of the Raritan Valley Line –
During the COVID 19 crisis affecting all of us, we would like to remind everyone that NJ Transit is urging riders to utilize their services ONLY for essential trips. NJ Transit has posted temporary reduced rail schedules on its website (which is subject to change) including a temporary suspension of the one-seat ride.
Please practice safe distancing at the stations and on the trains.
We look forward to the day when we resume our normal way of life.
Bruce Bergen
Chairman, Raritan Valley Rail Coalition
Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT were awarded $91.5 million by the Federal Railroad Administration recently to help the necessary replacement of the Portal North Bridge.
We thank Senator Bob Menendez, Senator Cory Booker, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr., Congressman Albio Sires, Congressman Donald M. Payne Jr. and Congressman Tom Malinowski for their efforts in helping us secure this funding.
We mourn the loss of NJ Transit Raritan Valley Line conductor Joe Hansen who lost his life from the coronavirus.
He worked for NJ TRANSIT with over twenty years of service for commuters up and down the Raritan Valley Line.
We would like to thank our Raritan Valley Rail Coalition members, Assemblywoman Linda S. Carter of Plainfield, and Assemblyman James Kennedy of Rahway and Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D-16) for taking the lead and sponsoring the bill which was passed 76-0 in the NJ State Assembly and would require NJ Transit to conduct a feasibility study aimed at implementing a full-time One Seat Ride on the RVL Copy of the Bill InsiderNJ article
Union County Freeholder Chair Bette Jane Kowalski, Raritan Valley Rail Coalition Chairman Bruce Bergen and other Coalition Trustees, met with NJ TRANSIT executive level staff to discuss open issues plaguing our commuters on the RVL. Main points of the discussion included:
→ The return to service of the escalator at Track 5 at Newark Penn Station that has been out of service for months, and better future maintenance of all escalators and elevators.
→ The adding of more same-platform transfers at Newark Penn Station. NJ Transit plans to add 3 more same-platform transfers for trains to New York on the RVL before the end of this year. We continued to press for even more expansion.
→ Our continued push to expand our recently restored off-peak weekday one-seat ride into New York City.
Please continue to contact us and comment on our social media with any issues you encounter so we can bring those complaints directly to NJ Transit to ensure your voices are heard!
Off-Peak One-Seat Ride Restored!
Governor Phil Murphy and Congressman Tom Malinowski announced the restoration of 7 of the 8 off-peak one-seat train rides effective Nov. 4th on the Raritan Valley Rail Line.
While we welcome this news, it is not enough. Commuters deserve better. Members of our Coalition representing four counties and 1.7 million residents were in attendance today, and we will NOT STOP fighting for you until a permanent, peak one-seat ride is in place.