NJ Transit Responds

Yippee! I received a reply to my Friday afternoon telephone inquiry seeking to find out why no one bothered to collect fares on a rush hour train last week.

Dear Morgan,
We are replying to your feedback of 3/26/2010 regarding subject: Collection of fares.

I hear and appreciate your frustration and concerns. NJ TRANSIT is aware of reports regarding incidents where train fares and tickets have not been collected on some of our trains. The information you gave us has been incorporated into our on-going system-wide effort to investigate employees who are engaged in the behavior you have described. This has already yielded some positive results. Though crowded trains and other situations may sometimes prevent 100 percent fare collection, this does not excuse employees from making every attempt to perform their assigned duties. Those employees who refuse to comply with this directive, if caught, will face appropriate corrective action.


Details and results of this investigation are kept confidential so as to not compromise our efforts, and to honor contractual obligations with the employee unions.

Rest assured that NJ TRANSIT is taking action to address this issue.


Thank you for contacting NJ TRANSIT.

Sincerely,

Carmine Melillo
NJ TRANSIT Customer Relations Specialist

Okay, Carmine (since we are all friends and on a first-name basis now,) I really do appreciate the reply. But can you imagine for just one instant how ridiculous this situation would be if the agency in question were, say, Delta? Or even Amtrak? How is collecting fare ever an option, particularly for a cash-starved agency that already committed to cutting jobs and raising ticket prices? It is, in a word, unacceptable.

A lousy prep school headmaster (NOT Ted Lingenheld ♥)- once called me a "math paraplegic," but even with paralyzing dyscalculia, I can do this arithmetic: MORE PEOPLE ON THE TRAIN = MORE MONEY. Yet, NJ Transit seems to be okay with a really backwards formula: more people = less money because it's too difficult to get to everyone on a full or overly full train.

Huh?

Wouldn't you think that if you ran the operation you would make it a priority to to maximize your revenue from the really crowded trains? Wouldn't you consider those peak hour trains to be your cash cow? And wouldn't you do everything in your power to maximize your take? Or if the packed trains really constitute an impediment to efficient collection and quality service, can't conductors simply close up cars when they reach capacity? How will NJ Transit ever be prepared to address collection issues when they cut service and eliminate jobs? More people on fewer trains with less staff to inspect tickets? Does this make sense to anyone?

Assuming that it would be awkward and overly time consuming to collect tickets from people as they board a commuter train, I propose some sort of EZPass or an electronic swipe key that would read your ID and automatically deduct fare from a pre-paid account as you board. It cannot be so cost prohibitive to retrofit trains with an electronic eye, particularly when it would certainly result in a higher rate of collection.

Carmine, I don't envy you your job and I am sure that you're on overload going into this fare hike circus. Seriously - thank you for writing. And I hope you know that when I slam customer service at NJ Transit, I am not slamming you or the call center staff I spoke with who have been, without exception, patient and professional. It's the approach to customer service at NJ Transit that infuriates me - the idea that it's okay to slide here and there because you have a "system-wide effort" in place, or because, as one employee on your Facebook fan page suggests, you are the only game in town. (Who is that person, by the way? Does she understand she's not doing the NJ Transit brand any favors by being a smart aleck on Facebook?)

Listen, nothing would make me happier than to get off this rant and find something more cheerful to write about. Let's get some serious plans on the table to ensure NJ Transit explores every avenue to eliminate waste and inefficiencies before we let it sink its clammy hand into my pocket.

Thanks for Nuthin'

In typical but ever-so-frustrating fashion, NJ Transit is deferring complaints to an online form. So basically, I had a live human being on the phone who told me she could not accept my complaint. Now, hear me when I tell you the lady on the phone was very nice and professional to the extent that call-center operators can be. I mean to say that generally, folks in call centers have very little authority or discretion to make whole people who are dissatisfied. They follow a script and they follow direction unless you ratchet your complaint up to the level of a supervisor. Clearly, the direction she received was to send any fare-related issues to a highly impersonal, dialogue-deficient channel that is on the NJ Transit website. She did listen to me for a while, though -- that is, before she told me to go to the website. And I have to tell you, she was genuinely perplexed about why last night's free ride from New York would irritate me. Free is good, no? NO! Because it's not free!

But I digress. Here is what I had to say to NJ Transit about last night's junket:

A live human at your customer service call center directed me to this site. For the record, it should be the other way around. Authentic customer service is personal -- it engenders relationships. Writing on a form makes me feel like I am wasting my time. (And I have no reason to believe otherwise... given that these comments are not posted publicly -- where do they go? What happens to them? Who reads them? Will I hear from someone? Will that person be someone in authority?) You cannot call this 'customer service' when the customer is doing all the work and all the talking. Something more apposite would be 'customer disregard.'

Anyway, my issue: Last night, I rode the 5:54 from NY Penn all the way to Jersey Avenue and not a single fare was collected from anyone on that train. If NJ Transit is so strapped for revenue that it is proposing a double-digit fare increase, how is it that people on a very full rush hour train can ride the entire length of a route and not be asked for tickets?

How in the world can you justify taking more money from me when you have operational inefficiencies that allow hundreds of fares to go uncollected? Isn't this your primary and most consistent revenue stream? People who buy your tickets to ride from Point A to Point B? At least twice a week, I see how folks riding to Newark and Secaucus get on and off without having their fares collected. It's like a game - a game those of us father down the line have to finance.

I have put up with late trains, trains with doors that don't close, trains with conductors who make announcements starting with "you people...", post-hockey game trains with people so loaded they vomit on the seats and on the floor, and trains so overcrowded that I stand for more than half of the ride, even though your conductors can clearly see I am wearing a cast on my foot.

For the increases you are proposing, it is only slightly more expensive for me to drive to New York every day. Given the fact that I will arrive on time and will not run the risk of vomit on my shoes, I think that will indeed be my preference over paying higher fares for the minimal to mediocre service currently being offered by NJ Transit.

If you are prepared to address your current inefficiencies and answer to the fact that people routinely ride without being charged, I would love to know about it.

Also, you should know that I called customer service as soon as I got off the train last night. The auto-operator told me my wait would be less than five minutes. It was in fact, 43 minutes when I finally gave up. How would you read this situation if you were in my seat?

And here is the response I received back from NJ Transit, which basically confirms that there is to be no dialogue, no acknowledgement and ultimately, no accountability:

Dear Morgan,

Thank you for your feedback. Your comments have been received and will be entered into the public record. You will not receive a further response to this submission.

If you wish to comment on an issue other than the fare/service proposal, please click here to contact NJ TRANSIT Customer Service.

Sincerely,
NJ TRANSIT

Nothing like a form letter to cultivate the alignment and engagement of your customer base, eh?

It's Official: They Suck

WTF, NJ Transit?

This is the agency that is preparing its ridership for 20 - 30 percent fare hikes this summer. The agency that needs the extra revenue just to survive. And yet, today on the 5:54 - the crowded 5:54 - not one single ticket was collected. A reversal of fortune, perhaps? A cache of transit checks has been discovered in a basement file cabinet and the agency's financial woes are now resolved? There is, perhaps, such a windfall, that not only are the fare increases off the table, the agency is now giving away rides to its loyal patrons. Well, huzzah and hallelujah Hannah!

Or was it just continued inefficiency and apathy? "Ah, throw the chumps a free ride, we'll be rich soon enough...bwahahahaha."

Well, inquiring minds wanted to know, so I called customer service at NJ Transit the minute I got to my car at Jersey Avenue. The automated system informed me that my wait time to speak with a rep would be under five minutes. Suffice it to say, I drove from Jersey Avenue to South Brunswick, stopped for gas, dropped a check off for my doctor, and drove home to Princeton. 43 minutes and 47 seconds. I gave up.

But, rest assured, I will keep trying. I am dying to hear the explanation not only for having blown me off on the phone tonight, but how in God's green earth, NJ Transit can be so blatantly and publicly stoopid about not making an effort to charge people for the very service they are there to provide (if only in a highly mediocre way.) I also want to know exactly what NJ Transit is prepared to do to compensate me for my inconvenience. Last time, they threw me two courtesy tickets. Seems like they are big on the giving tickets away thing...

Would it Kill You?

People with an aversion to physical contact with other human beings should not - nay - cannot ride a train. In particular, they cannot ride a rush hour train. And if you do not wish to come into contact with extraneous limbs brushing, then do what you can to keep your own body within the limits of your own seat and floor space. If you would prefer our knees don't knock, do not sit with your legs a foot-and-a-half apart, and try to compact your body to the extent you can when I am attempting to pass by you to get to the seat across from you.

Today, you had that four seater to yourself when I came hobbling along with my big shoe cast. Perhaps you didn't see it. But when I asked you to excuse me so I could sit across from you, you made me crawl over your knees. You are an older gent, but not an old man, so I know you know I know you know I know you know better. The exasperated sigh of irritation was not necessary. It was, in fact, that very display of impatience on your part - more than the swelling and throbbing - that compelled me to lift my injured foot up on the seat next to you. I knew that you would be highly annoyed by the proximity of my stockinged foot. (I am reasonably certain my foot was not smelly, but on the train with its smorgasbord of aroma, I could not swear to it...)

Look pal, I looked around, and you could do a lot worse than me as a seat-mate, foot issues or otherwise. There is no way around sharing a seat during rush hour - the solo rider on the Express is an urban legend like spider eggs in Bubble Yum. It is not possible. You are only a few years away from your own age-related mobility issues, so do remember that your reap what you sow, and one day, you will be looking for someone like me to accommodate you when one or more of your body parts aches, swells and pounds.

Oh, Crap

The commute into New York is a feast for the senses and by "feast," I mean an all-out assault. Generally, I'm immune to the tang of the fuel, and the day-later aroma of partially metabolized garlic, curry, scotch and Bud Light escaping in the perspiration of my fellow riders. Today, however, my very psyche was KO'd when someone on the train had a very terrible accident. I don't know who; I didn't want to look around as I thought it would be horrible to actually come into eye contact with the poopy perpetrator. No one in eyeshot appeared to be the sort who would do that intentionally. Everyone, in fact, made an effort to be blase about it, save for a few initial furtive glances around. (Oh, except the guy across the aisle from me who sniffed around, then stood up and checked the seat of his own pants. Way too hilarious.) So am I sure? Absolutely. How do I know? Because it was unmistakable. This constitutes reasons number 1,2, and 3 why, even if I reach 300 pounds, Alli will never be my ally. The barrage continued when we reached Penn...This time it was an aural assault - lots of choice language during some sort of commotion involving a loitering - and from the looks of it - chronic ne'er do well. I say this because of the way a swelling contingent of transit cops called him by first name as he steadfastly refused to obey their requests to leave his seat in the ticket-holder only waiting area. Anyone could see from the number of cops and canines assembling at a distance of several feet, that a tasering was imminent. I've never seen anyone get tasered and I decided that today was not going to be the day I ended this lucky streak. The guy was huge - a shaved head, massive, WWF-looking guy with a defiant attitude and a baguette sandwich. I decided that although sticking around would result in some excellent blog copy, I didn't want to risk being in the vicinity of anal incontinence twice in the same day. The day could only get better from there, dontcha' think?

Come On and Take a Free Ride (to Newark)

I can't help but wonder how much revenue flies out the NJ Transit window from uncollected fares from riders between New York Penn and Newark Penn. Those folks riding to Secaucus and Newark have it made. I would say that on at least two of five rides weekly out of New York, conductors don't get around to collecting tickets until we are past Newark. I'm not suggesting those riders don't want to pay, or that they are intentionally taking advantage. Hey, if no one collects my ticket, I don't go chasing down the conductor to hand it over. But at the same time, if I am noticing the tremendous number of fares going uncollected, why doesn't NJ Transit? Can it really afford to be so lackadaisical in the face of a thirty percent fare increase?

NJ Transit Rate Hikes

To be clear, I am not anti-NJ Transit. However, the impending service hikes are so extreme, they signal something inherently wrong with the management of the organization. You know my regular rants about delays, poor maintenance and inconsistent customer service. NJ Transit offers far-from-optimal service as is -- what in the world will life be like with fewer conductors, fewer trains, reduced service and maintenance and a fare increase?

This feels like another corporate bailout I am being forced to subsidize without knowing exactly what steps NJ Transit is prepared to take to introduce new efficiencies. The proposed layoffs of 200 staff and fare hikes of up to 30 percent are extreme, particularly in an economy where I will be lucky to see a one or two percent salary increase -- if I see any raise at all.

I am willing to pay my fair share. I am willing to absorb a reasonable increase - but 30 percent? No. No indeed. My commute is already nearly $400 a month including monthly fare, parking and mileage to Jersey Avenue. That is a not insignificant percentage of my salary -- a salary that is already strained under the burden of increased costs for nearly all of monthly necessities.

So with that said, I invite my fellow riders to sign the petition at www/stopnjtransitfarehike.org. Do I know these people? No. Could they have an agenda beyond the proposed increase? Maybe, sure. But if this petition can -- at the very least -- get the attention of the NJ Transit executives and board, and assert the hardship these rate hikes will impose on the riding public, then I will be satisfied.

Look, everyone in this economy is paying for the free-spending sins of recent years. I know I am. But I would look to NJ Transit to implement every conceivable operating efficiency before leveling such extraordinary increases on its riders.

Sign the petition and stay tuned.

Well, EX-KYOOSE ME

It hasn't helped my attitude that my dinner date this evening just called to announce he had a late lunch and is still on the LIE when he was supposed to be home hours ago, but I'm having a lousy ride. It's a given that I'm going to share a seat but there's a nice way to do it, and there is a piss-me-off way to do it. I prefer you do it the nice way. You see, I have not spent my life, my day or even the last five minutes waiting for you.

I got the seat five minutes ago.

I got my ticket out.

I got my iPod out.

I checked my email.

So, I didn't see you standing there right away. You could have said, "excuse me," or "may I sit there?" But no, you just stood there and when I looked up, you continued standing there, glaring at me. And even after I started to move my stuff out of your way, you continued to glare at me, just to make sure I understood the gravity of not anticipating your arrival and preparing ahead to accomodate your seating needs. Hey, this was a seat on a crowded rush hour train. I did not steal your husband or your money...I was just sitting in a seat that you happen to think belongs to you.

Next time, get there early if you want to claim sovereignity over the 5:12.

Now, have a nice weekend.

Ya bitch.

That's How the Shit Works

Overheard in front of the departures board at 5:47:

"He told me to take it at 6:13. Here's a 6:13. It doesn't say where to go?"

"You have to wait until closer to the time, then they tell you. That's how the shit works."

"Why does it say Trenton? We're not going to Trenton. We're going to Edison."

"I think they're in the same town. Or near it or something? They're like...I don't know."

"Um. Yeah."