Riding The NJ Transit Gravy Train

Carmine,

Whatever action was being taken to address my last complaint apparently did not stick. This morning on the NEC 8:17, I rode from Jersey Avenue all the way past Newark Penn Station before tickets were collected. I actually stopped a conductor when we got off the train to ask him why no one looked at my ticket until after Newark. He didn't know. Of course, he didn't know. And he didn't want to talk about it either.

So NOW what are you going to do?

How can you allow train after train to ferry people for free on such a regular basis? Why in the world do you not have a strategy in place to collect fares from each and every passenger AS THEY BOARD?

It's really just too easy for you to reach into my pocket. I don't like it and I really don't think that you are even really trying.

So, how do you like that? On the very day NJ Transit voted to increase fares, another trainload of rush hour commuters rode from Jersey Avenue past Newark Penn Station for free, free, free.

When we arrived at New York Penn - late, by the way - I confronted a conductor to ask which car the card game is in so I can join him tomorrow morning. He got that deer in the headlights look and I watched the cogs come to life and begin to turn the wheels in his head while he figured out this was heading nowhere good, and that he should am-scray before I got wise and checked his breast pocket where his name is embroidered. (Embroidered!) Needless to say, I was so transfixed by watching him figuring out how to deal with me, I actually did forget to grab his name. (He was one of those people who process with their whole being; his physical bearing changed as he took hold of himself. I was really fascinated by that and it did pull me off my game just a little.) Not that it matters. I wouldn't really want to single out one guy when he's not the only one futzing around.

Being a train conductor is not a job I would want necessarily, but you have to agree it's a pretty decent gig. You have a union behind you that negotiates your way out of doing unpleasant things like - say - wresting puking Ranger fans from their seats, or mopping up the hotdog-popcorn-Budweiser-Jägermeister vomit that winds and sloshes on the floor under the seats to where my tan suede loafer-clad feet happened to be planted unsuspectingly. Collecting fares and sticking to a schedule also seem to be tasks the union smartly assigned to the "Optional" category.

Well, I'm pretty well resigned to the fact that my commute will be jacked to $400+ a month and I will be the beneficiary of even fewer amenities and pleasantries on NJ Transit. So with that said, I better get back to work because I am going to need this job to pay for the privilege of getting here late and irritated five days a week.

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.

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...

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?