01/26 and 1/28 E-mails to NJ-ARP Board from Bob Douglas
(Edited to combine these two e-mails by NJ-ARP)
I just read your front-page editorial in the January edition of PLUS! concerning NJT’s lack of communications, post Sandy.
About 5 days after Sandy hit I stopped at the Waldwick station. I was on the Westbound (Port Jervis) side when a young lady on the Eastbound side asked me if the trains were running as she needed to get to Glen Rock. I told her that I had heard service had been resumed but I didn't know with what frequency. I later found out that only limited rush hour service was restored so that lady would have had to wait till the next morning to get to Glen Rock! There were no announcements, no signs posted, and no NJT transit personnel around.
I would have thought that NJT would have sent a non-operating office employee to every station (or as many as they could) to tell folks firsthand what was going on, or at least post a sign and go on to the next station. I also echo the thought that schedules should have been posted at each station and changed weekly or even daily as needed.
Not everyone walks around with a device to check the NJT web site about schedule updates. There’s an important segment of riders who really depend on NJT to get to work, school or to visit family. As a frequent user of non rush hour trains I see many passengers who don't speak much English riding only 2 or 3 stops to get somewhere. There are also younger and elderly passengers who can't drive that really depend on NJT
Shortly after Sandy, I went on the NJT web site to use the trip planning function. I could not believe that it told me I could go from Waldwick to Basking Ridge by train via Secaucus on the regular schedule even though no trains were operating on the Gladstone Branch at the time. It would only have required a simple programming change to temporarily disable this function and put in a link to the temporary schedules.
I have other issues with NJT such as not opening enough cars on off-peak trains even though I see at least 3 crewmembers on them. Another issue is crews not using seat claim checks all the time-allowing some folks to ride free when they board many stops after Hoboken or NY-Penn which results in a loss of revenue for an already cash-strapped organization.
