01/27/13 A Birthday Wish List by NJ-ARP Treasurer, Len Resto
Having celebrated “milestone” birthday today (1/27/13), I received a number of gifts which were things I needed and was really appreciative to get. However, also on my wish list were a number of transit items that I would love to get as the balance of the year moves forward. What are these?
- I wish New Jersey Transit (NJT) would excel at communications to its passengers. Each communication would be specific, indicate the expected length of the delay, notify passengers what other options they have and coordinate with police or other employees at NY Penn Station to avoid dangerous overcrowding.
- I wish NJT would give passengers using their various lines, in my case the M&E, some written direction, with map included, of what our bus options are when rail service is not available. In my case, I know I can schlep to Morristown to take the Community Bus #77 line to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I can also schlep to the Livingston Mall to catch the NJT #70 bus to Penn Station-Newark via Vauxhall, taking an eternity. Other than that, I don’t know what other choices I have other than to drive to Jersey City, park at PATH in Journal Square and hope that PATH is running well. When rail suspensions happen, I wonder if their nearby bus routes could be re-routed to parallel the rail line, which in M&E territory means running along Route 124, the old Route 24.
- I wish NJT would cross honor rail/bus tickets every day instead of during emergencies. While they’re at it, maybe they can figure out how a rail ticket can say “10 rail zones” instead of “10 bus zones”. I am taking a train, after all.
- I wish NJT would work with Amtrak at NY Penn Station to avoid the daily “track roulette” as to which track your train will board. It’s a different track every evening and if passengers knew that the track would be track 9, for instance, passengers would assemble there instead of the crushing herd of a ton of passengers trying to get from one section of the station to the other.
- I wish NJT conductors would announce the stops to be made by the train before the doors closed and the train left NY Penn Station.
- I wish NJT conductors (some do) would tell riders that need to walk forward at some stations and walk backwards at some stations, the numbers of those cars that are the first two or last two on the train they’re sitting in. This way they would know if they have to move to find an open door. Passengers just get on the train and have no idea if they’re in the front, middle or end of the train. Very annoying.
- I wish NJT conductors would check to make sure that announcements could be heard in every rail car.
- I wish NJT would eliminate significant dwell time at stations by building additional high level platforms to ease ingress/egress on trains.
- I wish NJT conductors would collect all tickets on every trip. Since the beginning of 2013, I’ve been on 6 rides where tickets weren’t collected. It annoys NJT's monthly ticket holders since everyone else, literally, got a free ride.
- I wish NJT conductors would have all cars open on the consist so that the “quiet car” at the rear doesn’t become a moving target as additional cars are opened along the way forcing one to continue to move backwards if one is to avoid the technology obsessed riders of today.
One can wish, can’t they?
Len Resto, NJ-ARP Treasurer
