James S. Simpson, New Jersey's Transportation Commissioner, will leave his post on June 6th. This was reported by Karen Rouse of the (Bergen County) Record, and published earlier tonight on the paper's web site, www.northjersey.com.

Simpson was appointed to head the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJ-DOT) by Gov. Chris Christie when he took office in 2010. By law, the Commissioner of Transportation also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of New Jersey Transit (NJT). He is one of the few commissioners who came to the post with a background in transit administration. He sat on the Board of Directors of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and headed the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in the Bush Administration.

Simpson distinguished himself from his predecessors by taking a more active role at NJT Board meetings, asking questions of senior NJT managers, and occasionally criticizing an agenda item of which he was skeptical. He also made a few changes in Board practices at the request of Coalition members and other advocates.

Two months ago, Simpson outlined a number of policy changes that he recommended; many of which the Lackawanna Coalition supports, as well. Executive Director Veronique "Ronnie" Hakim, who was recommended by Simpson for the job and began her tenure in March, will now lead NJT into the future, but she will have to do it without Simpson.

The NJT Board will meet this Thursday, May 15th at 6:00 for its first meeting on an evening schedule, as Simpson had directed. Its next meeting is scheduled for June 6th, Simpson's last day in office.

Read the original story here.

DepartureVision

Disclaimer: the contents of this article are based solely on an outsider’s analysis of how DepartureVision works. We will happily correct this story should better information come to light.

DepartureVision – along with its half-brothers MyBusNow and MyLightRailNow – is one of the most useful tools added to the NJ Transit website and mobile site in recent memory. It provides real-time train information in the form of a departure board, including a countdown timer if the train is en route and operating normally. It does have some limitations, however, and we believe the tool is much more useful if you understand them.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

The first thing to keep in mind is that the system is only as good as the data it’s receiving. The system appears to have three sources of data: the day’s preprogrammed schedule, each train’s GPS unit and information from the operations center. Each of these data sources is a point of failure, and any of them can prevent DepartureVision from giving accurate information. If the system doesn’t have enough information to track a train in real time, it falls back to being a glorified schedule-board (more on that later).

Its most serious weakness is that there are certain things the system can’t determine automatically: whether a train has been canceled, for example, or what specific train a particular set of equipment is running on. It is reliant on a human entering that data completely and accurately. As a result, cancelations may not show up in the early morning or late at night, when the people handling that aren’t on duty. Occasionally cancelations at other times of day may be missed by staff and not reported, something we sincerely hope is a rare occurrence. Likewise, if the equipment that will become your train isn’t available at its departure time for some reason, the system probably won’t know that until either the equipment eventually arrives or a different train-set is assigned to your train – basically, until someone with a pulse tells the system that cab car 7023 will be running as train 6628.   

A second source of trouble is the hardware on the trains themselves – if the train isn’t transmitting its location back to base for some reason, DepartureVision has no way of knowing where it is. The third issue is that the system assumes there won’t be a major deviation from schedule. For example, if an inner-zone local (say to Summit) is canceled and combined with an outer zone express (eg. to Dover), DepartureVision won’t know that the train is making extra stops, and the train won’t appear on the screens for those stations.

Read more: Rider Guide: DepartureVision: A Great Tool – If You Know When to Trust It

In a story that expands on what we had determined from the last NJ Transit Customer Service Committee meeting, Larry Higgs reported today that the embattled agency saw a sharp decline in customer satisfaction in its latest Scorecard survey. Overall satisfaction fell from 59% to 52% (5.2 out of 10), the lowest number the agency has seen in several years. A key driver in this change was a significant drop in on-time performance, which fell dramatically in the wake of an unusually harsh winter. NJT Executive Director Ronnie Hakim had this to say about the poor showing: “It tells me they’re frustrated. The challenge is how we react to that.” She also noted that "We can’t solve it all in the short term, but we can use the data." While the article goes on to note minor operational changes made on the bus side to improve on-time performance, no significant improvements on the rail side were noted.

The Lackawana Coalition notes that, while unscientific, the Scorecard survey results are indicative of the problems our riders are facing on a daily basis. We also feel that NJ Transit's decision to cherry pick the rosier parts of the survey results in their publicity campaigns -- particularly the GoingFor10 campaign on Twitter -- resulted in a backlash that contributed to the poor showing and harmed the agency's credibility. We encourage our readers to participate in the next Scorecard survey, which is located here.

You may view the original story here.

As part of its program to avoid flood damage to its equipment such as occurred in Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012, NJ Transit has announced that two new "safe" storage facilities are now available, should they be needed. The new facilities are in Garwood and Linden. NJT Executive Director Veronique Hakim made the announcement April 28 at hearings in Trenton; the announcement was reported by Terrance Dopp on BloombergBusinessweek. Hakim, calling the new facilities "new, safe-harbor rail storage," said they will afford NJT's rolling stock the greatest chance of staying dry and undamaged in another "superstorm." The Sandy event damaged 261 of 1162 rail cars, causing millions of dollars of damage and reduced schedules for months.

The Lackawanna Coalition was not a supporter of  this project; while identifying safe-harbor locations was necessary, we believe that NJT had sufficient mainline track on the system to use for this purpose, and did not need additional yard capacity. In light of the recent leadership changes at NJ Transit, we look forward to the opportunity to work together to ensure that future capital investments are focused on projects that will have the most benefit to their stakeholders, the riding public.

Read the complete story here.

NJ Transit’s one-seat ride service to Manhattan for Raritan Valley Line riders, instituted March 3 for weekeday midday trains, will be expanded in the fall to include evening trains as well, said NJ Transit Executive Director Ronnie Hakim at a legislative budget hearing on April 28. Hakim’s statement, in response to a question by Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-20th District), was reported by Mike Deak for the Gannett papers. The enhanced service has long been sought by Raritan Valley riders and advocates such as the Raritan Valley Rail Coalition. What the riders would really like is peak-hour service, but this seems impossible for the moment as there are no more available “slots” for trains to enter or leave Manhattan during peak hours, and NJT seems disinclined to reassign slots to the Raritan line from other lines. The one-seat ride was made possible after NJT acquired new, dual-mode locomotives that can operate as diesels on the non-electrified Raritan Line, and switch to electric operation into Manhattan, where diesels are prohibited. Dual-mode locomotives for service into Manhattan have long been used by Amtrak, Metro-North, and Long Island Rail Road, but these are the first such units that have been acquired by NJT.

See the complete article here.    

Should the Port Authority be the operator of the PATH rapid transit system? “No,” says a report issued by the New York City-based watchdog organization Citizens Budget Commission, which suggests that NJ Transit take over PATH. The story was reported by WNYC Radio and also on its Transportation Nation website.  The report says PATH’s financing needs to be overhauled, saying that the “fares are unusually low” while there’s been substantial investment to modernize the PATH system. This results in a deficit projected at $387 million for this year. This will be covered by revenues from Port Authority bridge and tunnel tolls; the report notes that PATH “is the only transit system in the country that doesn’t have some general tax subsidy.” This, the report suggests, should change. And NJ Transit, the report says, would be a better fit to manage PATH, as it’s already in the transit business and could better integrate PATH with its other operations.

The report assertion that PATH fares are low is backed by its analysis that PATH riders have higher incomes than bus or New York subway riders, although the report also concedes that Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad riders have even higher incomes than do PATH riders.

The report says taking PATH out of Port Authority jurisdiction would allow the PA to concentrate on what the report says is its core mission: money-making activities such as airports, and even fund improvements such as a new trans-Hudson rail tunnel. 

There has so far been no reaction from either the Port Authority or NJ Transit regarding the proposal.

Read the complete story here on Transportation Nation.

Stung by criticism about behind-the-scenes dealmaking, commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday, April 23 took the unusual step of postponing decisions on two projects that had come under fire. The decision, reported by Shawn Boburg in The Record, reflected rare public disagreement among the agency's commissioners.  One decision postponed involved renegotiation of a lease by NJ Transit of the park-and-ride lot in North Bergen; the other involved a proposal to guarantee loans for World Trade Center reconstruction. The proposal regarding the park-and-ride lot was to increase the rent paid by NJ Transit; the current rent is a nominal $1 per year, reduced in 2012 from over $900,000.  That deal has come under fire as a conflict of interest for former Port Authority chair David Samson who at the time was reportedly also advising NJ Transit on how to maximize its profits from operating the lot. The postponement on the decision apparently is due to a lack of consensus on how much NJT will have to pay, not on the general idea of an increase. The World Trade Center loan guarantee postponement reflects criticism of the Port Authority's involvement in real estate as opposed to its primary mission of operating port and transportation infrastructure in the bi-state area, and of its relationship to developer Larry Silverstein.

The increased openness in decision-making at the Port Authority mirrors recent decisions by NJ Transit to improve transparency, including opening committee meetings to public access for the first time.

Read the complete story here.

Photo by Donald Winship

Public speaking; people fear it more than death, or heights, or confined spaces [1]. But that very fact is part of its power: spending 5 minutes talking about an issue in front of NJT management and their Board of Directors shows that you really care about it – it’s far more impactful, and more productive, than venting frustration on your smartphone in 140 characters or less.

Don’t believe us? Back in 2010, alongside a massive fare increase, NJ Transit proposed to completely eliminate its WHEELS bus program. Most of the WHEELS busses were shuttles, but a few served as conventional bus service in underserved areas. Two of these, routes 890 and 891, were the only public transit in the city of Phillipsburg near the NJ/PA border. The nearest public hearing was nearly 50 miles away in Morristown, but a group of concerned riders chartered a bus and appeared at that hearing in force. They made compelling statements and focused on the same simple message: we need these busses. Five years later, the 890 and 891 are still running.

These meetings present a unique opportunity to reach the levers of power, with the NJT Board of Directors, NJT Management, and members of the press all in the same room at the same time.

Read more: What You Can Do: Take a Stand at the Next NJT Board Meeting

Arrow III MU. Photo by Donald Winship

Editorial 

Nobody likes old trains. They look dated, they have funny smells, and the ride quality is rough over even the best track. But old trains can be refurbished to nearly the same comfort level as brand new cars – and at a fraction of the cost. In this new era of constrained budgets, NJ Transit needs to get the best bang for its buck. Yet over the last few years they’ve spent millions on new locomotives and cars, often to heavily customized designs, while idling lots of still serviceable older equipment. Without a strategic plan to justify these decisions, NJT has been thinking too much in the short term.

We are particularly concerned that the Arrow III Multiple-Unit cars will suffer the same fate. These silver-sided cars, while the oldest in the fleet, have a unique asset that is vitally important: acceleration. Each car has an electric motor underneath to pull its “weight” so to speak, which means that whether the train is very short or very long, acceleration is just as good. On lines like the M&E and Montclair-Boonton, where stops are often very close together, being able to get up to speed quickly can shorten schedules and help recover lost time after delays. That's why we want these cars fixed, not scrapped.

NJ Transit suggests many options for motorists inconvenienced by the two-year shutdown of the northbound Pulaski Skyway, which began April 12. Full-page newspaper ads, such as appeared in the Star-Ledger on April 13, included a variety of bus and rail routes to reach destinations in Hoboken, Jersey City, and even Manhattan; NJT has similar publicity on its website. One logical route for motorists whose ultimate destination lies east of the Hudson would be NJT's frequent train service to New York's Penn Station, where subways, buses, and connecting railroads provide service to all points. But NJT's publicity completely ignored this option, and curious observers are wondering why. It could be that New York trains in peak hours are overcrowded and NJT was afraid that additional riders might cause an intolerable situation.  It may also be that NJT has realized the advantage of promoting lesser-used routes, something that the Lackawanna Coalition has long advocated.

NJT's suggested options for Pulaski drivers include rail, bus, light rail, and PATH rapid transit options. Trains recently added to schedules are prominently promoted, including Morris & Essex Lines trains running between Summit and Hoboken, and an additional train recently restored from Bay Head on the North Jersey Coast Line, also to Hoboken -- this train had not run since Hurricane Sandy. NJT encourages riders to transfer from trains at either Hoboken or Newark Penn Station, using local buses, PATH trains, or ferries from Hoboken to Manhattan. Raritan Valley riders will have extra cars on peak trains, and are also told to transfer at Newark to local buses or PATH, but NJT trains to New York are not mentioned, nor are any trains on NJT's heavily used Northeast Corridor line -- all of which run to New York. Bus options include a new peak-hour-only express bus route (#95) on the Route 22 corridor, running from a Sears parking lot in Watchung to Newark Penn Station, where again, riders are told to transfer to local buses or PATH, not NJT trains. NJT also mentions a Suburban Transit route from the Haynes Avenue free park-and-ride lot near Newark Liberty International Airport; these buses cost just $2 for a trip to PATH stations in Jersey City (but these buses will have to compete with traffic diverted from the Pulaski Skyway). And NJT has enhanced off-peak and Saturday service on the #119 bus route from Bayonne to Jersey City and New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal, although it's not clear that this corridor would be affected by the Pulaski project.

The closing of the Pulaski Skyway generated much media attention on the first weekday of the closing, Monday, April 14. But feared traffic jams did not develop, leading to a "nonevent." However, traffic was expected to be lighter in the first week or two of the project, owing to spring school vacations. The true impact of the closing may not be apparent for a week or two.

NJT's suggested alternatives can be found on a link prominently displayed on its Web home page, www.njtransit.com; NJ Department of Transportation has a more comprehensive page on Pulaski alternatives at http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/commuter/roads/pulaski/transit.shtm.

The Lackawanna Coalition believes that alternatives to travel to New York Penn Station need to be emphasized and promoted by NJ Transit, as service to New York Penn has reached capacity limits in peak hours. These alternatives particularly include service to Hoboken, which has been seriously reduced in recent years. More service to Hoboken is needed, and riders should be encouraged to travel via Hoboken by reducing fares to Hoboken compared to fares to New York .