NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit has named Franck Beaumin as the agency’s customer advocate, filling a position vacant for four years.
Beaumin, a native of France, brings diverse international experience to the position. He has been a consultant on a bus rapid transit project in Bangladesh; was customer service project manager and customer experience manager for transit operation Keolis in Paris, and then moved to Keolis’ operation of MBTA commuter rail service, where he was passenger communcations manager. Among his work there, he improved the investigation process of passenger feedback to resolve issues in leses than five business days on average.
“I am honored to become the new Customer Advocate for NJ Transit,” Beaumin said in a press release. “I am looking forward to engaging with our customers and working with the operational teams on every mode to improve the passenger experience at every step of the journey.”
The customer advocate position was created by a 2018 law, but it has been vacant since the October 2020 resignation of Stewart Mader, the first person to hold the position. At the time, NorthJersey.com reported Mader had been criticized for a lack of independence and for social media posts criticizing a reporter who had raised questions about hiring practices at the agency. Since his departure, the NJ Transit board has regularly been urged to fill the vacancy, the New Jersey Monitor reports.
“We are excited to welcome Franck Beaumin as the new customer advocate,” board member Shanit Narra said in the agency’s press release. “Franck brings a unique and customer-focused perspective with his transit background in Europe as well as in Boston. We look forward to how he’ll apply that experience in the interest of our customers here in New Jersey.”
