HOBOKEN, N.J. — At a jammed two-hour meeting Wednesday, vexed NJ Transit commuters told a committee chaired by State Senate leader Steve Sweeney exactly what was on their mind.
Their thoughts were not laudatory.
The meeting at NJ Transit’s Hoboken Terminal — site of a fatal crash in 2016 — was the first session for a bipartisan committee of state lawmakers to investigate NJ Transit problems and develop solutions for the nation’s largest statewide commuter agency. On Wednesday, upset commuters expressed their concerns about overcrowded, delayed, and cancelled trains; the eight panel members also received letters from others who could not attend.
Other hearings by the panel are planned. Sweeney told NJ.com that the committee’s goal is to present its recommendations to Gov. Phil Murphy in time for them to be part of the discussion for the next state budget. He also indicated he, like many others, would like to see a dedicated and reliable source of funding for NJ Transit, rather than relying on a governor’s annual recommendation in the state budget.
The hearings come as NJ Transit attempts to address its ongoing problems, through engineer training classes to address an ongoing shortage, equipment orders, and its efforts to implement positive train control by the Dec. 31, 2020, deadline.
Its an amazing system. It just needs to be maintained and operated intelligently.
I hope Tom Nemeth of “Railpace” magazine was there. His post-Hurricane Sandy Jersey Transit rant in the magazine was classic!
Wish I’d kept that issue…