NJ Transit Customers Say They Got What They Paid For This Week

NORTH JERSEY — Even though NJ Transit is offering free train and bus rides through Monday — an attempt to assuage frustrations caused by delays this year — there were more delays all week, further irking riders.

Among the delays was this one on Thursday morning:

It was the second large-scale hindrance this week, and riders were not impressed.

"I’m in Newark, trying to commute to Philly," wrote Eric Allen Connor. "Seems like most customers would prefer frequent and on-time service from @NJTRANSIT and not whatever this fare holiday is supposed to be."

"My 'free' train was 'only' 17 minutes late. That's 3 days in a row that my 'free' @NJTRANSIT ride has cost me extra time, extra money, or both," wrote Jason Hartelius. "Some of these people at Penn Station are gonna be here a while."

It's not only trains that are frustrating riders.

"AGAIN BUS 85 Out of Hoboken is a no show," wrote Crystal Lee. "This bus has been a disaster since you implemented service cuts on the 17th you cut service in half and then those busses don’t even show @GovMurphy FREE IS USELESS WHEN I STILL HAVE TO TAKE AN UBER."

NJ Transit Responds

A spokesperson for the agency said on Friday, "The two incidents that had the most significant impact on service this week occurred on Tuesday and yesterday. On Tuesday, Amtrak was conducting track maintenance in the early afternoon and needed to make additional unforeseen repairs. Delays began in the early afternoon and continued into the evening rush hour, having a significant impact on service. When factoring out the Amtrak delays, Tuesday’s NJ TRANSIT on-time performance would have been 96.64 percent."

He added, "Thursday morning’s delays were due to Amtrak signal issues in one of the Hudson River tunnels, which significantly impacted service through the morning rush hour and into the early afternoon."

Gov. Phil Murphy's office announced three weeks ago that "During this period, fares will be waived for all modes of transportation, offering free rides across the NJ TRANSIT network as a 'Thank You' to the hundreds of thousands of loyal customers who depend on public transit."

People who already bought a monthly pass for August will get a 25 percent on their September pass.

The governor's office said, "The fare holiday is a way to express the sincere appreciation for customers’ continued loyalty and patronage, particularly during a time when transit service has not consistently met their expectations—or our own."

Amtrak said in late June that it's working with NJ Transit to offer more reliable service.

• Use the trip planner here to find the right combination of trains and buses to get to your destination, plus what the fares would have been.
• Use the bus point-to-point planner to see bus stops and routes.

READ MORE: Blame Amtrak For Recent NJ Transit Delays, Lawmakers Say (Here’s Why)

READ MORE: Here Are Places You Can Go For Free On NJ Transit This Week