NJ Transit
reviews and complaints

Tried to board a route 404 njt bus @ walter rand center @ around 7:05 am on friday feb 13, 2015 with a valid stamped interstate "continuing trip ticket" with the sr / d con label. the driver (employee # 48627) told me i could not use my ticket and said it was only good for the river line train. i told him i had just gotten off the train & the ticket was good for "the continuing trip" to philadelphia. he argued with me & i left the bus. i caught the next bus ( a 400 ) with my valid ticket with no problem. ( i have used the river line "continuing trip" feature for at least 5 years with no problems) this driver is either ignorant, stupid, ill-trained, un-trained, ill-supervised, misinformed or just "out-of it"

The Raritan line from Union to Newark airport used to leave at 5.57pm and the new time 6.10pm is causing huge delays for us passengers. On a number of occasions we do not make the 6.25pm connection to New York and have to wait for 6.47pm. Why was this change made and to who's benefit? Why were passengers not consulted on this? Huge INCONVENIENCE!

Question: why was I – a Black male – subjected to a Dishonored Check List scan by NJ TRANSIT when paying by check; that a White female – also paying by check - was not? If the Dishonored Check List is company policy; shouldn’t all check customers participate? Evidently not, and it raises the question of how it’s determined who is checked and who isn’t? With the exception of race and gender there was no difference between the female customer and myself to justify singling me out, so I allege that NJ TRANSIT is basing their decision to look for customers on the Dishonored Check List solely on race…or gender – or both.

On its own this incident may appear small, but viewed within the context of similar incidents perpetrated by establishments throughout a lifetime; it appears much larger. This isn't about playing the race card; it's about what’s right. It's about prompting discussion on a topic most people find very convenient to dismiss. I have to assume this behavior is standard company practice – I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to see it for myself.

I welcome a rebuttal to my allegation; as I am eager to hear a valid reason for such a blatant example of inequality, but please spare me the insult of explaining this incident away as a mere oversight. If NJ TRANSIT employees are this forgetful – only minutes passed between the two transactions – then I’d counter by strongly questioning their qualifications.

At 7:45 AM on December 30, 2014, bus 113X going to New York City stopped at stop number 28905 at North Avenue and Center Street, Garwood, but refused to open its door and allow me to board. I was the only person at the stop. I had been standing directly under the "Board Here" sign for 3 to 5 minutes. I hailed the bus, putting my hand up. The bus stopped two or three yards past the "Board Here" sign, behind me. I was a bit sleepy at that hour and a little surprised that it had gone past me, so I took at most one second before turning around to walk to the door, but literally only one second or at most two seconds after the bus had stopped, as I began to turn around to walk the two or three yards to the bus door, the bus drove off without ever opening its door. Based on its stopping when I hailed it, and then driving off within two seconds without opening its door, it seemed like a deliberate refusal to allow me to board. I was dressed appropriately as a typical commuter, wearing a coat, a necktie, shirt, slacks, and shoes. Unfortunately I did not get the bus number of the 7:45 AM bus. There had been no other bus 3 to 5 minutes before this one, and the next bus arrived at 7:51 AM. I boarded the 7:51 AM bus which was number 5591 (unusually, a local or airport-type bus, not a commuter bus). The bus driver on bus 5591 was polite and an excellent driver.

This is directed to the conductor who worked on train 3731, car 7023, 6:37 train to Trenton from NY Penn Station.

I had trouble activating my MyTix App ticket - Multiple tries from well before the train departed. He came around while we were in the tunnel. I showed him I had available tickets, but was unable to activate one. I finally was able to, but when he came again, I had to switch screens. For the 15 seconds it took me to do this, he mouthed off to me about it. Apparently, it was frustrating for him... but it wasn't my fault!

What he said was something like, "Maybe I'll ask your friend to cover your ticket for you!" The only indication he had of ANY bond between us is we both wore yarmulkes (Jewish head coverings).

When I confronted him, asking what he meant, he said he had to come to me twice, the second time was I wasn't prepared "yet again" ... for taking the additional 15 seconds out of his time.

He then brushed me off by saying, "we're over!" I told him I was going to complain, his response was "good!" I (at this point totally mad) said, he was rude, his response was "You're rude!"

This is absolutely outrageous, horrible treatment of a paying customer. I WILL follow up for as long as it takes till I know there's action taken on this!

To be fair, I'm also going back to hard-copy tickets, because the app seems to give me trouble whenever I can't have a ticket activated for the conductor. It isn't the first time I've been shown resentment for this happening, but this is absolutely inexcusable! This person shouldn't be doing ANYTHING that involves dealing with the public if he can't have some people skills and general courtesy.

I currently am a student at Middlesex County College, who loves in Carteret, New Jersey. Unfortunately there is no direct route to the college so I am left taking the 48 to Perth Amboy, and from there the 813 to Middlesex. Getting there I experience no real problems, but getting home absolutely pisses me off. If the 813 is even a few minutes late, I get the distinct pleasure of watching the 48 leave me behind, causing me to have to wait another hour for a bus home. I wholeheartedly wish there was some way for the buses to communicate so that the people who need to catch a connecting bus don't get royally screwed over by this highly unreliable service.

Bus a full 40 minutes late. Light to no traffic. Rt 457 to camden from rt 73.
Confusing fares, in morning 1.50, same stop, oppo side of street 2.10. Trip from PATCO HADDONFIELD TO RT. 73. TRIP BACK, SAME STOPS. Which is it
Conductor rude and argumentative. No badge info available. BUS WAS DUE AT 4:50, CAME 5:35.

On the night of September 26, I intended to connect to the last Friday night Sat morning
Raritan Valley train in Newark by taking the 1 am train from NYC. Due to the failure of NJ
Transit employees to inspect the 1:00 am North Jersey Coast train from NY Penn
Station, the passengers were told to exit the train, and wait for a replacement
train. The wait went beyond 20 minutes. Then a regularly scheduled train to
Trenton started boarding. An actual train is a better choice than a hypothetical replacement
train so most Raritan bound passengers got on the Trenton train. That train was delayed, and
no explanation given for why it remained in NYC Penn Station with its doors closed so no
one could exit. No announcements. All of us feared missing the connection in Newark, yet were not
able to exit the train-prison with doors shut as it sat there for no apparent
reason. Finally the train began to move and after the Secaucus stop, finally we
get an announcement that the Raritan train will wait for us in Newark. We get
to Newark, I run up the stairs to the Raritan track which was changed to track
2 instead of track 5 (confirmed by NJ Transit employees) and the Raritan train
had already left. A group of enraged passengers told the problem to a NJ
Transit employee who stood at the Track 2 doors, but who primarily conversed in
Spanish to Spanish speaking passengers, usually ignoring the English speaking
passengers. She confirmed the train had left and there would be no more trains.
A policeman told us to contact NJ Transit in the morning. We were all stranded
in Newark and the ATM machines had been cordoned off so we could not get any
cash for a taxi either. A few of us were forced to pool our cash to take a taxi
to our homes. I pay $248 a month for my Garwood-NY monthly pass & had to
pay $15 more for my share of the taxi ride, and it would have been $50-$60 if I
were alone. I also sent this to NJ Transit's contact page.

I have monthly subscription for a bus pass. It drafts out of my account as an automatic payment and this month my pass has not come. I have called several times and left several messages and I have not gotten a response as of yet. I call and their lines are busy or no one is on the other line. It prompts me to leave a message and the Voice-mail is full for one option and not the other. This is ridiculous. I don't know why these people have jobs if they don't feel like working.

I was driving home to Hoboken, NJ on Friday afternoon around 4:30PM and upon getting off of I-95 preceded down the Park Avenue Ramp Towards Hoboken. I was in the right lane ready to take the curved exit to make my way onto Park Ave. When all of a sudden from the left lane comes a big NJ Transit bus right into my lane making me swerve to the right and having my tires go up onto a divider. In no way did the driver slow down or make sure that he did not hit me. I was clearly in the right of way and I know the driver saw me because I was in an SUV witch is much higher than a car. I would like to report this driver. He needs to be reprimanded for his aweful driving and putting motorists at risk. The Licence plate # of the bus is OXZ2594 and the Bus # is 7123. I was able to get a photo of the bus after the incident. I was very clearly shaken and I will not let this type of person feel as though the can intimidate or take over a road just because he is driving a BUS! I would like it if someone can reach out to me about this horrible incident!

Does anyone monitor this park and ride? Many of the daily spots are taken by monthly bus riders at 630am when I get there. There are still plenty of monthly spots. Also occasionally I have to move my car 1-3x to find a spot that isn't taken. Do people buy spots ahead of time? I have been late to work because I'm running back and forth to my car to move it. Is something wrong with machines? How can so many daily spots not be available!

I had an interview at 10:30am 7-9-14 arrived late as per bus line 163 being late however this was understood because of the obvious road work, when leaving my interview, which i was about half hour late for, I proceeded to wait at the bus stop I waited from 12:30pm until 3:10pm when my cousin had finally arrived as my ride home since in that time frame not one of the five buses mentioned on the stop had arrived. Meanwhile before my cousin arrived I called the number on the stop and waited ten minutes to speak with a "Representative" when I got threw the woman was rude and condescending she didnt have any answers as to what was going on either and thus transfered me and that woman was even more condescending as well as patronizing couldn't believe it

I'm a regular bus passenger of NJ Transit Bus 87.
This morning (and it's not the FIRST time!) Bus 87 n#5726 at 6:26am. African-American woman bus driver did not stop the bus while I waved my hand to stop it. It stopped on the next bus stop (Bartholdi Ave) to pick up passengers (This is a total discrimination) which is just the next block. I ran to catch it because the light has just turned red, and woman bus driver started ### and arguing with me. One of her arguments that "other people are going to be LATE for work" when she intentionally is making ME late for work! Bad attitude, rude, unprofessional and discriminating who to pick up on the bus stop. She's not doing her DUTY as a bus driver. Should be fired for not doing her job the right way.

Today I attempted to board a 6:14 am NJ Transit (113 SX) as I stood in front of the Netherwood stop going in NY, the bus quickly approached, he approached so quickly I could see he was not going to stop and pass the marked bus stop. I attempted to step off the curb to get his attention and he went into the on-coming traffic lane on South Ave to avoid stopping. My neighbor saw this fiasco and volunteered to drive me to the next bus stop in Fan wood NJ at South Ave & Martine Ave. As I boarded the bus, I quickly asked with anger "did you not see me back at Netherwood!" He yelled back "you weren’t standing at the stop and then you tried to jump in front of my bus, you must be F**king kidding me?” I was so angry I said he was disgusting and that’s when he told me to get off his bus. I attempted to fight back but this 6foot man turned off the bus and refused to move so I left the bus. As soon as I un-boarded he quickly shot off and sped down South Ave .
I of course called NJ Transit and they could not care less. How can we make NJ Transit accountable for this unprofessional behavior?

Bus 76 has got into the habit of leaving people behind. On the 29 of January my 11 year old child and I were waiting on the intersection of ridge rd and 5th for the 76 bus to Hackensack and that day was not only extremely cold but it was also windy. Two buses separated by one block from each other and even when three of us people waiting waved at the bus he kept on going. The next bus who was driven by a lady stopped and asked us. Did he just passed u by and ignored the three of you? And we positively replayed YES! And then she immediately reported him by radio.
Today it happened again but this time it was worst. There were 4 people waiting. One lady with her 4 year old and my child and myself. We were standing at intersection Ridge r and Ridge pl in North Arlington to Kearny and after 20 minutes wait and lots of waiving the driver just left us behind. HE IGNORED US COMPLETELY! And when I called to nj transit to complaint, there was no one to assist my call and worst I go online to submit a form and the only part on maintenance in the website is the online form for complaints! Ain't that a ...! This LEAVING BEHIND PEOPLE IS BECOMING AND USUAL THING. NJTRANSIT HAS A LOT OF THING TO WORK ON. I AM FURIOUS! THERE WERE KIDS UNDER THIS COLD WEATHER WAITING FOR THIS BUS AND THIS ...SO CALLED PERSON DRIVER JUST LEFT US ALL THERE! This is unacceptable!

Schedule states the 87 Hoboken will alternate every 5 minutes (3pm on) with the 87 Journal Sq
uare. Today I waited while 4 87 JS buses left the terminal (Gates Ave). Every driver said the Hoboken bus would be next. I waited 45 minutes before one came. When we got to Journal Square there were over 50 people waiting for the bus to Hoboken. They had been waiting for over an hour!

The Bus Driver (45882) had just pulled into gate 212 enroute to Blvd.East, NJ on Thursday, 1/30/14 about 4pm. When asked if he could open up the bay for my luggage, he said "it's full.", then responded snidely ('I'd have to go forward, nobody asked me, etc.'.). When I said that the luggage bay couldn't be full because we had just started loading and I was the first person requesting the bay, he just ignored me. A gentleman helped me lift my bag onto the bus and remarked that the driver didn't want to descend the stairs to open the Bay Area. Later in the trip on Boulevard East, another passenger had words with him, saying that he has a terrible attitude. This seems to be the way he conducts his job and it is unacceptable!

As the weather gets colder, it's becoming more unbearable how late the 158 bus arrives to it's stop in the morning. I wait for the 7:18am bus (in fort lee to go to PABT) for a good 15 minutes each day... What's funny is, that means the next bus after that is likewise late... It just keeps getting worse and someone has to do something about it. Why bother having a schedule if you're not even going to be remotely close to being on it?

I am a regular passenger for NJ Transit Route 158 going from Fort Lee to NY Port Authority. On Oct 31 about 8.30 am morning, along with many other passengers, I was waiting for a bus to arrive (which came in 30 mins late). On arrival, the driver hinted to us that it was a standee only bus. Since many of us were waiting for long, we all decided to get on board. On getting onboard, the driver insisted that we move back, which all of us obliged since this was a dual bus and there was standing capacity at the back that we were moving towards. After driving in slow moving traffic, the driver suddenly pulled the bus by the curb side & walked straight into the standing folks towards the rear of the bus and started misbehaving. He started using profanities such as "I am tired of taking you idiots to NY everyday" and started threatening the standee passengers in a very loud jarring voice stating "I am the final authority, when I ask you ******* to move back, you move back". His behavior was turning rouge, aggressive and he was showering profanities on to the passengers. And all this while more than half of the front side of the bus was empty & had enough space for further standees to get in. His behavior was totally unacceptable. When a few passengers indicated that his behavior was way out of the line, he said "Do you think I care about this job, about this life, go ahead complain to whoever/the authorities, my name is Chris Cummings & I am on bus number 9630". He is a tall 40 something of African American decent. And this incident occurred on NJ Transit, Bus number 9630, bus route 158 going from Fort Lee to NY Port Authority. Carrying two bus full load of passengers and half a bus load of standee passengers.

Found this behavior totally unacceptable & beyond reason - NJ Transit should take strict action on drivers such as these that make it so hard for commuters to have a peaceful journey to office. Again, it also appeared that the driver did not clearly care about his job and his life, which puts all passengers on the bus at added risk to their lives.

I was waiting for the 6:20 bus and wound up missing it. I went inside and asked about another bus. They told me that the 67X would be departing at 6:40pm. He came into Exchange dropped off his riders, as I waiting at the correct platform by the sliding door. I was told he would move up to pick up new passengers. I put my arm out, and he drove right by. I ran outside, where he was stopped behind another bus, i asked him to let me on and he shut his window and and told me to get lost and shut the window and drove off. Being a regular customer of NJ Transit, I feel the treatment I received was inexcusable and outrageous, not to mention unprofessional. He had no reason to not let me on. I waited at the appropriate platform, and even after outside, he could have let me on, instead of giving me a dirty look and being nasty. I am shocked at the treatment I received from you employees, having always thought they were trained properly and knew how to treat the customers using your company in a respectful, caring way and professional way. I certainly hope to receive a reply back as to what you intend to do about this unacceptable and shocking occurrence. I hope you do the right thing by me, to show me that I am in fact a valued customer and not just someone to give you more money. I look forward to hearing from you and what you plan on doing to show me you care about keeping me as a customer of New Jersey Transit.
(The driver was an older white male with I believe white or gray hair. He came a few minutes before the next 67X)
Sincerely,

Nikki Sental
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