NJ Transit will waive fares for a full week later this month, hoping to regain the confidence of riders who have suffered through a meltdown in service reliability this summer.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced the fare holiday Thursday, promising riders across NJT’s network of commuter trains, buses, and light rail a week of free rides between Aug. 26 and Sept. 2. Those riders who have purchased monthly passes for August will be eligible for a 25% discount on a September monthly pass.
The Garden State executive said the holiday is intended to provide “relief” to long-suffering daily commuters and encourage new riders to hit the rails.
“Understanding that our commuters have faced many disruptions this summer, we are providing a one-week fare holiday for NJ Transit riders,” Murphy said in a statement. “We hope this fare holiday offers our commuters some relief. We also encourage New Jerseyans to take advantage of this opportunity, and we continue to be thankful to the many New Jerseyans who depend on public transit.”
NJT riders have been saddled with nightmare commutes on several occasions this summer, with hundreds of trains canceled and many more delayed by hours at a time. To make matters worse, the issues come just weeks after the transit agency implemented 15% fare hikes, with prices set to increase by a 3% clip annually starting in 2025.
Murphy has sought to avoid personal blame for NJT’s woes. Instead, he has placed the blame at the foot of Amtrak, which owns the tracks on the Northeast Corridor — the busiest passenger rail line in America — and shares them with NJT trains.
Many of the issues facing commuters this summer have stemmed from Amtrak’s ancient overhead catenary wires powering trains, which droop in high heat rather than maintaining constant tension.
The 15% fare hike was approved to partially cover massive budget deficits imperiling the agency’s finances, the result of years of chronic disinvestment; New Jersey also approved a new 2.5% corporate tax on large Garden State businesses with proceeds directed to NJT.
The news comes as another top New Jersey pol, Congress Member Josh Gottheimer, called on Amtrak and NJT to provide refunds to delayed commuters and invest $6 billion in updating infrastructure on the Northeast Corridor.
