New Jersey Transit - Random Thoughts Thread

[46Dover]

I put up a YouTube page with NJT stuff and some of my model trains from my train clubs.  Enjoy.

 

 

 

[nightmare402]

18115 ran on the 119 earlier according to the tracker

 

119  18115  119 NEW YORK  2022-07-20 08:30:20

Edited July 20, 2022 by nightmare402

[BreeddekalbL]

2 hours ago, nightmare402 said:

18115 ran on the 119 earlier according to the tracker

 

119  18115  119 NEW YORK  2022-07-20 08:30:20

From meadowlands with a lavatory 

[sidthesomeone]

On 7/15/2022 at 10:10 AM, 46Dover said:

The night from hell that could have been worse: (cue gazoo noise)

I took a ride into Bay Ridge to visit friends I rode a 192 bus deadheading from Wayne garage starting at Clifton to Port Authority then using  (R46 set) and an  (R160s).  Round trip.  Late that afternoon I took a ride on the 119 out of Port Authority on the New Flyer Xcelsiors.  Which is nice since they had working USB ports and my iPhone was low on battery.  Run the full length and get the 10 at Bayonne to go to Jersey City (Suburban NABI).  Get off at Journal Square and take the  to Newark.  Next plan is to get the 11 to Willowbrook Mall and make a connection to the 198 to go near my job (where I parked my car).  Well, I’m on the wrong side of Newark Penn and miss the 11.  Ok no problem, I’ll get the 28.  It only goes to Montclair State University?  Ok no problem, get the last train to Mount Olive and go to Wayne Transit Center.  Pass an Emergency Vehicle setup along Bloomfield Ave (thought nothing of it at the time).  Get to MSU and made my way to Montclair Heights.  I wait 10 minutes, then 20 minutes,  so I put out a bolo on Facebook to see if anyone knows what’s going on (the app has no info at all).  Come to find out the emergency vehicles seen earlier served a purpose after all:  Fire along the MOBO line at Glen Ridge.  NY-MSU train cancelled.  My train to Wayne Transit Center is 50 minutes late.  Around the corner is the last bus to Newark from MSU (28).  Next plan is to catch the 72 to go to Paterson and catch whoever was done for the night going back to Wayne garage.  Operator puts me off a full mile (or two) before a spot where I’m supposed to get off.  Cue a long walk down Bloomfield Avenue (which included some brisk walks mixed in with all out sprints), but I made it to Broad and Belleville with 3 minutes time to spare.  The last 72 bus is operated by a former co worker of mine from Lakeland and so we caught up as we were moving along.  Found a 190 going back to Wayne and thus ended a night that could’ve gone badly wrong 🤦‍♂️

I'm looking at your pfp and the nostalgia hit me immediately. Did Lakeland have flxibles back then? Because iirc Coach USA and NJT had flxibles.

[46Dover]

11 minutes ago, sidthesomeone said:

I'm looking at your pfp and the nostalgia hit me immediately. Did Lakeland have flxibles back then? Because iirc Coach USA and NJT had flxibles.

They had 2.  DeCamp also had them

[Lawrence St]

For anyone asking why those three NJT MCI's are at EWR, the PABT is testing automated technology on them to speed up traffic around the airport.

[trainfan22]

 

 

I thought I was the only one who thought NJT fare system for their buses was confusing 

[Mtatransit]

5 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

I thought I was the only one who thought NJT fare system for their buses was confusing 

Not only do you need to know transfers, overrides, intra/interstate, CTS, Excursion fares, and zones, as well as HBLR/Underground, you also have the pleasure to pay in nickels and dimes. If you are in northern NJ, you can't buy Southern NJ tickets on the app. Why? I have no idea

 

Many times I could've swore I am the only one honest enough to actually pay for a multiple zone bus fare. Seems like most people just put in one zone and call it a day

[Lawrence St]

6 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

 

 

I thought I was the only one who thought NJT fare system for their buses was confusing 

The app is also glitchy. People on the 319 who want to travel to New York or Atlantic City from any intermediate stop in between those two terminals can’t buy the correct tickets on the app, it only shows 1 zone and that’s it.

another thing that contributes to delays at NJT especially on the bus side is the farebox with the $ bills. You spend a good 30-40 seconds trying to put a bill in the farebox.

[46Dover]

20 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

another thing that contributes to delays at NJT especially on the bus side is the farebox with the $ bills. You spend a good 30-40 seconds trying to put a bill in the farebox.

In which case the op would just hit the a button and send it on through.  It’s been several years since I operated an actual farebox in service 

[B35 via Church]

On 7/30/2022 at 3:53 AM, Mtatransit said:

Many times I could've swore I am the only one honest enough to actually pay for a multiple zone bus fare. Seems like most people just put in one zone and call it a day

Unlike here in NYC (where a lot of times I feel like I'm the only paying sucker, since there's so much damn farebeating going on), when I take NJT, I don't give it a second thought of paying (whatever) the fare happens to be.... In contrast to what you're saying at the end there, I don't get the sense that riders are just going around dumping the fare for 1 zone, full knowing they're traveling through multiple zones.... I think it's more that a large amount of (local) bus riders happen to actually ride in 1-zone....

[46Dover]

What’s scary is you got students from William Paterson University trying to go to New York on a 1 zone digital pass.  If that’s our future, we’re all history 🤦‍♂️

[Lawrence St]

3 hours ago, 46Dover said:

What’s scary is you got students from William Paterson University trying to go to New York on a 1 zone digital pass.  If that’s our future, we’re all history 🤦‍♂️

Do you know how many times people have shown me a 1 way zone pass at PABT going to NJ? 😂😂😂

[B35 via Church]

12 hours ago, 46Dover said:

What’s scary is you got students from William Paterson University trying to go to New York on a 1 zone digital pass.  If that’s our future, we’re all history 🤦‍♂️

Nowadays, college is where you go to get (more) woke... Education, be damned.

[Lex]

On 7/29/2022 at 10:48 PM, trainfan22 said:

 

 

I thought I was the only one who thought NJT fare system for their buses was confusing 

It's easily my biggest gripe with the system.

[Mtatransit]

On 7/31/2022 at 5:07 AM, B35 via Church said:

Unlike here in NYC (where a lot of times I feel like I'm the only paying sucker, since there's so much damn farebeating going on), when I take NJT, I don't give it a second thought of paying (whatever) the fare happens to be.... In contrast to what you're saying at the end there, I don't get the sense that riders are just going around dumping the fare for 1 zone, full knowing they're traveling through multiple zones.... I think it's more that a large amount of (local) bus riders happen to actually ride in 1-zone....

Most people are probably indeed going one zone, but I got the sense that there is also a very large percentage of people who do intentionally override, knowing B/O doesn't keep track of the zones they paid after they got on.

Once I was on the 48 and the driver decided he was going to enforce the zone payments by asking where everyone was getting off, and around 4 passengers out of the 10 pax had to pay a zone surcharge difference of around 65 cents or something, and two of them have some sort of passes mind you. One of them was pissed off saying she never had to pay it before lol. They could've just lied about where they are getting off 

But to be honest I definitely underpaid and overpaid on NJT before (on exact fare lines). Always a challenge finding that elusive dime or nickel... usually if it ends in $0.95 I just round it up to $1, but sometimes if I lack nickels or dimes and if it ends in $0.80 I would round it down to $0.75, same thing goes with $0.55 . I also had operators straight up told me to not worry about the extra 5 or 10 cent and just take a seat lol

One of the major annoyance of riding NJT intrastate buses... nothing is rounded up to nearest quarter. Requiring you to go around looking for nickels and dimes 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Mtatransit

[B35 via Church]

On 7/29/2022 at 10:48 PM, trainfan22 said:

 

I thought I was the only one who thought NJT fare system for their buses was confusing 

What dude in the video is explaining, starting at the 3:09 mark of the video, funny enough, I've taken the #818 (from New Brunswick) to rt. 9 (for the #139) numerous times, regardless of direction.... More to the point{s}, to be perfectly honest, I don't even know wtf an "override" is (that he's explaining)... Nor do I even bother with their transfer system (although I do understand it)....

See, every time I do my NJT fantrips, I pay for the # of zones I ride on each bus... Meaning, for example, from Journal Sq., If I do the full #88 to Nungessers, then the full #84 back to JSQ, then the full #1 to Ivy Hill, then the full #37 to EWR, I pay the 2.55 on the #88, the 2.55 on the #84, the 3.15 on the #1, and the 2.55 on the #37.... This is how I know that (for NNJ & CNJ) off the top of my head that a local/intrastate zone 1 fare is 1.60, zone 2 is 2.55, zone 3 is 3.15, zone 4 is 3.80... I think I could run off how many total zones every local route travels off the top of my head in real time (#1 travels 3 total zones, #2 is 2 total zones, #5 & #6 only travels 1 zone, etc etc), but all of the full service routes (basically meaning the routes where b/o's physically handle money), Shit, forget it....

But going back to the paying for the # of zones I ride on each bus, is that a waste of money? Yeah - but you could say just going out fanning period is a "waste of money" .... What I couldn't tell you, is how much money you even save by using xfers.... Saving money doesn't cross my mind when I'm out fanning.... But yeah, I just don't bother with xfers on NJT's buses.... Too much math on the fly, and it doesn't help that the zone fares consist of odd ass amounts....

55 minutes ago, Mtatransit said:

Most people are probably indeed going one zone, but I got the sense that there is also a very large percentage of people who do intentionally override, knowing B/O doesn't keep track of the zones they paid after they got on.

Once I was on the 48 and the driver decided he was going to enforce the zone payments by asking where everyone was getting off, and around 4 passengers out of the 10 pax had to pay a zone surcharge difference of around 65 cents or something, and two of them have some sort of passes mind you. One of them was pissed off saying she never had to pay it before lol. They could've just lied about where they are getting off 

But to be honest I definitely underpaid and overpaid on NJT before (on exact fare lines). Always a challenge finding that elusive dime or nickel... usually if it ends in $0.95 I just round it up to $1, but if it ends in $0.80 I round it down to $0.75, same thing goes with $0.55. Unless I just happen to have a spare dime/nickel or bought a ticket from the TVM

I never round down... I feel some type of way about that.... You can say it's corny, or "quit cappin" (or anything along those lines), but I stand on principle..., I don't do the sob story shit.... There's been times I was short a quarter or a dime or so (I usually carry a random wad of change when I'm doing local fans), and I threw a whole dollar bill in the farebox... That's usually when I get asked where I'm going, and/or if I want a transfer.... On rare occasions, if someone happened to attempt paying in coins (obviously after I boarded), there were b/o's that actually told that rider to give them the change (in hand).... Then I would get called to the front of the bus & get the difference/change back that I overpaid by chucking the dollar in the farebox.... Sympathy from the driver, basically....

Edited August 1, 2022 by B35 via Church
why tf did the YT video get quoted 4 times for???

[trainfan22]

Yeah when I fan multiple NJT bus routes in one day I usually don't bother getting transfers and just pay for the zones I will travel for each route instead.

Edited August 2, 2022 by trainfan22

[dkm07302]

On 7/31/2022 at 11:22 PM, B35 via Church said:

Nowadays, college is where you go to get (more) woke... Education, be damned.

Let's not mix in politics into here. This is a safe space. I remember when I went to NJCU (years ago)  that there use to be a poster at the academic building explaining the bus routes and the zones. I've seen people more and more get confused. 

[B35 via Church]

4 hours ago, dkm07302 said:

Let's not mix in politics into here. This is a safe space. I remember when I went to NJCU (years ago)  that there use to be a poster at the academic building explaining the bus routes and the zones. I've seen people more and more get confused. 

The NYC online transit community is the last thing from a safe space.... You want to talk about safe spaces, let's talk about college in the 21st century.....

[dkm07302]

18 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

The NYC online transit community is the last thing from a safe space.... You want to talk about safe spaces, let's talk about college in the 21st century.....

Well, it obviously a problem to you. You can always make that website and go off as much as you like. Anyway, back to the other convo. 

[B35 via Church]

1 hour ago, dkm07302 said:

Well, it obviously a problem to you. You can always make that website and go off as much as you like. Anyway, back to the other convo. 

Look, spare me your projections.... You interjected into this conversation by telling me not to mix politics in here (which somehow I was doing by saying the word "woke") & on top of it, going out of your way to mention that this is a safe space.... The gall you have to tell me to go make some website & go off as much as I like, after even saying that.... If it's anyone with a problem here, it's you feeling some type of way about colleges being called out for what they've turned into nowadays.... If it's anyone that should be going off to make some website (since this is such some "safe space", according to you), it should be you....

Go somewhere with this crap, honestly....

[jass]

On 7/30/2022 at 5:39 AM, Lawrence St said:

The app is also glitchy. People on the 319 who want to travel to New York or Atlantic City from any intermediate stop in between those two terminals can’t buy the correct tickets on the app, it only shows 1 zone and that’s it.

another thing that contributes to delays at NJT especially on the bus side is the farebox with the $ bills. You spend a good 30-40 seconds trying to put a bill in the farebox.

 

I bought an excursion roundtrip to AC. According to the website, the price is the same via Newark or NYC.

I left from Newark, but to come back, the only option was NYC. There are NYC buses every hour, but just one daily to newark. Well driver said my ticket didnt have enough zones. I told him I bought the excursion and the dollar price is printed on the damn thing and its the same price to NYC or Newark. He gave me a lot of attitude but let me on.

Why would NJT sell it that way? I mean on top of it I then had to pay another $6 to get to newark which is where I wanted to go

[dkm07302]

15 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Look, spare me your projections.... You interjected into this conversation by telling me not to mix politics in here (which somehow I was doing by saying the word "woke") & on top of it, going out of your way to mention that this is a safe space.... The gall you have to tell me to go make some website & go off as much as I like, after even saying that.... If it's anyone with a problem here, it's you feeling some type of way about colleges being called out for what they've turned into nowadays.... If it's anyone that should be going off to make some website (since this is such some "safe space", according to you), it should be you....

Go somewhere with this crap, honestly....

I made a comment, you went off with the next in a attitude. I actually agree on the colleges today, but why make that comment here, let just focus on the transit. My point was that NJ Transit could work with colleges at teaching routes, zones, etc. Especially since some students are out of town and just try and hop on the bus (seen it many times). You're the one feeling some type of way with that long comment. "Go somewhere with this crap, honestly...." Take your own advice. 

[dkm07302]

15 hours ago, jass said:

 

I bought an excursion roundtrip to AC. According to the website, the price is the same via Newark or NYC.

I left from Newark, but to come back, the only option was NYC. There are NYC buses every hour, but just one daily to newark. Well driver said my ticket didnt have enough zones. I told him I bought the excursion and the dollar price is printed on the damn thing and its the same price to NYC or Newark. He gave me a lot of attitude but let me on.

Why would NJT sell it that way? I mean on top of it I then had to pay another $6 to get to newark which is where I wanted to go

Trying to get NJ Transit to explain is also a headache. I remember asking about the #87 route. When I get the monthly pass, at the machine its Zone 1 or Zone 2. But I know #87 is just a 1 zone route. I contacted NJ transit to ask if the #87 is going to be 2 zones and if so, where would the second one start. Not one word from them.