Baristanet contributor Brian Glaser follows up on the commuting beat.
If there was a meeting of New Jersey Transit executives to discuss their recently crunched numbers measuring on-time performance, clearly nobody spoke up with a playground-simple truth: “If we say this out loud, we’re jinxing ourselves.”
Since the report came out, it has earned its share disbelief from both The New York Times and regular NJ Transit riders. And, as someone should have seen coming, it was the opening salvo in a pretty bad week of rush hour on-time performance: on Tuesday, a fatality on the tracks near Trenton effectively halted peak-time trains along the Northeast Corridor and sent rippling delays through the rest of the system. When I arrived in Maplewood after having re-routed myself through Hoboken, I was one of only three people on the 6:55pm jitney, since the Midtown Direct from Penn Station hadn’t arrived–though no delay alerts were posted for our part of the system.
And just 24 hours later, the always stuffed-to-the-gills 5:47pm Midtown Direct still wasn’t in the station for its 5:37 boarding time. When the train finally was called to Track 4, it was a single-decker train (with roughly half the passenger capacity of the double-decker we typically ride) that left more than 15 minutes late, the aisles stuffed with understandably grouchy commuters.
How did NJ Transit explain the situation to us? The only announcement made by the train’s crew informed us that we were departing late, that we were in a single-deck train with fewer seats, and that they were sorry if this caused any inconvenience. The passengers in my car laughed some hard, angry laughs at this pointless and insultingly obvious information; we all waited for equally helpful follow-up telling us that we were in a train and that it runs on tracks.
After I wrote my post on Monday reacting to the Times article, a representative from NJ Transit contacted me through Baristanet, hoping to have a chance to tell me their side of the story. I’d been planning to give him a call on Thursday, and now I am really ready to talk.
I know that they’re up against some limitations of budget, physics and Amtrak’s all-powerful track ownership, but getting people to and from work more or less on time is their core job. For me, a 6:15pm on-time arrival at Maplewood Station means I can catch the 6:17 jitney, be home around 6:30 and spend an hour and a half with my 6-month-old son before he goes to bed. Even if that train squeaks in just 10 minutes late, it means I’ve missed the jitney and have to wait for the next one (or I can ask my wife to strap an infant into a car and come pick me up), and I’ve lost at least 1/3 of my Dad Time.
That’s what I want to talk to NJ Transit’s guy about–what questions would you like him to answer? Since I’ll have an audience, let me know.
“I’ve lost at least 1/3 of my Dad Time.”
Erika is a man’s name? Scandinavian?
RoC: The name of the person who posts to the blog is not the same as the byline. I can assure you that Brian is a man’s name!
The 6:18 to Montclair yesterday was packed like a can of sardines. I took a seat between two very large, fat and smelly men, both of whom were typing into laptops. One was also eating very smelly popcorn. The train proceeded to lurch several times and then stop about 50 feet away from the platform. We sat there for 20 minutes. By 7 pm we were at Secaucus, where we sat interminably.
By the time I got home an hour and a half later, my dinner was in the dog.
That’s very wierd. I took the 6:18 and was at bay street by 7:10.
Delays would never happen if we had a monorail.
Thanks for reaching out to us. I’m not asking for perfection, but I would like to know why NJ Transit can’t seem to operate on a timely schedule at least 80% of the time! The 7:41 am train from Walnut Street crawls its way in. Now that trains have been cut and we’re paying a lot more, I think we should expect better service. And tell them we’re really getting tired of the Amtrak excuse. NJ Transit is a major commuter railroad and can’t keep w/ these excuses. Oh, and why do the trains break down all the time?!
One explanation, ewise, is that I got off at a subsequent stop. In any case, a 7:10 arrival at Bay St. would amount to a delay of 15 minutes.
Another explanation is that you were in a different car that slipped through a wrinkle in space-time to arrive earlier than mine. It’s not completely impossible.
That commute is BLUDDY ‘ELL!
RoC, I can assure you also, that Erika is a woman’s name, and that I am a woman. You’re right about it being Scandinavian, though it has become quite popular in the US over the past few decades. Sorry for the confusion about the byline.
The Baristanet to NY commute is cake when the train works. After years of standing room only in and out of Tokyo, the trains run on time but THAT was a crappy communte. At least you got to sit down ‘Roo. I was always happy to get a seat even if next to a tooth sucking, tobacco/sake smelling sarary man.
I always laugh at the people afraid to ask to sit in the middle of the 3 seater on the train.
Another well-written article by Mr. Glaser. Don’t go dropping his articles – I’m getting used to having someone who can write!
I am a woman
This claim, while plausible, falls short of tudlow’s recent claim to be “all woman,” which I find much more compelling.
‘roo, I am all woman and also I am every woman. It’s just, you know, all in me.