Murphy's Law

Stand By, Stand By, Stand By, Boarding with 5 minutes before departure and then they post us to track 10. Chaos ensues! Lovely start to the Monday evening commute. Oh and then the 618 is cancelled. There are only three main trains for Montclair during the evning rush and lets see, one was late boarding and on a not easily accessible track, the other is cancelled and who knows anout the 640... What a wonderful Monday commute on 7/20/09.

Early Broadcast Digital Transition

The broadcast stations switched over to their digital feed on June 12th and the week before the TV Monitors in Penn Station that provide train and track information mysteriously malfunctioned. Could there be a correlation? Is it a conspiracy? I think not!

...Just another example of how things related to the commute with NJ transit go wrong. It's Murphy's Law - Anything that can - does! I really loved how NJT announced (as they often do) that passengers should not stand under the big board in the Amtrak section of Penn Station. Well, it was the only place where the track assignements were functioning. Where else do you expect people to find out where their train's track assignment is posted?

Also, this monitor issue that I'm describing should not be confused with the other issue of their assignments of when a train is On Time, Boarding, Delayed, etc. Completely another topic but how can a train be on time if the track isn't posted within 10 minutes of it due to depart?

New slogan

"We Apologize for the Inconvenience and Thank You for your Patience"

I've even been on trains where you can tell that even the conductors are embarrassed by the routine issues that plague NJ Transit and never seen to be resolved. They take on a cavalier and humorous tone as they continuously ask for the riders to have patience and thank them for their cooperation.

Jump for Joy

NJ Transit announced that there won't be a 2009 far hike. Perhaps they saw through all of their poor service, shoddy timeliness, and unchanging and uncooperative scheduling and realized that they have as a good of chance of making their customer base happy as a one legged man's chances of winning an ass kicking contest, if they raised costs. I'm sure that us riders will have to pay for this stay of execution! Can't wait for another 10-15% increase in the near future as if that's indicative of what anyone is getting from their employers in terms of merit or cost of living increases.

I once emailed NJT as to why the Montclair train always seemed to have to stop in its tracks to allow other trains, not just Amtrak trains to go by. The Amtrak right-of-way is another topic that I don't want to get into this second, other than stating if we're paying NJT and NJT is paying Amtrak for the right to use the tracks there needs to be some sort of re-agreement on who has the right of way. Anyway, as for when the Montclair train is always giving way to other NJT trains...The NJT email explained that the reason why the Montclair train always has to sit and wait for other trains is that the right of way is determined by which train left earlier. The trains that pass by my train in the morning must have left their initial station earlier than mine and coming from further away they now get the right to make my train idle on the tracks. So if this is truly the case, then why is it that when the Montclair train leaves Penn Station NY before other trains depart Penn, we stgill have to give way to other NJ Transit trains coming in from behind us? These trains fully left out of NY after my train and here we are sitting on the tracks waiting for other trains to pass us by??? Can't we have a service where once the train is in motion it continues on its path until it reaches it's destination? Enough with the stopping and going!

The Stench of NJ Transit

I love how earlier this year the lovely 618 Montclair train out of NY had a problem with one of its bathrooms so much that riders could not sit in that car due to the awful stench of urine. When a rider asked the conductor why this sort of issue wouldn't have been resolved prior to our commute, the conductor in a nonchalant demeanor looked the rider right in the eyes and told them that they should just be happy we're leaving on time.

Same Ole Story (with a twist)

We've all wondered it. A lot of us have even sent emails inquiring about it. Some of us have searched the web. A few some are oblivious, but if you're one of the many wondering why the train loses power for a split second somewhere between Kearny and Secaucus the answer doesn't matter much. What matters is that we've all been on a train that loses power and can't restart it. This seems to also occur a lot in the tunnel between NY and NJ, but that's a different post.

Last week seemed like any other instance where the train loses power and it can't regain it. As before, we sit with no word from the crew for several minutes, then they explain every detail over the PA every 2 minutes with the same status. Why does the crew use the PA to communicate with each other? Don't they have their own communication system? Sorry getting off on a tangent. I would assume they'd just use their own walkie talkies??? Oh well... Anyway back to the train sitting on the tracks with no power. Oh, did I mention that thetrain is filled to capacity because the 545p train out of NY for whatever reason was canceled so all of those passengers were now on the 618p train.

So with all their infinite wisdom and stellar expertise, the crew could not get the train started. So what's the plan? NJ Transit brings the 640p train along side ours, so that all of us 545 and 618 riders cannow pile into the 640 train (of course we didn't all fit) and then we'll continue on our way where each stop requiring 5 or more minutes so that slews of people can shuffle and dance to allow riders for each stop to get off. It was just dandy.

I'm lucky to have been one of the riders to make it onto the 640 train. I'm not even sure how long of a commute the other riders had, who had to wait for an even later train to come and pick them up.

It was also a unique experience in that all of us transferring trains did not do so by platform or some other sophistaced means, we had to descend the train cars we were in, walk among the rocky gravel between the trains and climb into the rescue train. And of course at this juncture of the evening, let's just say it was not sunny out! A real safe and once again smooth ride!