Today’s New York Times featured an article in which the headline really nailed the core content of the story: “95% of Trains Are on Time? Riders Beg to Differ.” The piece focuses primarily on New Jersey Transit’s suspicious (and, according to the Times, lightly cooked) on-time numbers vs. riders like me who know that the Midtown Direct pretty much never, never, ever pulls into Penn Station on schedule.
While the Times’ writers Michael M. Grynbaum and Robert Gebeloff do tut-tut NJ Transit a bit for its clearly misleading claims–basically, off-peak arrivals are given equal weight with rider-heavy rush hour trains–I think they failed to fully capture the experience of riding between Maplewood and Manhattan three dozen times a month. How many of us have looked at the NJ Transit timetable, identified the train that will get us to work on time…and then set the alarm half an hour earlier to make the train before that one so we’re not late to the office three times a week? Because the Midtown Direct will roll in late on days when it’s hot, cold, raining, snowing, autumn or maybe just Tuesday (and if my train gets within a mile of an Amtrak line, forget it), I am one of too many commuters who have to pad our arrival times as part of the course of doing business.
The article quotes a Long Island Rail Road commuter who says he plans an extra six minutes into his travel each day, which both made me jealous of a mere six-minute delay and made a bit of steam shoot out of my ears. As our fares go up and trains are dropped from the schedule, why should the thousands of commuters who rely on NJ Transit be expected to swallow misleading statistics, shrug our shoulders and accept that late is the new on time?
No matter where you ride from, we’d love to hear about your adventures with NJ Transit’s timeliness. How much extra time do you build into your schedule? Are you a happy commuter? Let us know.
Story by Brian Glaser, who wrote regularly for The Local, is Baristanet’s newest contributor.
Photo from Wikipedia
you might as well bitch about the sun coming up so early. Or about your pant cuffs getting damp when into the wind you piss.
“the Midtown Direct will roll in late on days when it’s hot, cold, raining, snowing, autumn or maybe just Tuesday (and if my train gets within a mile of an Amtrak line, forget it)”
I have rarely ever agreed with or been moved by something a Baristanet contributor has written (I really just come here for the news and try to ignore the crappy wanna-be journalism), but I love, love, LOVE this comment! I commuted into the city for 3+ years and my train often was late just because it was Tuesday (or M, or W-F).
Thank you, Brian, for writing the blatant (and funny) truth and for actually writing like a real writer to begin with!
(Welcome Brian!!!)
I don’t commute, but did for a semester to a school in NYC. This was at the same time I was teaching in Mass. where I commuted 3.5 hours once (sometimes twice) a week.
Believe me, I’d rather do the Mass drive than commute to NYC. I was asked back, but had to decline because I’m not the commuting type.
And the thought of Port Authority in 100 degree heat sounds like Hells cousin.
Thankfully, my commute now is less than 30 mins.
(Though I’m sure iphones, pads and pods make things MUCH easier.)
Why is it that these days any official body connected to the government cannot seem to distinguish truth from their own wishful thinking?
It’s time to throw ALL OF THEM out and try again. We have met the enemy and it is us – for just sitting on our asses.
But the #71 bus got me to East Orange and back on time and on schedule! A bus running more reliably than a train? Odd! :-O
As much as I bitch and moan about DeCamp, the train service was much worse (when I lived in Montclair and commuted by train). Bad weather, I can understand. Wet leaves on the rails? Ditto. But as posters point out above, sometimes there was just no good reason at all. Part (but not all) of the problem is that NJ Transit has no dedicated rail in NYC; they must share it with Amtrak. And guess who gets top billing?
To add insult to injury, the PA system at the Walnut station was for the birds. Hardly ever worked and when it DID work, it was unintelligible.
For a country that prides itself on technological advances, we are light years behind other countries when it comes to our public rail systems.
The chair of the NJ Assembly Transportation Committee is Assembly Member Wisniewski. E-mail him at asmwisniewski@njleg.org to ask him to demand the NJ Transit start measuring, publishing and holding it self accountable for more meaningful measures, for example rush hour on time performance (with a grace period of 2 minutes instead of 6 minutes).
I rarely take the train into the city anymore, but when I do, I’m mystified by how it almost invariably leaves the GR station ~3-5 minutes EARLIER than scheduled, and arrives consistently 10 minutes later than scheduled.
“I’m mystified by how it almost invariably leaves the GR station ~3-5 minutes EARLIER than scheduled, and arrives consistently 10 minutes later than scheduled.”
Wow. You are easily mystified.
I’ll be you watch is 5 minutes fast and the train is 20 minutes late.
But I have a solution for you Kate.
Set your watch 20 minutes fast and get to the train 15 minutes early and you’ll arrive on time.
Next!
MM,
Actually, believe it or not, even the wet leaves are their fault. Years ago, they put out a contract to replace the platforms in GR. The contractor took out the platforms, which had been the longest on the line, and then didn’t replace them (contract/financial issues I was told) – for a few years you had to climb over the broken concrete just to get on/off the train. Eventually, NJT did rebuild the platforms, but made them much shorter (they used to extend down to Hillside Avenue – that’s why those stairs are there.
When the platform was longer, during “wet-leaf season” the westbound trains could stop far enough from the grade to avoid the problem.
Interesting, Carl…thanks.
But as bad as our commuting stories are, my co-workers from LI say their trains are 10x worse!
Thanks for the welcome and all the good comments! Now that I’ve been introduced to the good folks at Baristanet, I’m planning on keeping my ear to the rails and seeing what other commuting stories are out there.
baha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho… don’t know what they were reading … (or smoking) …
maybe they were holding it upside-down … 56% ?
Maybe they’re dyslexic?
Maybe governor Paterson was the one reading it?
No matter how you slice it, that statistic is a JOKE.
I’m confused. Whenever I complained to NJT about consistently being 10-20 minutes late in the morning (thanks Amtrak!), I was told “on time” was a 10 minute window from the schedule – not 6 minutes as mentioned in the article. Are they actually holding themselves to a higher bar now? (ha!)
And yes, the PA system at Walnut may as well not exist. It’s actually just as bad at Bay Street unless you are standing in the exact center of the platform under the awning… 3 steps away and you might as well not be listening.
I’m thinking about opening a coffee shop in the Kearny Marsh, underneath the NJ turnpike. We stop there for 5-10 mins everyday. It could be a nice little earner.
Or perhaps not – sorry Upper Montclair Station restaurant.
“I’m planning on keeping my ear to the rails and seeing what other commuting stories are out there.”
For Brian: http://www.commutefromhell.wordpress.com
That’s great, watsessing! I’ve just added the feed to my Google Reader, and am already looking forward to the next post…
Has anybody else noticed that the trains are a living hell this summer? It takes a minimum of 60 minutes to get to the Montclair Heights station from NY Penn. And the cars are packed like sardine cans. People have actually been forced to sit in the middle seats! It’s an outrage.
‘roo, you and I need to establish a business.
I’ll handle the financials, you the outrage.
Are we in?
RoC – Most of us use cell phones as our “watch” these days and they are set to a standard time by the actual cell service provider. I doubt the provider is that far off. I know exactly the issue to which KatebirdRex refers, as do most other regular commuters.
Randomactofsilence – Funniest comment EVER. Period. Where did our thumbs up/down go? Although, being from the country, I did enjoy watching the birds in the marshes each morning. It made me smile and dread my work day a little less. (But only VERY little.)
Yes, but I want 60 percent. Anything less would be a goddam outrage!