Tired and Cold

This week has been so bad for the morning commute that I've got to let off some steam.
I've been riding NJT regularly for more than 20 years, and I've been a daily commuter for eight years. And you know what, it seems that it's just been getting worse and worse lately.
Every day for the past week, something has gone wrong during my commute. Last Friday it was the switch problems in New York. Monday it was just plain ol' no excuses late. Tuesday I don't remember, it was frozen out of my mind. Wednesday, with the temperatures in the low teens, it was switch problems again. I stood on that bloody platform for 45 minutes, watching express trains go by. I made it to my morning class with less than 10 minutes to spare. Thursday it was the breakdown in New Brunswick, and we're thirty minutes late again. Oh, and let's not forget the low platform stop at Elizabeth during evening rush hour, with only one set of doors opened. Now this morning, 3830 had only 4 cars. It was so packed, I didn't even make the attempt to get on, so it was another 30 minutes in single digit temperatures this time! Wonderful.
And you know what the worst part is? Watching, every single day, the express trains whiz by with what appear to be relatively uncrowded cars. This morning I saw one go by that had, I'm fairly convinced, two COMPLETELY EMPTY cars out of six.
I'm willing to put up with a lot. I'm willing to deal with dirty floors. I'm willing to put up with non-functional toilets. I'm willing to put up with non-fuctional heat in the winter and non-functional air conditioning in the summer. I'm willing to put up with packed trains. But I'm tired of having to deal with routine massive delays. I'm tired of having to build an extra hour and a half into my morning commute plans, and having that extra 1.5 hours justified every other week.
I can understand and tolerate the occasional mechanical failure or bad equipment utilization decision. Everyone makes mistakes, and even the best-maintained piece of machinery breaks down once in a while. That can't be helped. But the litany of mechanical failures, shoddy maintenance, and downright abject incompetence that is displayed day after day by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit has finally gotten to me. Acts of God and Nature, OK. Acts of human stupidity, not OK.
Now it's time to assign blame and credit. First, I'll give credit where it is due: to the NJ Transit train crews. Sure, there are a few louts and twits among your numbers, but most of the train crews do their best to do a competent and professional job in the face of miserable management and ornery customers (like myself). I know the failures aren't your faults, and I try my best not to take my frustration out on you.
Now for blame. First we blame management. Too many bosses, and too few know absolutely nothing about doing their jobs right. The second blame goes to politicians who are too blind/greedy/corrupt/stupid/ignorant to understand that the economic engine of the northeast is New York City and the key role that public transit plays in keeping that economy going. Just look at the starvation budget that congress keeps giving Amtrak! And were do they look for inspiration to fix Amtrak? Great Britiain! Their railway privatization isn't exactly a confidence-inspiring model.
The Swiss can keep a system that has just as many trains as the whole USA moving to within a few seconds of delay per train per year. Commuter service can be done right! It will cost money and it will cost willpower, but it can be done, and must be done before the whole northeast grinds to a sickening halt.
Finally, the last bit of blame goes to us, the public, who have been putting up with this crap for so long, and we keep reelecting the same idiots. As Shakespeare put it, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."
Sorry for raving on so long, but I had to get it out.

jnewman wrote:Now it's time to assign blame and credit. First, I'll give credit where it is due: to the NJ Transit train crews. Sure, there are a few louts and twits among your numbers, but most of the train crews do their best to do a competent and professional job in the face of miserable management and ornery customers (like myself). I know the failures aren't your faults, and I try my best not to take my frustration out on you.

Thank you, my good man. Appreciate it.

jnewman wrote:Now for blame. First we blame management. Too many bosses, and too few know absolutely nothing about doing their jobs right.

Amen! Couldn't have said it better myself!

There are too many "bosses" who don't have specific responsibilties and end up creating more problems

Quite possibly the best post ever on RR.net

every point is completely and throughly made and touched on, and made correctly, as if you worked for the railroad - why can't the people's who's job it is to take care and prevent or fix these things, actually realize it and address these problems.....

Seriously, you should print that out, and send copies of it to every newspaper outlet in the NJ area, hell, send it to the TV stations too....but most importantly, send it to your state representatives, in NJ adn in Washington, Mr. Codey, and of course to every possible person you could find an address for at NJT. Customer service, G. Warrington, Mr. Duggan, Mr. Soto, anyone who is anyone at NJT. And even send it to Amtrak people too. Im sure Mr. Gunn would actually appreciate a letter like that, because that has been his message - that the railroad is broken, and breaking more and more each day, adn that this country NEEDS to take a stance on passegner rail, and there is no reason why we don't have a transportation system to rival or better those in Switzerland......

Ive only been on the railroad a few years, but in that relatively short amount of time, ive seen the service collapsing around us......things are going to be getting much worse i fear before they get better.....

And as the saying goes, "too many cooks spoil the stew (or is it soup ) thats a major problem at NJT......everyone is afraid to make a decision.

On behalf of myself and the competitent crews (not the loads though - hahaha) and even those members of management who actually try, which there are some, of NJT, thank you for your kind words!!!

Jtgshu wrote:Seriously, you should print that out, and send copies of it to every newspaper outlet in the NJ area...

Whenever I'm feeling curmudgeonly, I send my letters to the editor of the Star-Ledger at [email protected] Don't forget you real name, the town you live in, and a phone number so they can call and confirm that it was indeed you who wrote it.

Not a rant at all, really. All legitimate concerns. Especially clueless management.

JT, you'll know you've been around when you realize that the railroad doesn't really care that you care. That's what we're up against.

Jtgshu wrote:Possibly the best post ever on RR.net

Wow, that's quite a sweeping statement! You better watch what you say, I might get a swelled head, and then how could I get my hats on
Being in rather a foul mood, I've sent it to every email address at NJT I could find, and to the Star-Ledger (they've printed a rant or two of mine before...), and I have the physical hardcopies printing for the various government officials as I type. It won't do any good, of course, but it sure makes me feel better!

Wow this is great! I have felt some time that NJT has been on a rapid downward spiral. I also have posted on ths board that the only way for passengers to affect a change is to become very politically involved. Transit is such a political ball that the best way for good things to happen is for politicians to fear for thier careers.

I will offer a challenge to the NJARP, and specifially Mr Douglas John Bowen: With the upcoming election of NJ Governor, How about a massive recruiting campain for the passenger advocacy group. Then, in all forms of media (all newspapers besides just the Newark Star Ledger, NJ 101.5, and even billboards) systematically begin pressuring the canidates, reguardless of party, to reform and improve the quality of service provided by NJ Transit.

Equipment is falling apart rapidly all over the place, and nothing is being done about it. How many axle bearings need to fail since the derailment of 3920 a year and a half ago? From my count we are up to six that have failed so far. Unforunately these failures went relatively unnoticed because they were either on off peak evening trains or non revenue x trains, the most recent being on X384 on Wed. night. These trains are a ticking time bomb of major collapse.
Don't take this as a negative post, take it as a very informed voice of reason offering a fair warning.

Unfortunately, the funding problem is not a failure of Trenton to spend more money so much as it is a failure of our congressmen in lobbying Washington for a fair share of federal funds.

Plus, with nearly everyone in NJ clamoring for spending reductions rather than tax increases (gas tax, anyone?), I'm not sure where this additional cash is gonna come from.

Funding is not the problem. The problem who is politically put in charge of the show (and all of the resulting management changes involved) that is. For a good laugh, start at Geaorge Warrington and Bill Duggan then work down the line of bosses, ask them to explain what passengers really experience form day to day. Ask them why the trains are dirty, late, and full of defects if not consistantly breaking down. And make sure you tell them to be honest and realistic.

All the ol time commuters from the Coast Line know what needs to be done. They have gotten results from their actions......

They got the line upgraded in the late 70's early 80's with various forms of letter writing, protests, and compared to what I have seen of the line back then in pics, (i was a wee tike) that was a very successful effort led by those passengers, and I have even been told union leaders, particularlly Dan Bogen former UTU Local 60 chairman. Now, I wouldn't expect anyone to get help or support from the current UTU administration, (that doesn't mean their individual members wouldn't support though) but thats not to say a successful organization of commuters in a letter writing campaign, along with or in addition to the NJ-ARP wouldn't be successful.

8, so thats what happened to X384, eh, heard them having problems on our westbound, then still heard them when we came back on our eastbound. Don't forget about 5700 too the other day.

Sheesh......duct tape and seatchecks won't fix axles....they both can do amazing things, but there is a limit!!!!

Funny, on the Gladtsone train today, the crew was gathering in the middle car after all fares had been collected and were complaining about all of this stuff and made references to certain people high up as well.

This was a very bad week for NJT. Things just went wrong. And today, more wires came down in NY causing delays.

The equipment problems are really inexcusable. I've heard more crewmembers say in the past few weeks "This has got to be the worst trainset I've ever worked on. Half the doors don't work!" than I have in past years combined. (most of these are in reference to the push pull sets btw.)

And as usual, NJT will try to blame problems on crews. If crewmembers were in charge, things would go much more smoothly- but we all know that already.

^Oh yeah, and one crewmember who was a conductor was talking about trying to keep the passengers happy.

He was narrating a story something like:

"There are 90 people on the platform and like only one door works. And they're all angry and I don't blame them."

This conductor seemed genuinely empathic towards their customers aggravations. Couldn't tell if he was a recent hiree or was more of an ol' timer as his cap didn't have a number- but he seemed to be very seasoned.

And this weekend will be more of the same. Comet IIM doors having problems, delays, and I'm just waiting for them to route all MidTOWN trains to Hoboken. I'm hoping to beat all the confusion tomorrow morning on my commute back to New Brunswick. Last year I got caught in the middle of it during the blizzard in December and that was a mess.

Have heard from many onboard crew members, and bear the experience of that effect, that NJT management just plain sucks. I also think dispatching needs some overhauling, as do some of the schedules (i.e. there's a NJCL express train following a local - hello!).

And get ready for the fare hike - so the inept management can get a raise!

I am just amazed with the switch problems - b/c I thought Amtrak or NJT spent a lot of money putting in switch heaters a couple years back. Monday's commute (1/24) should be fun if we get all the snow that is predicted over the weekend!

Well, I know I'll be a bit POed when they erradicate ORTs.