(The following article by Joe Malinconico was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger website on August 9.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Passengers on NJ Transit’s Montclair-Boonton Line often complain they get treated like second-class customers.
Montclair-Boonton trains don’t run on weekends or holidays. The off-peak service on weekdays tends to be sporadic. And when there are problems on the tracks heading to Manhattan, the Montclair-Boonton and Midtown Direct trains to New York often get rerouted to Hoboken while other routes stay on schedule.
This week, the Montclair-Boonton Line is taking another hit.
In order to have enough passenger cars to run extra service for fans heading to the PGA Championship at the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ Transit is canceling 13 off-peak Montclair-Boonton Line trains a day to Manhattan. They will be replaced by trains to Hoboken. Folks heading to Manhattan will have to switch trains at the Newark Broad Street station or in Hoboken.
“It might affect me because I have to be at work on time,” Leila Halwani of Clifton said Friday, while riding one of the trains that will be eliminated this week.
“It’s going to be a pain, making a transfer,” said Ira Katz of Montclair.
In some cases, particularly for westbound trains, riders making the switch will get to their destinations five to 10 minutes later. In a few instances, including several eastbound trains, the delay will be much longer.
For example, train No. 6230 normally leaves the Montclair State University station at 11:52 a.m. and arrives in Manhattan at 12:51 p.m. In its place, NJ Transit will run a train that leaves Montclair State at noon and arrives at New York Penn Station at 1:31 p.m., if passengers switch trains at Newark.
In some instances, folks will be better off taking the Montclair-Boonton Line to Hoboken and switching to PATH trains.
NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said railroad officials decided to cancel trains on the Montclair-Boonton Line for two reasons. First, that line to New York has low off-peak ridership — about 62 passengers per train, he said. Secondly, it has a high numbers of passenger cars per train — six to 10 — which can be converted to use on the extra trains for the golf tournament.
“This is the exercise we have to do whenever we redo our schedules,” Stessel said. “We have an obligation to make the best use of our equipment.”
Transportation officials figure thousands of golf fans will use the extra trains during the PGA Championship, compared to about 800 regular riders on the canceled trains.
Moreover, Stessel said, if NJ Transit did not provide extra trains on the Morris and Essex Line for the tournament, regular riders on those trains would get squeezed out by golf fans.
“This is about the greater good,” he said.
Some Montclair-Boonton riders were taking the news in stride.
“It’s going to be a pain, but I’ll be able to cope,” said Joan Nilan of Cedar Grove.
“For a week, I can roll with it, as long as there are alternatives,” said Eugena Harrington of Montclair.
Jeannette Gabriel of West Orange said she would shift her work schedule to catch one of the early trains that will be unaffected by the changes.
“This line isn’t really geared for people who don’t commute early in the morning, so it’s just going to be an added inconvenience for people who take trains in the middle of the day,” Gabriel said.
But sitting in passenger car with less than half its seats filled, Gabriel said she understood why the Montclair-Boonton Line was picked.
“It makes sense,”‘ she said. “It’s a good business decision for them.”
Even the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers praised NJ Transit for tapping into a “huge temporary customer base” by providing extra trains to Summit station for the tournament.
But the watchdog group’s newsletter objected to the disruptions that will affect regular riders, and it called NJ Transit’s efforts to inform passengers about the changes “less than adequate.”
In fact, just two out of 15 passengers interviewed on one of the affected trains on Friday were aware of the impending cancellations. At two key stations, Newark Broad Street and Montclair State University, there was no evidence of any notice to alert riders.
Transit officials said details about the service disruptions were posted on the agency’s web site (www.njtransit.com) and that notices had been distributed on the trains.
“I haven’t seen any notices and I take the trains often enough,” Katz said.