MONTCLAIR, N.J. — In a bow to Hoboken train commuters who feel deprived of service since the start of the NJ Transit’s Montclair Midtown Direct in September, NJ Transit officials announced that beginning this week, a Hoboken-bound train would be added to the Montclair-Boonton Line, the Montclair Times reported.
“The new train is in direct response to customer requests for added service to the Hoboken Terminal,” stated NJ Transit Executive Director George Warrington in a release. “This is all part of NJ Transit’s ‘back-to-basics’ initiative of putting our customers first. We will continue to monitor ridership levels and customer needs on the Montclair-Boonton Line service and when possible, make adjustments to improve customer service.”
Warrington made this concession when he met with township officials last Tuesday night.
Since the start of the Montclair Connection train service to mid-Manhattan in September, commuters to the Hoboken Rail Terminal have complained that they now have fewer trains going into Hoboken than they did before the service started.
Indeed, prior to the start of the Montclair Connection, Hoboken commuters had eight trains that they could catch between 7 and 9 a.m. within the township. These trains had made at least three station stops within the township. Since Sept. 30, this number has been reduced to three.
The new train, according to the announcement, will depart from Montclair Heights at 8:15 a.m. and arrive in the Hoboken terminal at 8:55 a.m., making all local stops except Newark’s Broad Street Station. To accommodate the new train, Train No. 6214, which formerly departed the Montclair Heights Station at 8:21 a.m., will now pull out of the station at 8:23 a.m.
Third Ward Councilman Donald Zief, who chairs the Montclair Connection Citizens Advisory Committee, called the added train a “semi-sweet victory.”
“They responded to our concern about diminished service to Hoboken. However, I don’t think adding a train coming through town is the best solution,” said Zief. “I think we would have been satisfied with trains already coming through Montclair just stopping at more stations.
More trains will only mean more train whistles in town and more traffic tie-ups at grade crossings, Zief said.
Joe Borak, a member of the Advisory Committee, told The Times that the added train doesn’t address the core issue, which is having more trains going into the Hoboken train terminal at a time that can get commuters into their offices in Manhattan by 9 a.m.
“It’s a gesture. It’s good for starters,” said Borak. “But it doesn’t address the shortfall for the Hoboken riders. My problem is that getting in at 8:55 to Hoboken does not help the commuter who needs to be in the [Manhattan] office at 9 a.m.”
Ultimately, Borak said, the key to dealing with the Hoboken commuter problem would be sending more trains into Hoboken during the peak morning hours, something unlikely to happen until a train tunnel leading into Hoboken, currently under construction, is reopened in the spring. Borak said that in addition to the diminished service to Hoboken — something his committee was not aware of until a few weeks before the start of the Midtown Direct service — NJ Transit officials have also fudged the truth about how many trains were slated to run through the township.
The original plan called for 55 trains running through the township during a 24-hour cycle, Borak said, 15 diesel and 40 electric trains.
“Suddenly, Montclair was notified it would be getting 66 trains,” said Borak. “The reality is that we are getting 73 to 75 trains.”
Borak said that Warrington admitted last Tuesday that extra “non-revenue-generating” trains are running through the township.
Borak said that most of these trains had to be put back in sequence or were heading to the Great Notch Rail Yards for maintenance.
At this point, according to Borak, Warrington said nothing could be done about these extra trains running through Montclair.
Penny Bassett Hackett, a spokesperson for NJ Transit, acknowledged that NJ Transit has scheduled more than the agreed-upon 66 “revenue-generating trains” running through Montclair. These are mostly trains going in for maintenance, she said. Warrington agreed last Tuesday night, said Bassett Hackett, to “look into how frequently this happens. It’s not an everyday occurrence,” she said.
NJ Transit Spokesperson Janet Hines told The Times that the Midtown Direct service now has 1,600 passengers. One thousand of these passengers are former Hoboken terminal commuters, she said, while 600 are new riders. These totals reflect peak ridership, between 6 and 10 a.m., Hines said.