TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Transit has stepped up its efforts to make buses and rail cars cleaner for its riders, New York’s Newsday reported. Within the past few weeks, the agency has made changes to its E-Cleaning process (the E is short for extraordinary) as part of its back to basics approach to customer service.
“Clean equipment and passenger facilities should be a basic business practice, one that will be evident as this project advances,” George Warrington, NJ Transit’s executive director, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Monday’s editions.
The changes include more frequent and intense cleaning of agency equipment, Warrington said. Trains that used to get E-Cleaning every 90 days now go through the process every 45 days, while the cleaning work on buses is now done once every 25 days, instead of 30 days.
NJ Transit _ which runs about 675 trains every weekday _ has created 14 extra cleaning jobs to handle the extra work, most of which is done during overnight shifts at seven rail yards and 15 bus garages. By year’s end, all the trains should complete the first cycle of extra E-Cleaning.
Many commuters, who have complained about messy conditions for years, have applauded the agency’s efforts. They also note that riders must take some responsibility for the problem.
“If the people don’t want to cooperate, NJ Transit can do all the cleaning they want and it’s not going to make a difference,” said Fred Zarrabi of South Plainfield, who rides the Northeast Corridor line. “The garbage cans are right there and they still throw things on the seats. It’s like they were raised in a pigsty.”