How Do You Feel About NJ Transit's Service?

A new customer satisfaction survey of New Jersey Transit customer’s post-Superstorm Sandy has overwhelmingly endorsed the job the agency has been doing, according to an announcement by the Christie administration and the agency Tuesday. 

In the online survey conducted Feb. 4 through February 25, or during the third quarter of the agency’s fiscal year, nearly four in five customers, or nearly 14,000 participants on the agency's website (njtransit.com) said they would recommend NJ Transit to a friend or relative. The results mark a new high for the statewide public transit agency. 

The survey asked bus, rail, light rail and Access Link customers to rate the agency on a scale of 0 to 10 and asked riders to also consider 41 attributes of the system relating to facilities, vehicles, communications and the overall experience using NJ Transit as well as identify the most important aspects of service among the items they rated.

NJ Transit NJ Board Chairman and state Department of Transportation Commissioner James Simpson praised the analysis, saying the agency “has effectively improved its operations, resulting in a 23 percent increase in customer satisfaction and further protections for New Jersey taxpayers.”

“Using this invaluable feedback, we are encouraged that our first, post-Sandy survey shows that our customers have recognized our efforts to enhance the customer experience – even under the most challenging of conditions,” said NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein.  “However, the work continues, and we will continue to employ a laser-like focus on those areas identified in need of improvement.”

“While the news today is clearly encouraging, we recognize that there are improvements which must continue to be made across our system, particularly as we continue recovering from Sandy’s unprecedented devastation," Weinstein said, adding, "We are rebuilding our system with the interests of our loyal customers in mind, and again, I would thank them for their continued patience and support."

According to the survey, NJ Transit customers told the agency:

• Bus customers rated their overall satisfaction with service at a 6.4, higher than the 5.5 baseline rating. About 261,200 customers used NJ Transit’s interstate and local bus system on a typical weekday during the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, representing approximately 63 percent of all NJ Transit customers.
• Rail customers gave NJ Tranist an overall score of 5.9, a significant increase from the baseline score of 4.5. Approximately 118,900 customers rode NJ Transit trains on a typical weekday throughout the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, comprising nearly than 29 percent of all NJ Transit customers.
• Light Rail customers gave NJ Transit an overall satisfaction rating of 7.4, an improvement over the baseline score of 6.5. About 32,200 customers used NJ Transit’s three light rail lines on a typical weekday in the third quarter of fiscal year 2013, making up approximately eight percent of total NJ Transit customers.
• Access Link, NJ TRANSIT’s paratransit service for customers with disabilities, was given an overall rating of 8.1, higher than the 7.5 baseline. Access Link serves approximately 3,200 customers on a typical weekday.

TELL US: What's your opinion of NJ Transit's service post-Sandy? Tell us in the comments below.