NJ Transit May Cut Back Schedules After 20% Ridership Drop

(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Transit may cut back mass-transportation schedules after a 20% ridership decrease, Governor Phil Murphy said.

The nation’s largest statewide public-transit operator is “looking at this on an interim basis,” Murphy told reporters at a news conference in Ewing. NJ Transit, whose bus and train service is crucial to New York City jobs, and its peers around the U.S. have had “lower ridership than they did two weeks ago.”

The governor didn’t estimate the depth of any temporary cuts, or when they might take effect, but said the agency will “right-size their service.”

Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman, didn’t immediately respond to an email asking for comment on the governor’s remarks.

NJ Transit said it lacks precise ridership numbers, but on Thursday estimated that ridership was down 20%.

Murphy, in the third year of his four-year term, has vowed to restore NJ Transit after years of budget cuts coincided with more safety violations and crowding and less reliable service.

New Jersey has 50 cases of the new coronavirus, up from 4 just a week ago, and another 80 people under investigation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman

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