NJ Transit introduces new ‘How Full is Your Ride’ feature on mobile app

A new feature on New Jersey Transit’s (NJ Transit) mobile app allows rail and bus customers to see how full their ride is before they step onboard, helping them make a better informed decision that optimizes their comfort level as they return to the system.  

The new feature is a pilot program.  

“This innovative feature on our mobile app is yet another tool for customers to make informed travel decisions as they return to our system,” said NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett. “It also serves as another example of how we continue to invest in technology to improve all aspects of the travel experience for our customers.” 

“The investments we have been making in technology over the past two years are showing tangible improvements to the customer experience,” said NJ Transit Chief Financial Officer William Viqueira.  “By leveraging those investments, we are putting more information into the hands of our customers and empowering them to make informed decisions on their travel plans.” 

For rail and bus customers, green, yellow and red color-coded icons indicate light, medium or heavy ridership conditions. On buses, the data is collected by automated onboard passenger counting technology. For trains on the Raritan Valley, Atlantic City and Morris & Essex Lines, the data is collected automatically from NJ Transit’s new handheld devices used by train crews to scan and validate tickets and passes. For other rail lines, customers will be able to crowdsource this information by voluntarily inputting this data to alert fellow customers how full the train is. Crowdsourcing will be gradually phased out as train crews on additional rail lines receive the new handheld ticket validation devices. All data collected is anonymized and used only to provide estimates of passenger volume. 

“We are using technology to transform data into real and meaningful information for our customers,” said NJ Transit Chief Digital Information Officer Lookman Fazal.  “Technology is the key to developing new product features such as this as we continue to modernize NJ Transit and enhance the customer experience.” 

“We live in a world ever more reliant on technology,” said NJ Transit Chief Technology Officer Faisal Jameel. “Customers have come to expect easy access to information and that is what we are delivering through product enhancements such as this.” 

Bus customers will use the MyBus feature to view onboard ridership conditions with icons and color coding to indicate light, medium and heavy passenger travel on both the NJ Transit Mobile app and website.