The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Ridgewood NJ, NJ TRANSIT debuted its new accelerated Locomotive Engineer Training class this week, with 14 Assistant Conductors learning how to become rail engineers, fulfilling the agency’s commitment to speed up the training of Locomotive Engineers.
Continue reading NJ TRANSIT BEGINS ACCELERATED LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER TRAINING
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Tenafly NJ, another reminder to take your keys, remove your valuables and lock your vehicle . Tenafly Police Department reported that on Tuesday night, Tenafly Police Officers stopped a vehicle on Coppell Drive that was observed driving suspiciously in the area. As officers approached, the car quickly parked, turned off all their lights, and the two occupants reclined their seats in an attempt not to be seen by passing cars. The driver had an active warrant, and both were ultimately arrested after they were found to have a ski mask and rubber gloves in their possession. Based upon our investigation, we believe these two career criminals were in our town looking to steal a car. While this arrest highlights the proactive efforts of our officers to find and arrest burglars and car thieves that target our community, it should also serve as a reminder for all residents to remove key fobs and lock your cars even when parked in your own driveway. Criminals will continue to target our community until they realize there is nothing to gain by coming here. Let’s all do our part to keep our neighborhoods safe by locking our cars and reporting any suspicious activity to the police department as soon as you see it. Call us 24/7 at (201) 568-5100 to report anything out of the ordinary.
photo courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page
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Ridgewood NJ, A Subaru Forester collided with a NJ Transit bus at the intersection of West Glen Avenue and North Monroe Street, Ridgewood, early Friday morning, 10/12. It was NJ Transit route 163. Their were no passengers on the bus at the time. Both drivers sustained non life threatening injuries. One (1) driver was transported to The Valley Hospital for treatment, the other refused medical aid. The Subaru sustained heavy front end damage and was removed from the scene by a tow truck. Ridgewood Police, Ridgewood Fire Department, and Ridgewood EMS responded to the incident. Ridgewood FD personnel attended to a significant crash related fluid spill.
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Hoboken NJ, NJ TRANSIT is inviting customers to interact with senior management and operations personnel at the latest “We Are Listening” forum at Hoboken Terminal Thursday, October 11th from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Continue reading NJ TRANSIT TO HOST CUSTOMER FORUM AT HOBOKEN TERMINAL
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Trenton NJ, Governor Phil Murphy today revealed the findings of a comprehensive strategic, financial and operational assessment of NJ TRANSIT. This report assesses the challenges and possible improvements to NJ TRANSIT pursuant to Executive Order 5 signed by Governor Murphy. The audit, conducted by The North Highland Company, assessed the following major areas: organizational structure, operating and capital funding sources, personnel recruitment, procurement, and customer experience.
Continue reading Governor Murphy Unveils NJ TRANSIT Audit Results and Recommendations
For those of Us Taxpayers who use or are there every work day in that RIDGEWOOD station Parking Lot
dropping or picking up train Passengers especially in Fall /Winter seasons ,it is maxed out especially as trains discharge and the driver scramble to be able to leave quickly including riders running to their cars…Its a zoo free for all…it is maxed out capacity and safety wise ,,drivers backing out of spaces in the Dark racing to exit the station ,,idling
while waiting to exit the station into the bottleneck exit while passenger pedestrians are trying to safely leave the station ..all at the same time.We don’t need more compact
cars up there to add to the danger..it smells like a money grab and chance to spend over 300,000K for added compact cars at the station while we are on the hook for a raised garage to the tune of 12 Million dollars being erected on the northbound side of the station where NYC arriving trains arrive . Think safety and congestion in the dark and snowy seasons .Leave the station alone or modify the idling policy for uber and commercial vehicles .This could save a life especially in the Dark morning and evening
seasons .
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Whippany NJ, Again, New Jersey Transit has let down their riders by cancelling over 20 trains last night. Alerts stated that all of the cancellations were because of a lack of engineer availability. The problems of NJ Transit today are ones Jay Webber worked to stop years ago. In 2011, the Legislature and Governor Christie passed legislation that required all new public employees to live in New Jersey. Jay was one of only a handful of lawmakers to vote against the bill. Just a few years later, many people, including Governor Phil Murphy, believe this legislation has resulted in an engineer and staffing shortage that has led to many of NJ Transit’s train cancellations and delays.
NJ Ez pass is a scam. My personal experience (I have ny account take was issued before nj had the ezpass ). My account has always been in good standing, automatic credit card reimbursement, etc. I have 4 current tags. I put a tag in my newly obtained vehicle with out of state plates while it was here for a month. The garden state parkway toll in wash twps said “tag not read”. To avoid issues, that plate was added to the account 15 minutes later. I received a violation notice (despite meeting all the criteria for NOT being a violation) demanding 1.50 toll and $50 administration fee. I replied as requested online, on the phone, and using their automated system 11 times. They kept sending their lying bs notice. I finally had the last clerk on the phone admit that “their new system was having problems “. I paid the 1.50 toll with a credit card, and made it clear if she tried to ding me the 50 I would dispute the charge and suggest that the local us attorney investigate their practices. Apparently that is how NJ tries to strong arm payments that ate NOT due from unsuspecting motorists who think they may have a registration revoked (it’s not possible ). NJ EZ pass is a corrupt organization (based on my personal experience) and should be investigated. If it was a private company the executives would be indicted for mail fraud wire fraud and corruption for extorting money from motorists that is not due.
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Ridgewood NJ, Progress continues on the installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) equipment on NJ TRANSIT’s rail fleet to meet federal year-end milestones, requiring NJ TRANSIT to make a final set of rail service adjustments. The temporary discontinuation of some trains and modified times and origin/destination points are necessary to accommodate installation of PTC hardware on additional locomotives and cab control cars.
“Our customers will always be our first priority, and their experience must be safe and consistent. We thoughtfully reviewed all trains that are part of this adjustment and found the most reasonable alternatives,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Kevin Corbett.
To proactively address the potential service adjustment impacts, NJ TRANSIT will offer a 10-percent discount on all NJ TRANSIT rail tickets and passes for travel in November, December and January while the mandated hardware installation is completed.
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Trenton NJ, Thebridges and tunnels into New Yorkadvanced legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Kevin J. Rooney and Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick that protects New Jersey’s E-Z Pass customers from being overcharged when using bridges and tunnels into New York.
The legislation is in response to an AAA study that found drivers who purchased E-Z Pass tags from out of state agencies are being charged the cash rate instead of the discount rate at New York bridges and tunnels operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Between 2012 and 2016, of the 92 million out-of-towners who didn’t receive the discount rate, 70 million were New Jersey drivers.
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Ridgewood NJ, Effective September 25, 2018, the new meter times for the train station parking lot and the Park and Ride parking lot will be:
Monday through Friday – 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (14-hour meter duration)
Saturday – 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (8-hour meter duration)
file photo by ArtChick
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Ridgewood NJ, NJ TRANSIT is continuing to work closely with Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration on the investigation into Friday night’s incident in the Hudson River Tunnels. At NJ TRANSIT, the safety of our commuters and employees remains our highest priority. We assure our customers that, once the Amtrak repairs are complete and all the necessary safety inspections are made, rail service through the tunnels will remain completely safe.
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Union City NJ, NJ TRANSIT apologizes to all of our rail customers impacted by Friday night’s incident affecting the Hudson River Tunnels.
“Fortunately, no one was injured and we remain in close contact with Amtrak as part of the ongoing investigation to determine the exact cause of the incident,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Kevin Corbett.
Continue reading NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak continue to investigate Friday Train Incident
Yes, and it said they are making spaces for ” compact cars” Who are the kidding!! Ridgewood moms only have big boat Yukon, Suburbans,Danali’s. We are duped again. Another awful move by Ridgewood council. Who will sit on a bench in the center island??
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Ridgewood NJ, at Wednesday nights council meeting resident Saurabh Dani pointed out and questioned why the Village engineer quoted the Ridgewood Train Station parking lot renovations at a cost of $200,000 to 220,000 , yet the Village is bonding for $330,000 ?
Dani questioned if the Village was expecting a significant amount of cost over runs for the project or was this an attempt to generate , what he called “house money” , where the left over funds from a capitol project would be incorporated into general funds for the Village and spent ?
