the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, NJ TRANSIT has introduced a pilot ticketing option called FLEXPASS, which allows for more flexible travel options that better accommodate our customers’ current commuting patterns which continue to evolve due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
FLEXPASS will consist of 20 one-way tickets between one customer-selected origin and one destination and will be sold at a 20% discount off the one-way fare. FLEXPASS tickets will be available for purchase for bus, rail and light rail, and will only be offered for purchase via the NJ TRANSIT Mobile App during the pilot.
“The impacts of the pandemic have prompted NJ TRANSIT to develop creative solutions that accommodate our customers’ evolving travel patterns. FLEXPASS is just one way that NJ TRANSIT is working to incentivize customers to return to transit,” said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin S. Corbett. “We are working to make transit as attractive as possible and traditional monthly, weekly and ten-trip tickets are not economically optimal for many of our customers based on their current commuting frequency. Our hope is that we can encourage customers to return to transit by offering a flexible fare option that meets their needs.”
A FLEXPASS can be purchased at any time of the month and FLEXPASS sales are non-refundable. Customers may only buy and own one FLEXPASS per mode at a time.
Important Notes:
Customers may only purchase another FLEXPASS when all 20 tickets associated with their current FLEXPASS have been used.
All tickets associated with a FLEXPASS expire 30 calendar days, from when the FLEXPASS is purchased. Expiration of FLEXPASS tickets may not be paused or frozen.
Tickets associated with a FLEXPASS will look exactly like a current one-way ticket and will not have any marks indicating it is associated with a FLEXPASS.
If a customer activates one of their 20 FLEXPASS tickets by mistake, they should contact customer service as soon as possible.
A rail FLEXPASS does not provide complimentary bus or light rail trips like a Monthly or Weekly Pass.
Upon purchasing a FLEXPASS in the NJT Mobile App, 20 one-way tickets will be deposited into a customer’s MyTix account and can be activated for use like any standard one-way ticket.
Tickets with expiration dates will show up in the “My Tickets” area of the app. Each ticket will show up individually, with the associated expiration date, in the “Active/Non-Active” section, while the total number of tickets (along with expiration dates) will appear under the “All Tickets” section. Users will have numerous ways to see their expiration dates and select the proper ticket prior to activation.
Access to FLEXPASS requires customers to update to latest version of the mobile app (both iOS and Android).
Access to FLEXPASS requires a MyTix account.
“All tickets associated with a FLEXPASS expire 30 calendar days.”
This is silly in my opinion. 20 one way tickets that expire, so that means you need to be in the office at least 50% of the time, presuming you’re purchasing this for your commute. The 20% discount is not worth it unless you’re regularly going into the office.
I really don’t know how NJT or other mass transit systems survive through COVID, particularly if remote work stays around. And when we return to the office 1x/week or 1x/month, I’m presuming more people will drive in, particularly if traffic is less.
I guess more public funding for transit. So that means even worse service, higher prices, and higher NJ taxes.