Posted on

Crisis helped to improve Port Authority bus terminal

1374036_10202224576720492_2009454846_n

Still not buying this up beat assessment on the Port Authority Bus Terminal

Crisis helped to improve Port Authority bus terminal
November 16, 2014, 10:54 PM    Last updated: Sunday, November 16, 2014, 10:57 PM
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG

This summer, thousands of New Jersey commuters who use the Port Authority Bus Terminal felt trapped, helpless and doomed. Delays at the terminal were growing to crisis proportions, and nobody at the Port Authority seemed to care. In fact, the agency’s leaders had announced in February that the cramped, deteriorating bus terminal wouldn’t receive an overhaul for at least another decade.

Then came Sept. 15. Officials at the Port Authority, which owns the building, and NJ Transit, which operates most buses using the terminal, unveiled an intensive campaign to slice through the bureaucratic gridlock and get buses moving. The plan worked. Long lines of commuters and buses were largely curtailed.

The success shows how a handful of people can make big change by capitalizing on crisis, and viewing an intractable problem from the perspective of a changed political landscape. It’s a story of people working in the bowels of big bureaucracies who know exactly how to fix big problems, but who are hamstrung until their bosses finally come around.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/crisis-helped-to-improve-port-authority-bus-terminal-1.1134880

Posted on

NJ Transit to test WiFi in Port Authority bus terminal

Portauthority_theridgewoodblog.net_

NJ Transit to test WiFi in Port Authority bus terminal
By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author
on November 13, 2014 at 7:55 AM, updated November 13, 2014 at 7:58 AM

NJ Transit officials want to bring some of the communications of the future to the aging Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Commuters will be asked to test drive part of it, a WiFi system designed to help them get travel information faster in a bus terminal with less than optimal cellphone reception now.

To make that happen, NJ Transit and the Port Authority have formed a Customer Information and Technology group,  said Dennis Martin, NJ Transit general manger of bus operations.

A WiFi network inside the terminal would allow commuters to access NJ Transit’s “My Tix” app, which allows riders to buy tickets using their smart phone. My Tix is being tested on Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia NJ Transit bus routes, Martin said. Riders have complained about waiting in line to use ticket vending machines in the terminal.

“The next thing is the Wi-FI and we’re talking about launching a beta site and encouraging customers to test it,” said Veronique Hakim, NJ Transit executive director. “We’ll notify them when begins.”

That WiFi network is different than the existing WiFi service offered through the Optimum network in select NJ Transit stations and terminals, said Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

https://www.nj.com/traffic/index.ssf/2014/11/nj_transits_to_add_this_centurys_communications_in.html