NJ Transit announces new customer experience enhancements
Brighter lighting, new crisp monitors and customer ambassadors in brightly colored vests are among the new changes.
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Brighter lights, better cleaning, and people helping people are just some of the changes you may notice when traveling through Newark Penn Station.
“What we want people to be able to do if there's something going on their train they literally can come here and if they are about to take the northern Branch train, this means there's some issue with it,” said NJ Transit President Kris Kolluri, while showing off a new touch screen information kiosk.
“The exact same information here is on their phones. It's on the displays above for us. It's about making sure we provide unified access information,” he said.
Other changes you may or may not notice include brighter lighting, new crisp monitors, and customer ambassadors in brightly colored vests ready to help travelers during the busy morning and afternoon rush hour.
“I think the ambassadors are definitely a lot more helpful for first-timers, but I don't see how that'll help the residents,” said commuter Phillip Hyun.
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“I think that's really helpful because when I got off my train, no one told me where to get my bag or where to go or anything. I was completely lost, and the signs aren't very helpful, so it'd be nice to see people who you can ask,” said Desiree Rodney, of Florida.
Dunkin’ and McDonald’s will also close at midnight starting Monday, March 3, to allow cleaning crews more time to prepare for the morning rush hour.
“Dunkin’ being open until 2 a.m. causes the officers and the cleaning crew challenges logistically to wait for those establishments to also close, and now all of the sudden, you're only left with two and a half hours to clean the entire facility,” said Kolluri.
Other customers say that while the improvements are nice, they are not helping the frequent delays.
“The trains need to be running on time and on schedule. That is what's most important,” said Mai Floris, of Scotch Plains.
A more difficult challenge, Kolluri says, is helping the homeless population at the station.
“We have to treat them with respect. Just like we treat all of our customers. That is for me a foundational principle,” said Kolluri.
Kolluri says a plan tackling that issue will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
