DETAILS: Midtown Direct to be diverted to Hoboken this summer

A heads-up to any commuters who, like me, pay for monthly passes with pretax paycheck deductions: The story says passes will be half-price (or so) for July and August. It doesn't say how much specifically for Maplewood or South Orange; while that info probably is, or will be, available somewhere, I'm simply canceling my deductions for those two months. I'll lose the pretax savings, but I'd rather act now while I'm thinking about it than risk forgetting and end up with excess deductions that might be a hassle to recover.



DaveSchmidt said:

A heads-up to any commuters who, like me, pay for monthly passes with pretax paycheck deductions: The story says passes will be half-price (or so) for July and August. It doesn't say how much specifically for Maplewood or South Orange; while that info probably is, or will be, available somewhere, I'm simply canceling my deductions for those two months. I'll lose the pretax savings, but I'd rather act now while I'm thinking about it than risk forgetting and end up with excess deductions that might be a hassle to recover.

Good point!


I'm in the same boat with pretax monthly passes.  I wanted to check in with ADP to see if i can submit parking receipts for those months if i decide to drive in to Secaucus or Port Authority (with whatever monthly deduction is left over after the reduced NJT passes).  


I'm in the same boat with pretax monthly passes.  I wanted to check in with ADP to see if i can submit parking receipts for those months if i decide to drive in to Secaucus or Port Authority (with whatever monthly deduction is left over after the reduced NJT passes).  


Going through Hoboken on a normal day is generally fine.

Going through Hoboken when NYP trains are being diverted there generally sucks. Trains have to crawl/stop when approaching Hoboken due to the increased traffic, which can add 10-20 minutes, and then there's another logjam of people trying to get to the PATH. 

The only saving grace is that this is happening in July/August when presumably ridership is a bit lower with vacations and whatnot. And hopefully given the situation, more people will try to take more vacation and/or work from home. I know that's what I'll be doing.   


Time for some train problems in Essex County. 


Vic DeLuca just posted the following on Facebook:

Sheena Collum and I spoke to a NJ Transit government affairs representative and he is scheduling a meeting between Transit's Executive Director and us. Hope to get more elected officials on board in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Text of their letter is shown in my following post.



DaveSchmidt said:

A heads-up to any commuters who, like me, pay for monthly passes with pretax paycheck deductions: The story says passes will be half-price (or so) for July and August. It doesn't say how much specifically for Maplewood or South Orange; while that info probably is, or will be, available somewhere, I'm simply canceling my deductions for those two months. I'll lose the pretax savings, but I'd rather act now while I'm thinking about it than risk forgetting and end up with excess deductions that might be a hassle to recover.

While it may not affect me since I use a commuter card to buy discounted individual tickets to Hobokan (although this 50% off discount may cause me to get a monthly for at least one of the months) why would you just cancel instead of adjusting the recurring amount. My company uses ADP so I would only be able to adjust for August and not July but you should be able to do at least that. 



When my spouse occasionally ends up with excess funds, he applies it to our MyTix account.  Are we not supposed to do that?



wendy said:

While it may not affect me since I use a commuter card to buy discounted individual tickets to Hobokan (although this 50% off discount may cause me to get a monthly for at least one of the months) why would you just cancel instead of adjusting the recurring amount. My company uses ADP so I would only be able to adjust for August and not July but you should be able to do at least that. 

Because I was lazy and wanted to take care of it while I was thinking about it, rather than try to track down what the discounted pass would cost (according to the story, the percentages vary) and risk forgetting and missing the deadline for changing my order amount on June 10.

Even now that I feel the shame of my laziness, I can't find the discounted rate on the NJT website. Anybody else see the discounts listed anywhere?


I wound up doing the exact same thing, so don't feel too much shame.  I haven't seen any official pricing for July and August, so for me it was easier to cancel my Wage Works elections for those two months so I don't forget.  

DaveSchmidt said:



wendy said:

While it may not affect me since I use a commuter card to buy discounted individual tickets to Hobokan (although this 50% off discount may cause me to get a monthly for at least one of the months) why would you just cancel instead of adjusting the recurring amount. My company uses ADP so I would only be able to adjust for August and not July but you should be able to do at least that. 

Because I was lazy and wanted to take care of it while I was thinking about it, rather than try to track down what the discounted pass would cost (according to the story, the percentages vary) and risk forgetting and missing the deadline for changing my order amount on June 10.

Even now that I feel the shame of my laziness, I can't find the discounted rate on the NJT website. Anybody else see the discounts listed anywhere?




spol said:

I wound up doing the exact same thing, so don't feel too much shame.  I haven't seen any official pricing for July and August, so for me it was easier to cancel my Wage Works elections for those two months so I don't forget.  

Thanks, I appreciate this. In truth, a Phillies fan's shame was my rainy-day gift to a similarly suffering baseball friend.



sac said:

When my spouse occasionally ends up with excess funds, he applies it to our MyTix account.  Are we not supposed to do that?

Technically no. Since the pre-tax funds are to be used for commuting to work.



DaveSchmidt said:



wendy said:

While it may not affect me since I use a commuter card to buy discounted individual tickets to Hobokan (although this 50% off discount may cause me to get a monthly for at least one of the months) why would you just cancel instead of adjusting the recurring amount. My company uses ADP so I would only be able to adjust for August and not July but you should be able to do at least that. 

Because I was lazy and wanted to take care of it while I was thinking about it, rather than try to track down what the discounted pass would cost (according to the story, the percentages vary) and risk forgetting and missing the deadline for changing my order amount on June 10.

Even now that I feel the shame of my laziness, I can't find the discounted rate on the NJT website. Anybody else see the discounts listed anywhere?

My customer service friend tells me the tariffs have not been released yet.


I saw them on the website. They gave examples. I'll post when I get home. 


"Fare Discounts for M&E customers
M&E customers will receive about a 50 percent discount off the Hoboken fare, and will be able to utilize cross-honoring alternatives in Hoboken. This discount will be based on the origin and the destination of the M&E customer’s travel.

Examples: 
A customer who currently purchases a Gladstone to New York monthly pass pays $451. During the Amtrak repair work, Gladstone customers will pay $168 – 63 percent less.
A customer who currently purchases an East Orange to New York monthly pass pays $184. During the Amtrak repair work, East Orange customers will pay $72 – 61 percent"

From NJ transit under customer notices 


Finally, the details from NJT (just in time to update my WageWorks commuter transit order -- whew!  Don't forget, those of you to whom this also applies...):


Detailed summary:

http://njtransit-theupdate.com...

Schedule and fare info ($91/month for Maplewood):

http://www.njtransit.com/Admin...



Cross-posting this:

The best I can understand it, on weekdays from July 10 until Sept. 1, in the morning you can either go to Hoboken and take the PATH, or change at Broad Street to another line, which will take around :52 minutes. But, coming home, the only option is PATH. Do I have that right?

Also, will single tickets be discounted as well?



valley_girl said:

Cross-posting this:

The best I can understand it, on weekdays from July 10 until Sept. 1, in the morning you can either go to Hoboken and take the PATH, or change at Broad Street to another line, which will take around :52 minutes. But, coming home, the only option is PATH. Do I have that right?


Also, will single tickets be discounted as well?

If you go to Broad Street, you will have to take the light rail to Newark Penn and catch a NY Penn train from there. There will also be express buses from Broad Street to NY. You cannot catch a train at Broad Street to NY Penn.


@valley_girl Not exactly.  There are three am trains that will stop at Maplewood and go to NY Penn Station.  All three are very early am trains.  For the remainder of the am rush, there is no changing trains at Newark Broad Street because Montclair/Boonton trains will be bypassing that station.



valley_girl said:

Cross-posting this:

The best I can understand it, on weekdays from July 10 until Sept. 1, in the morning you can either go to Hoboken and take the PATH, or change at Broad Street to another line, which will take around :52 minutes. But, coming home, the only option is PATH. Do I have that right?


Also, will single tickets be discounted as well?

Yes, single tickets will be discounted as well. Click on fares with the above link and you'll see they're discounted too: daily, weekly and even reduced price (normally $3 one way for a Senior to Hoboken and now $1.50).


I just spent quite a long while on the phone with WageWorks, who supplies my ticket, trying to ascertain if they will change my payroll deduction to reflect the discounted fare. They say that normally they hear from transit companies about fare changes, but that they have not been contacted by NJT about this. Wonder how I can bring that about!!!


Do they supply your ticket or merely give you the pre-tax funds for you to order the ticket. My company uses ADP and I had a standing amount to be placed on my commuter card monthly (I buy a lot of individual tickets normally given the senior discount). To make a change or even delete that standing amount I have to notify them over 2 months in advance. Based on my assumptions prior to the actual fare being announced and my then surplus due to vacations, I edited my standing order to delete August. I have enough to pay for the discount July and August monthly  with what is there and the July contribution.


Wageworks sends me my ticket, and somehow handles the deduction from my paycheck with my employer. I am only now learning the new fare so could hardly have let them know 2mos ago.  

Seems like under the circumstances, some action could be taken to prevent the full fare amount from being deducted (or if it's too late, to put it back!).


Can you do the adjustment for September if they need two months notice? 



iwasmim said:

I just spent quite a long while on the phone with WageWorks, who supplies my ticket, trying to ascertain if they will change my payroll deduction to reflect the discounted fare. They say that normally they hear from transit companies about fare changes, but that they have not been contacted by NJT about this. Wonder how I can bring that about!!!

When I updated my WageWorks on Friday (deadline for me was 6/10) they had already updated the prices on their website to reflect the new monthly fare for July, so maybe you spoke to the wrong person there.  (ETA - I'm the same as you in that I get a monthly pass mailed to me about a week prior to the beginning of the month.)


Weirdbeard, thanks for that info -- I thought I remembered someone on here saying that their TRIP provider had automatically made the adjustment for them. I will hope for the best!


Alas, I have established that Wageworks did NOT catch that my NJT ticket for July should cost $91, not $227. They maintain that NJT should have informed them and claim that they did not.  Too late to change -- my fault, I suppose, but annoying nonetheless. 

Just one more exasperating aspect to this whole vexing episode.

Looking on the bright side, perhaps they'll figure out a way to refund it! 


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