NJT
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Aug. 15 announced a transit fare holiday for all NJT riders from Aug. 26 through Sept. 2, 2024, according to the transit agency. During this period, fares will be waived for all bus, rail and light rail transit services. The free rides are “a ‘Thank You’ to the hundreds of thousands of loyal customers who depend on public transit,” NJT said.
Monthly pass holders who have already purchased an August pass, which covers travel through the end of the month, will automatically receive a 25% discount on their September monthly pass purchase through the mobile app, at Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs), or at ticket windows, according to NJT.
“The fare holiday is a way to express the sincere appreciation for customers’ continued loyalty and patronage, particularly during a time when transit service has not consistently met their expectations—or our own,” NJT reported. The agency said it “recognizes the impacts these service issues have had over the past few months and remains committed to improving the travel experience for transit customers.”
“While the root causes of these incidents have not yet been identified, significant short-term actions have already been taken and there has been noteworthy progress,” NJT said on Aug. 15. The agency’s personnel have increased equipment inspections on platforms and Amtrak has stepped up efforts in inspecting and repairing catenary, track signal systems, and substations along the NEC, continued NJT, noting that such “collaborative efforts have already led to a noticeable decrease in infrastructure-related incidents.”
“Additional longer-term actions to address state-of-good-repair of Amtrak infrastructure include adding resources to increase testing of transformers in substations and evaluating opportunities to expand work windows with service adjustments to accelerate repairs and upgrades,” NJT reported. “In addition, NJT is working with Amtrak to support overall capital renewal by pursuing additional grants to expedite the replacement of catenary, substations, and transmission and signal lines, through the Fed-State Partnership Grant Program.”
Also, NJT on Aug. 15 said it “recognizes that the River LINE light rail service has not been meeting its performance standards over the last several week,” and implemented a supplemental bus plan as an interim measure “to improve service reliability and predictability for customers traveling on weekdays.” At the same time, it said, “we are holding NJT’s contracted operator accountable to expedite necessary repairs and upgrades to the light rail vehicles to restore reliable weekday light rail service as quickly as possible.”
LACMTA
LACMTA on Aug. 15 celebrated surpassing 40 million student boardings and more than 400,000 registered students using the free fare student GoPass for unlimited travel to school, work, and leisure activities.
GoPass participants can take unlimited free rides on LACMTA rail and bus, AVTA, City of Commerce Transit, Culver CityBus, Foothill Transit, Glendale Beeline, GTrans, LADOT DASH, LA County Shuttles, Long Beach Transit, Lynwood Trolley, Montebello Bus, Norwalk Transit, Pasadena Transit, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and Torrance Transit.
All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) offer GoPass to their students along with schools in 124 additional participating school districts (including public districts, charter networks, community colleges). Participating schools distribute TAP cards and activation codes to students; students also have the option of using a virtual TAP card on the TAP LA App.
The free fare program, launched in October 2021, was made permanent by the LACMTA Board in April 2024 after a successful two-and-a-half-year pilot, according to the transit agency.
“Transportation needs shouldn’t get in the way of any student’s education,” Los Angeles Supervisor and LACMTA Board Chair Janice Hahn said. “For many students and their families across LA County, the free Metro rides through our GoPass program has made all the difference.”
“GoPass has introduced nearly a half million students to transit, so they feel confident riding it to school, or wherever they need or want to go,” LACMTA CEO Stephanie Wiggins said. “These young people are helping Metro [LACMTA] grow its student ridership and realizing all the benefits that a safe, clean, and efficient transit system can deliver for them and their communities. We look forward to welcoming even more students onto our system in the coming school year.”
