Now that the American Dream mall has partially opened, NJ Transit has begun its search for new ways to get people to and from the Meadowlands mega-complex and events at neighboring MetLife Stadium.

NJ Transit held an Innovation Challenge event on Thursday morning at the Meadowlands which included more than 140 attendees from 54 private and public companies to pitch possible solutions, according to a release from the public transportation giant.

“Transportation is critical to the success of any major destination, and the Meadowlands is one of the premiere entertainment venues on the East Coast,” NJDOT Commissioner and NJ Transit Board Chair Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said in a statement. “The ideas discussed here are very exciting, and I look forward to implementing the innovative projects that saw their genesis today.”

Participants in Thursday’s event included construction, engineering, manufacturing and planning firms; on-demand transportation providers; colleges and universities and public transportation agencies, according to the release.

Although NJ Transit did not specifically cite any of the ideas discussed at the event, ideas have been publicly pitched in the past to meet peak capacity requirements between the Secaucus Junction station, American Dream, which will have 20,000 employees and is expected to have 40 million visitors a year, and games and concerts at the stadium.

A 2012 transit plan by consultants Parsons Brinkerhoff calls for one-third of American Dream customers to forego their cars for transit and Gov. Phil Murphy talked in May about putting a “magnetic levitation monorail” in service to and from American Dream.

A “request for expressions of interest” was expected to be issued in the “coming weeks” by NJ Transit for potential partners to propose project ideas that include designs, management structure and the financial resources that would be utilized, the release stated.

“We are looking at all possible solutions to get our customers to and from the Meadowlands, not just the existing rail, light rail and bus technologies we currently operate,” NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett said in a statement. “The goal at today’s ‘Innovation Challenge’ is to bring new ideas and modes of transportation to the table not just for the Meadowlands, but new solutions and methods with the potential to transform mass transit in the Garden State.”

On Monday night, the convergence of people visiting American Dream and fans attending the Giants-Cowboys game at MetLife Stadium did not have a major impact on NJ Transit, but some told NJ Advance Media they feared that it could in the future. Monday was the first time a major event was held at the stadium since the mall opened.

Right now the mall only has two major attractions, Nickelodeon Universe and The Rink, an NHL regulation-sized ice rink. However it will eventually include a waterpark later this month, ski slope in December, and 350 stores, 100 restaurants and more in March 2020.

See more of our ongoing coverage of the American Dream mega-mall here.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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