NJ Transit commuters say they’re feeling the heat this summer, calling it the worst since a 2017 Amtrak project at Penn Station in New York displaced 25% of NJT’s trains.

The agency was praised for how it handled the displacement of 15,000 daily riders to Hoboken in 2017, which some politicians dubbed the “summer of hell.” Amtrak track projects in 2018 and this year are smaller in scope. But the majority of the 26 commuters who responded to our questions said 2019 conditions are worse due to canceled trains and severe overcrowding.

“In more than 25 years of commuting, these are the worst conditions I have seen,” said Betsy Antunes, who drives 28 miles from Hunterdon County to take a Morris & Essex train from Summit. “When colleagues considering purchasing a house in the suburbs ask (me), I have to tell (them) a commute that relies upon NJ Transit might not be the best choice.”

Conditions commuters endure are shown in photos and videos regularly posted on social media by those exasperated with paying three figures for monthly passes that barely get them a place to stand, never mind a seat.

@elonmusk this is how humans in NJ transit to NYC daily in the year 2020 pic.twitter.com/QSdiU9kmie — J. Bernard Sullivan (@bsully4real) June 17, 2019

“I’m giving up hope that anything will change at this point,” said Matt Collins, a Raritan Valley Line commuter for 19 years. “The last few years has been a steady decline in service, to the point where I no longer read the schedules. I check the app to see how late (or how cancelled) my trains are.”

NJ Transit officials admit the summer had a rough start blamed on delay-causing Amtrak infrastructure problems in June. That spilled over into July after a work train caught fire on the Northeast Corridor line during rush hour. But officials said they’ve reduced the number of canceled and delayed trains.

“When comparing January–July 2018 to the same time period in 2019, cancellations are down approximately 28%,” said Jim Smith, an NJ transit spokesman. “The 14-day period from July 24–August 6, cancellations are down 59% from the first 14 days in July.”

Legislators in both parties said they’ve want answers to commuter’s complaints.

State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, said she has requested both a short-term plan, by Labor Day, on how NJ Transit plans to solve issues and a long-range plan on a timetable to implement those solutions.

Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, R-Union, spoke to NJ Transit’s board in July 2018 on behalf of commuters. Not much appears to have changed, she said.

“People are just as unhappy. They can’t get home, they can’t get to work (on-time). I don’t see any difference,” Munoz said. “It’s not any better.”

Weinberg and Munoz said they’re running out of patience with Gov. Phil Murphy and his team.

“Gov. Murphy campaigned on a promise to fix NJ Transit and he has not fixed NJ Transit,” Munoz said. “We have to relieve passengers of their suffering.”

Munoz co-sponsored a bill requiring NJ Transit to refund fares for rail or light rail delays of one hour or more due to a mechanical failure. The bill is still in the Assembly Transportation Committee.

In past statements, Murphy blamed what he said was the Chris Christie administration’s underinvestment in transit and expressed hope that commuters would see a difference by the end of 2019.

NJ Transit officials have blamed many cancellations on an engineers shortage. They expect canceled trains to ease after three more locomotive engineer classes graduate over the next five months, Smith said. A June spike in cancelations was due to union locomotive engineers who refused to work on relief days, their equivalent to a weekend, to protest an alleged contract violation.

The agency is also banking on delivery of the first of 17 new dual-powered locomotives starting in 2020 and purchase of 113 new electric powered multi-level rail cars approved last December, to replace its aging fleet, Smith said.

Meanwhile, riders said their employers have run out of patience with excuses about tardy trains and delayed buses as reasons for lateness.

It’s offical



The ‘NJ Transit made me late excuse’ has officially expired with my boss



Now I have to take a 30 minute earlier train because mine never gets me there on time#NJTransit — Real NJ Transit Alerts (@Real_NJT_Alerts) July 31, 2019

“Last year’s ‘summer of hell’ was a breeze for me,” said Dan Issacs of Monroe, who takes a North Jersey Coast Line train from South Amboy to New York. “This year it’s much more hellish…canceled trains, unexplained delays, unavailable equipment.”

A few people we spoke with said they didn’t feel this summer was as bad as past summers of hell. Allison Waldman said she has a “relatively smooth” commute from South Orange to Hoboken, compared to past summers.

And, some commuters said they have hacks they rely on when taking NJ Transit -- like taking the earliest trains possible. But, the experience has pushed some to the brink.

“We are looking to move back into Manhattan when our lease expires because of our experience with NJ Transit from Millburn to and from New York (during) the last two years,” said Christine Hope, a Morris & Essex line commuter. “We are constantly late to work, even when we take earlier trains. It's become too much.”

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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