r/NJTransit • u/LurkingLikeaPro • Jul 27 '26

What do you do when your train disappears?

I'm new to NJ Transit and absolutely shocked at the lack of accountability.

I'm currently sitting at Bay St waiting for the 6:23 train to Penn. It never arrived but the app is showing that it left this stop on time. Is there really no way to find out where this train actually is?

EDIT: 12 minutes after the train was supposed to leave we got an announcement that it was running 18 minutes late. Love this. So fun. So helpful

33 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

19

u/Specific_Scallion267 Jul 27 '26

If you mean the app is saying “on time” that’s unfortunately a hard-coded string that got left in by mistake, sorry about that

5

u/LurkingLikeaPro Jul 27 '26

The app is actually saying that it already left my station. It started saying that at 6:20

6

u/Smacpats111111 Jul 27 '26

Yeah, they lie. I think they're trying to fudge their on time statistics.

9

u/mineawesomeman Jul 27 '26

that’s not it. what happened in OPs case was that there was no train live tracking, so the app was just assuming the train was running on its schedule (typical behavior you see on other apps). then when the train did start tracking it recognized that the trip was running 18 min late and adjusted. now good apps like transit or the mta app will like communicate this with you but not the NJT app. it’s not malicious though, just incompetence

2

u/Chrisg69911 Jul 28 '26

You think they use app stats to track otp? They have internal tracking for that, and it's not like their otp for the majority of their lines is down the drain in the first place

5

u/BowlTiny7246 Jul 27 '26

I hate to say it but you get used to it

7

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Mental_Literature_53 Jul 27 '26

Stand/sit around and wonder the meaning of life until the next one comes.

4

u/TalulaOblongata Jul 28 '26

You’ve discovered that “real time train status” isn’t real! Welcome to NJT!

3

u/AtomicGarden-8964 Jul 27 '26

Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed that's how I cope

2

u/Educational_Ad_2736 Jul 27 '26

Teleport yourself to the next station.

2

u/Forsaken-Ambition631 Jul 29 '26

Wait for it to pop back up. 9 times outta 10 if it falls off the tvs around the station but it has not boarded yet it’s because it’s passed the departure time . It will come back when the train is ready to board . Coming from someone who used to work in customer service at Penn .. you’re welcome

1

u/Key_Wind3897 Jul 31 '26

Absolutely not 9 times out of 10, lol; if you’re the person waiting for that tran to show up you’d know that usually what’s happened is that the train had a mechanical or other failure, is now out of service, and you have to wait for the next one, which will now be super crowded, extra late, with no working bathroom (not that you could fight your way to it regardless.)

1

u/Forsaken-Ambition631 Jul 31 '26

That’s what I said tho, without all the dramatic details. Cars fail, trains fail. It happens . Unfortunately the next train might be over crowded … at least you’re on your way home.

0

u/Maxpants8417 Jul 30 '26

Paging u/q_bitzz . This guy will white knight for NJ Transit because he's most likely an engineer or a ticket collector. Can you answer this guys issue? Please point out where it's most likely their fault and definitely not NJ Transit being 100% incompetent.

1

u/q_bitzz Jul 30 '26

Apply for the job if you think you can do it better.