STARTING SATURDAY: MORE SEATS, MORE FREQUENT SERVICE AND FASTER TRIPS ON HUDSON-BERGEN LIGHT RAIL

Major service enhancements take effect February 11

February 9, 2006
NJT-06-013

UNION CITY, NJ ¿ NJ TRANSIT will implement a series of service enhancements on Saturday, February 11, offering more seats and more frequent service to Hudson-Bergen Light Rail customers in advance of two new stations opening later this month. Service to the new stations¿Bergenline Avenue Station in Union City and Tonnelle Avenue Station in North Bergen¿will begin following a grand opening ceremony on Saturday, February 25.

The new service plan will provide light rail customers with faster trips between many station pairs, more frequent service throughout the day and increased seating capacity during the busiest times of the day, as follows:

  • Double seating capacity on most peak-period trips. During peak periods, HBLR will operate with almost all two-car trains, doubling the seating capacity for most trips. The two-car trains will enable NJ TRANSIT to keep pace with growing ridership¿up approximately 25 percent in the first quarter of FY2006 over the same period last year.
  • More frequent service. Peak-period service will increase to every five minutes, over today¿s six-minute intervals, for customers traveling within the core sections of the system. The frequency of departures from the endpoint terminals will increase to every 10 minutes from 12-minute intervals today. Starting February 11, stations north of Hoboken Terminal (2nd Street, 9th Street and Lincoln Harbor) will enjoy the same level of service as those to the south¿a train every 5-10 minutes¿up from every 15 minutes today.
  • Faster trips with new direct service bypassing Hoboken Terminal. Beginning February 11, HBLR will begin using a new service pattern with three connected routes:
    • 22nd Street (Bayonne)¿Hoboken Terminal
    • Lincoln Harbor (Weehawken)¿Hoboken Terminal
    • A new Lincoln Harbor (Weehawken)¿West Side Avenue (Jersey City) route, bypassing Hoboken Terminal

The new service pattern offers customers a faster, direct trip between stations north of Hoboken Terminal and those to the south by eliminating the need to change trains at Hoboken Terminal. The new route, which will extend to Tonnelle Avenue when the new stations open on February 25, will reduce trip times by 8-15 minutes for some customers.

New stations to open Saturday, February 25

The February 25 opening of the new stations in Union City and North Bergen will represent a major milestone in the growth of the five-year-old light rail system.

Bergenline Avenue Station, which serves the densely populated communities of Union City and West New York, is located within a tunnel that cuts through the Palisades.

Tonnelle Avenue Station, a 730-space park-and-ride facility located on the busy Route 1 & 9 corridor, will become the northern terminus of the light rail system. The new station will offer customers a convenient four-minute trip to the Port Imperial Ferry Terminal for trans-Hudson service, as well as access to the rest of the Hudson Waterfront.

February 25 will also mark the start of full service¿seven days a week¿to Port Imperial Station, which opened for weekend-only service on October 29, 2005.

About Hudson-Bergen Light Rail

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail provides more than 24,000 passenger trips on an average weekday between 20 stations in Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken. The system provides a vital link between waterfront destinations, NJ TRANSIT rail and bus routes, PATH trains and trans-Hudson ferry services.

The one-way adult fare on Hudson-Bergen Light Rail is $1.75. Discounted monthly passes are available for $53. Children, senior citizens and passengers with disabilities save 50 percent or more at all times. In addition, NJ TRANSIT customers holding a monthly or weekly rail pass, or a bus pass for two or more zones, can ride HBLR at no additional charge simply by displaying their pass.

For more information, visit

www.njtransit.com and click on "Light Rail Schedules."

About NJ TRANSIT

NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 800,000 daily trips on 240 bus routes, three light rail lines and 11 commuter rail lines. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 162 rail stations, 53 light rail stations and more than 17,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.