CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION IMPLEMENTS IMPROVED TICKET VENDING MACHINE TECHNOLOGY
Customers will experience smoother transactions system-wide by the end of 2013
February 14, 2013
NJT-13-009
NEWARK, NJ — In concert with the Christie Administration’s Scorecard initiative designed to improve the overall customer experience, NJ TRANSIT Executive Director James Weinstein today announced the expansion of new ticket vending machine (TVM) technology into Newark Penn Station kicking off a system-wide rollout that will provide smoother ticket purchase transactions for NJ TRANSIT customers at all 674 terminals system wide by the end of the year.
In January 2012, NJ TRANSIT became the first transit agency in North America to introduce Bank Note Recycler (BNR) technology which allows the machines to dispense change in the form of paper bills—ones, fives, tens and twenties—instead of dollar coins.
“We’ve heard from customers at our ‘We Are Listening’ forums that they dislike receiving large amounts of one-dollar coins as change,” said Weinstein. “We have listened to their concerns, and by equipping our ticket vending machines with this new technology, we will further improve the ticket purchasing experience for our customers while also reducing cash handling costs for NJ TRANSIT.” Once fully implemented, the technology is expected to generate an annual cost savings of $1.2 million per year.
Over the last year, NJ TRANSIT has been conducting the pilot program to test this technology at three terminals—one at New York Penn Station, one at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and another on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system. Today, NJ TRANSIT completed final lab testing of its full production models, marking the conclusion of the pilot period.
Evaluation of the pilot found it to be successful, particularly in terms of high customer satisfaction. Dispensing paper bills also offers operational benefits to NJ TRANSIT, such as reducing the amount of service intervals required to keep terminals replenished with coins and bill notes, in keeping with Scorecard’s focus on efficiency and corporate accountability.
Starting today, NJ TRANSIT expanded BNR technology to four terminals at Newark Penn Station, followed by an additional four machines on February 15, and another four on February 18. The remaining TVMs at Newark Penn Station will be equipped with BNR technology early in March.
Deployment of this new technology will then continue with all TVMs at New York Penn Station, Port Authority Bus Terminal and George Washington Bus Terminal this spring. Equipping the remainder of its TVM fleet with BNR technology will be completed by the end of 2013.
A video demonstration of the BNR technology can be found on NJ TRANSIT’s YouTube channel, located at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCRBoBrvhjE
About NJ TRANSIT
NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 895,000 weekday trips on 261 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the second largest transit system in the country with 164 rail stations, 61 light rail stations and more than 19,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.