NJ Transit strike appears ever more likely ahead of midnight deadline: ‘It’s going to be ugly’

NJ Transit riders are facing massive service disruptions as the system barrels like a runaway train toward Thursday’s midnight deadline to avoid its first major rail strike in over 40 years.

The Garden State-owned rail service has already festooned stations with screaming-red signage warning of deep service cuts starting at midnight Friday if contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union fall through.

Deep rail service cuts will start at midnight Friday if contract negotiations with NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union fall through. Christopher Sadowski

“CRITICAL SERVICE ADVISORY: Due to a potential rail stoppage, NJ Transit strongly advises all train customers to complete their travels and arrive at their final destination no later than 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, May 15th,” reads one sign on a TV monitor at Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Commuters told The Post they’re already trying to figure out alternatives to public transit should the strike still happen — and the options are rough on the pocketbook.

NJ resident Lisa Monroe, 53, who works in media, said working for home is not an option for her, and that driving back and forth to the city five days a week will add up to around $425 a week, not including gas.

“Honestly I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said, noting she’s already considering what expenses she can reduce on to make it work.

“We have to spend more money on getting to work, just to commute, and your salary is not going to match. My salary is not going to go out with the additional $85 or more a day because of a strike. I have to cut back.”

In spite of this, Monroe said she had sympathy for the NJ Transit workers walking off the job.

“I don’t want to blame the workers for going on strike, but it’s a hardship for me.”

NJ Transit is already warning travelers to prepare for service disruptions ahead of Friday’s labor negotiation deadline. AP

Commuter Maritza Moreira, 37, who works in construction, said she’s thinking about staying with her mother in the city with her 9-month-old daughter and her husband, who also works in New York, though it might be cramped quarters, she said.

“I have reached my limits. It’s getting more and more frustrating everyday. The train was extremely late today and I just don’t understand why. People are paying, they’re packed and now they’re talking about a strike. I just can’t understand about the money. The tickets aren’t getting cheaper. The prices went up so I don’t see where it’s going,” she said.

Moreira said she’s even considering fleeing the Garden State and moving to the South — in part due to frustration with the trains. She works from home three days a week but is hoping to convince her employer to up it to five days.

With only hours to go until the deadline, the impact could be felt by riders as soon as midnight Thursday.

“There are no replacement workers, and it’s definitely going to involve interruptions in service — NJ Transit is being very clear about that,” Micah Rasmussen, Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics and a former communications director for ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevy told The Post.

“It’s not as if service can just be cobbled together on a shoestring, and they know that. I think it’s going to be ugly,” Rasmussen said of a possible rail strike, though he said he was hopeful the negotiations — which saw the sides meet in Washington, DC, this week, will bear fruit.

“It sounds like there is a possible ray of hope there. We’ll see. We’ll know by midnight.”

A source familiar with the ongoing discussions between NJ Transit and the union told The Post that although there had been setbacks, there’s also “been some real bargaining going on,” but that “whether they have enough time to get it done remains to be seen.”

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers general chairman Tom Haas said during negotiations on Wednesday that he was “optimistic” an agreement can be reached, the source said.

NJ Transit announced on Monday it was preemptively cutting bus and rail service to MetLife Stadium Thursday and Friday due to the possible strike, where Shakira will be performing to an audience of tens of thousands.

Thursday’s concert is sold out, meaning the strikes could impact thousands of the stadium’s 82,500 capacity crowd depending how many were planning on taking public transit.