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A looming NJ Transit rail strike could upend the commutes of some 350,000 people starting Friday as engineers prepare for the first walkout in more than 40 years.
And the New Jersey public transportation corporation’s emergency backup plan won’t come close to filling the gap.
NJ Transit is already preparing for the walkout by urging as many people as possible to start working from home.
When will the strike take effect?
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen vowed a major rail strike by midnight Friday morning if their union does not reach a deal for better wages with NJ Transit, which has repeatedly claimed it cannot afford.
And for some NJ Transit riders, the potential strike is hitting even faster.
The NJ Transit announced earlier this week that it is nixing all bus and rail transportation to Shakira’s concerts scheduled for Thursday and Friday,
Since Thursday’s concert is already sold out, it could impact as many as 82,500 people, who will have to find other ways to get to the arena.
Depending on how long a strike drags on, it could also impact Beyoncé’s tour, as the popular singer is scheduled to play five shows at the Meadowlands starting on May 22.
What’s the backup plan?
As mediators in Washington try to push the two sides to reach a deal before Thursday, NJ Transit — the nation’s third largest transit system — announced it will provide an additional fleet of buses to assist rail commuters if a strike materializes.
Agency officials, however, admitted the buses would only accommodate about 20% of its daily riders, as each bus can only carry about 100 passengers as opposed to a train that can fit 1,000.
The charter buses will be running from four parking lots around the state to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and PATH train stations starting on May 19.
That means there will be no additional routes running on the first day of the strike.
NJ Transit has issued a warning on its website about the projected impacts to commuters, noting that the additional bus rides will operate on a “first come, first served basis.”
“NJ TRANSIT strongly encourages all those who can work from home to do so and limit traveling on the NJ TRANSIT system to essential purposes only,” the agency wrote.
Along with the additional bus routes, the MTA has said it will be cross-honoring tickets for West-of-Hudson commuters, with NJ Transit set to add more buses to certain New York routes close to rail stations during peak hours of the work week.
Amtrak, PATCO, SEPTA, the ferry and other private carrier buses will not be cross-honoring, NJ Transit warned.
What is causing the potential strike?
The last New Jersey transit strike lasted for about three weeks in 1983 before a compromise was reached.
While the union and NJ Transit have made progress on their contract dispute, workers are still demanding the agency meet their wage increase to match those of other major railroad engineers.
NJ Transit head Kris Kolluri claimed the agency agreed to bump the wages from an average salary of $135,000 to $170,000, but the union claims those numbers were inflated and not what was put on the table during the heated negotiations.
The union also noted that its workers currently only earn an average salary of $113,000, including overtime, with the workers’ hourly earnings about $10 lower than those at the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
“We have sought nothing more than equal pay for equal work, only to be continuously rebuffed by New Jersey Transit,” union general chairman Tom Haas told reporters last week.
Kolluri, however, maintains that the agency does not have the money to meet the workers’ demands.
“I cannot keep giving money left and right to solve a problem,” Kolluri recently said. “It all comes down to, who is going to pay for this? Money does not grow on trees.”
NJ Transit has suffered mightily from the pandemic dropoff in riders. Last year, it increased fares by 15% — the first hike in nearly a decade.
The transit corporation is also facing a fiscal cliff. It’s 2025 budget relies on nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars from federal pandemic funds. That money dries up in 2026, and NJ Transit is facing a $767 million budget hole, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, says all options are on the table if a strike occurs, including declaring a state of emergency.
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