In the 13 months that NJ Transit’s new CEO has ahead of him, Kris Kolluri said he has a list of items that are frequent rider complaints about the agency’s trains, buses and stations.
Kolluri would know. He rode the Northeast Corridor line as CEO of the Gateway Development Commission and is still commuting on it as NJ Transit’s boss. And he has a realistic view of what he can get done.
“When I say customer service, reliability and safety, I’m not saying the entire system and all the problems that exist,” Kolluri said after Wednesday’s board of directors meeting. “What I’m saying is that there are one or two or three things we can move the needle is on.”
Those three are clear windows, cleanliness and consistent, more detailed information for riders, he said.
Clear windows
Kolluri is determined to address the cloudy windows that have frustrated riders of the agency’s multilevel trains for years. The windows are being replaced and Kolluri wants all the opaque glass gone.
“My personal obsession is windows on Multilevel cars,” Kolluri said. “Within next 20 day plus days I intend to have a plan.”
This plan would accelerate the replacement of all 15,015 windows needed for the entire 429-car multilevel fleet, ensuring a better riding experience for passengers.
Better information
Kolluri wants better information for riders that tell them what they want to know when trains are delayed. Riders shouldn’t get contradictory information between the NJ Transit app and displays on station platforms, he said.
That is highlighted by Penn Station New York riders who’ve complained about the meaning of some announcements on video screens, such as “stand by.” One rail commuter joked “I’ve been standing by for 15 minutes” when interviewed.
“For me, it’s important when someone looks at the app and is standing on the platform and that message they get is identical,” he said. “It’s our obligation to say the train will be late by this many minutes and the reason why.”
Cleanliness
Finally, he’d like riders to have cleaner buses, trains and stations. Social media is ripe with photos and passenger complaints ranging from trash to extreme complaints of roach sightings on some buses, showing the need.
“Cleanliness is something I obsess about … you’ll hear more about it next week,” Kolluri said.
His concept is focusing first on the “gateway” stations used by the most passengers. Some visible improvements have already been made, including replacing lights in a dim Newark Penn Station corridor with brighter lighting.
Other ideas will come from collaborating with NJ Transit’s new customer advocate Franck Beaumin, who made recommendations last month based on customer feedback. Kolluri said he met with Beaumin and toured Penn Station New York with him.
“You want to do what you can to make the life of the customer better, focusing on incremental programs, prove to them that transit is listening and doing something,” he said.
“You can do that when you work in a collaborative manner with front line people like Franck who listen to the customers,” Kolluri said.
That doesn’t mean the big stuff is on the back burner. The agency needs 250 new rail cars and 1,000 new buses, Kolluri said. They would replace aging single level trains and urban Transit style buses that were bought in the previous decade.
That takes money and there are concerns about the future of federal funding, which NJ Transit counts on for major purchases such as new buses and trains and for major construction projects
In late January, the Trump administration announced it was freezing $3 trillion in grant funding which was later rescinded on Jan. 29. Typically agencies like NJ Transit and the state front the money for projects that have received federal funding over the course of several years and are reimbursed for the work.
“We get $300 million a month reimbursement from the federal government, that will continue for the moment,” Kolluri said. “The White House said that (freeze) does not apply to grants already funded.”
While he called that good news, what officials don’t know is what happens in the next year, he said.
“That is a real consequence for us,” he said to NJ Transits board of directors Wednesday. “All the work that (former CEO) Kevin Corbett and you’ve done will be challenged deeply.”
According to the fiscal year 2025 state budget, which starts on July 1 and ends on June 30 2025, federal aid makes up $842 million of NJ Transit’s $1.679 billion capital program
“Someone asked me what’s my plan B,” Kolluri said. “There is no plan B if we don’t get funding from the federal government.”
That mirrors a larger concern by the Murphy administration as it drafted the fiscal year 2026 state budget.
New Jersey is currently facing a $3.7 billion structural deficit as Gov. Phil Murphy, three sources with direct knowledge of the spending plan told NJ Advance Media. The administration and legislative leaders are now scrambling to find ways to reduce that deficit before Murphy delivers his budget address Feb. 25.
Murphy asked state agencies to prepare for 5% spending reductions in the upcoming 2026 fiscal-year budget.
Stories by Larry Higgs
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @CommutingLarry