In concert with Gov. Chris Christie Administration’s Scorecard initiative designed to improve the overall customer experience, New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) Executive Director James Weinstein 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.
Over the last year, NJ Transit has been conducting the pilot program to test this technology at three terminals — New York Penn Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system. The agency has now 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.
NJ Transit has now expanded BNR technology to four terminals at Newark Penn Station, followed by an additional four machines later this week and another four early next week. The remaining TVMs at Newark Penn Station will be equipped with BNR technology early in March.
To view a video demonstration, click here.