New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an Executive Order requiring NJ TRANSIT rail performance metrics to be shared with the public monthly through the agency’s website.

The measure is viewed as a step forward in providing transparency and accountability for commuters by Gov. Murphy, and comes in the wake of an independent audit of the agency’s operations ordered by him, which was released in October 2018.

“Improving communication with customers has been among the most important objectives in our efforts to improve NJ TRANSIT performance, safety, and reliability,” said Gov. Murphy. “The step we’re taking today requiring performance metrics to be released monthly will give rail commuters the information they need to make informed decisions and provide accountability to the public in real time.”

The key performance metrics contained in the monthly releases will include the total number of cancellations each month and a listing of the specific types of cancellations, on-time rail performance, and mean distance between failures of each NJ TRANSIT line, and other information that the Commissioner of Transportation deems appropriate to inform commuters of commuter rail performance.

“We’ve taken aggressive measures to address recruiting, infrastructure needs, and languishing capital projects. As a result, we are rapidly restoring the depleted ranks of employees and seeing improved performance that indicates we’ve turned a corner. But make no mistake, we still have a lot of ground to make up,” added NJ TRANSIT President/CEO Kevin Corbett. “Increased transparency and improved metrics will hold our organization accountable at all times.”

NJ TRANSIT will provide the public with a uniform progress report beginning with data from October 2019, to be released in November 2019. The release will also include historical month-by-month information dating back to January 2017.