NJ TRANSIT has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to explore new customer communication technologies to improve the delivery of real-time service information and system updates across its communications channels.

The agency is seeking input from companies that provide real-time transit communications systems as part of an effort to enhance the customer experience and modernize how riders receive service alerts, travel information, and system status updates.

By studying the most current available technologies in the industry, NJ TRANSIT will better understand existing capabilities to inform the scope of work for a forthcoming procurement process.

NJ TRANSIT said the effort will ultimately lead to a unified customer communications platform that leverages modern technology to increase the accuracy, efficiency, timeliness, and consistency of customer communications across the statewide transit system.

“Like systems at many companies and agencies around the globe, NJ TRANSIT’s customer communication tools were developed over decades, often as independent, disparate systems. This requires significant manual intervention across multiple systems to provide the most consistent, up-to-date information,” NJ TRANSIT President/CEO Kris Kolluri said. “Technology solutions exist today that make it possible for us to deliver consistently accurate, unified, real-time information to customers, regardless of the communication channel our customers rely on for information. We are committed to delivering a solution for our customers that transforms the way we communicate travel information.”

NJ TRANSIT’s RFI

The RFI asks companies to share information regarding commercially available platforms, custom-developed systems, and innovative ways to integrate these systems using Artificial Intelligence and other tools to provide customers with a single source of accurate and timely information regarding train and bus status, across multiple platforms, including NJ TRANSIT’s mobile app, website, email and text alerts, digital station signage, and more.

Currently, NJ TRANSIT disseminates customer communications through multiple systems, including:

• Station and onboard digital signage.
• DepartureVision and MyBus systems.
• Mobile applications.
• Websites and microsites.
• SMS and push notifications.
• Email alerts.
• Social media platforms.
• Real-time data feeds and third-party data feeds.
• Public address and operational messaging systems.

The RFI advances the ongoing modernization and unifies these systems into an authoritative source that provides accurate, up-to-date information to customers consistently and simultaneously across all communication channels, said the agency.

The new platform will be capable of supporting real-time operational communications, improving consistency and speed of customer messaging, and enhancing accessibility and multilingual communications. The agency also seeks to build the new system in a way that can readily be updated and expanded to accommodate growth and future needs.

What’s Next

The RFI is being issued solely for informational purposes to enable NJ TRANSIT to study and develop the best solution or solutions for its needs at a reasonable cost. The deadline for submissions is September 17, 2026.

The agency plans to host an industry day in August for interested parties, providing an overview of the project, process, and timeline. Once that process is completed, the agency will commence a more formal procurement process. NJ TRANSIT expects to award a final contract to create the new system in 2027, said officials.

The Unified Customer Communications System project follows on the heels of NJ TRANSIT’s launch of a completely redesigned mobile app and a $3 billion Fleet Modernization program, in which the agency approved the purchase of 374 new Multilevel III train cars to replace its aging fleet fully, and since 2018, has received more than 1,000 new buses with authorization to purchase 1,400 additional buses. The fleet is expected to be fully modernized by 2031, for the first time in NJ TRANSIT’s 40-year history.