Bikes on NJ TRANSIT now a leading transportation issue

After breaking the story here about NJ TRANSIT's policy change that no longer allows bicyclists to board or de-board NJ TRANSIT trains at low-level stations, nearly 300 of you signed our petition asking NJDOT Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman James S. Simpson to overturn this new restriction.

According to an article from this past Sunday's edition of the Record about the NJ Bike and Walk Summit, Commission Simpson has heard your voices and is now keenly aware of the hardships this new policy is causing bicyclists particularly in Bergen and Passaic Counties where few train stations have high-level platform stations:

At NJ Transit’s Feb. 8 board meeting, Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson said his office had been bombarded with letters from bikers. He directed the agency’s advisory committee – the North Jersey Transportation Advisory Committee – to review the policy and provide recommendations to the full board.

 It would also seem that our friends at the Voorhees Transportation Center have been tasked with trying to find a solution that would be amenable to both cyclists and the safety concerns of NJ TRANSIT.  In an email on Monday, staff members of VTC asked if select members of the bike/ped advocacy community if any of us had any ideas of how to solve this problem.  I believe that there is a possible solution and responded immediately with an in-depth examination of the problem with a possible simple solution.

More to follow as we at WalkBikeJersey will follow this story until its resolved.