NEWARK, N.J. — With a potential strike or lockout now less than 24 hours away, NJ Transit is urging customers to reach travel destinations by midnight tonight in order to avoid being stranded at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 16.
In a customer advisory posted today (Thursday, May 15), the agency — the nation’s third-largest public transit system — reiterated plans and warnings issued last month [see “NJ Transit releases contingency plan …,” Trains News Wire, April 30, 2025]. While it is planning for expanded bus service along rail-served communities and has organized park-and-ride locations, the advisory cautions that those plans can only serve about 20% of the 350,000 daily rail riders.
Metro-North Railroad and Port Authority Trans-Hudson rail service have also outlined contingency plans [see “Strike threat remains …,” News Wire, May 13, 2025].
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he is “hoping for the best but preparing for the worst” as the strike deadline approaches, NJ.com reports. Murphy, on a public radio call-in show, said he is “personally deeply involved” in the efforts to resolve the long-running dispute between NJ Transit and its engineers.
The two sides reached a tentative agreement in April, but it was voted down by members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen [see “NJ Transit engineers reject …,” News Wire, April 15, 2025]. That set in motion a 30-day cooling off period that expires Friday morning. Murphy said engineers had turned down “a very good deal with a significant amount more income,” but also said the sides have met daily this week and planned to do so again today.
According to NJ.com, the sides say they have reached agreement on 95% of contract issues, but wages remain the sticking point, as they have been since the last contract expired for the approximately 460 BLET members in 2019. The union has said its members are the lowest paid among comparable U.S. commuter rail operations, while NJ Transit has sought contract terms in line with those approved by all of the agency’s other rail unions. (Each side has posted its own “fact sheet” about the dispute: NJ Transit’s is here, while the BLET’s is here.)
A BLET Facebook post today says the union is “hopeful for a fair resolution.” NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolleri said after a mediation session in Washington on Monday that the discussion was “constructive,” but that the agency would not share any additional details “to respect the collective bargaining process.”
If a strike or lockout occurs, it will be the first NJ Transit work stoppage since 1983. In 2016, the agency was little more than 24 hours from a strike by SMART-TD members when it reached a settlement.
That is precisely what the workers have been saying, for better or worse, as stated in the Trains article.
If they were to honest about it, the workers would say, “I want more of your money! And, I want it now!”