NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit is urging customers to work from home if possible and limit travel on its system to “essential purposes only” in the event of a strike by locomotive engineers, which could come as soon as Friday, May 16.
The transit agency today (April 30) released a contingency plan for a potential strike, which would shut down commuter rail service, including Metro-North’s west of Hudson operation. With NJ Transit estimating its bus network can only accommodate about 20% of regular rail passengers, the agency says it will focus its resources on the more than 70,000 New York-bound customers, including those who use NJ Transit to connect to PATH rail lines at Hoboken and Newark Penn Station.
“While the NJ Transit team is doing everything possible to provide alternative travel options in the event of a stoppage, our focus remains on preventing one altogether,” CEO Kris Kolluri said in a press release. “I have met with union leadership several times and will continue to negotiate in good faith, because a strike isn’t good for employees, and it certainly isn’t good for the 350,000 customers who depend on us every day.”
Agency efforts will include regional park-and-ride operations at four locations beginning Monday, May 19 lots, and increased peak-period bus service on 18 routes in close proximity to rail stations. Details on those plans are available here.
Other bus services, as well as NJ Transit’s three light rail lines, and the Access Link paratransit program, will continue to operate on normal schedules. NJ Transit cautions Access Link uses to anticipate longer travel times because of increased traffic and more passengers in vehicles.
NJ Transit and members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are currently in a cooling-off period after the BLET voted down a tentative agreement earlier this month [see “NJ Transit engineers reject contract,” Trains News Wire, April 15, 2025]. That ends at 12:01 a.m. on May 15.
Each side now has a web page reporting its version of the impasse that has left engineers without a contract since 2019. The BLET’s page is here; NJ Transit’s page is here.
