Dunellen to Westfield Bus and idiot at Bound Brook

In case you didn't know, NJT is substituting trains with buses between Dunellen and Westfield this weekend to replace a bridge at Plainfield. I went railfanning at Bound Brook to see these trains on a modified schedule and some idiot comes and starts cursing at the conductor because he had "waited 40 minutes for a train to Newark", on camera The conductor explained to him that they were substituting buses and that the information was on the website. The customer responds with something like "I checked on all the websites and nothing was there" and proceeds to curse at the conductor and kick a bottle. He ended up not taking the train and wasting the money he paid (that is, if he bought a ticket) and the train left without him.

Also in the video is a deadhead that happens to be running with the wrong lights! The engineer switches the correct lights on a second after I start recording.

The "idiot" may have been right about the information not being posted on the website. I checked on Thursday and there was no notice about substitute bus service this weekend. Only Friday afternoon did it appear.

If NJ Transit cared about its passengers, it would just run bus only on a predictable schedule between Westfield and Raritan and a reliable connection, rather than making passengers make 3 connections [train to bus, bus to train, train to train in Newark] just to get to NYC. Better yet...run more than one bus!

I will say that the information wasn't the easiest to find. On the hompage, there were no alerts for the Raritan Valley Line. I had to click on "Alerts and Advisories" to find it. However, his claim that he "searched all the websites" and "waited 40 minutes for a train to Newark" (I believe they were both before I started recording) obvioulsy weren't true. It also wasn't necessary to start kicking a bottle and cursing at the conductor. I would say that the idea of a bus from Westfield would have been I good idea, or perhaps to honor the tickets on the 114 to PABT or the 65 bus to Newark, however, I think that tickets for the bus are cheaper.

Sometimes NJT isn't clear with their service advisories. However, the type of behavior exhibited by that individual was not acceptable. He basically made a bully out of himself.