NJ Transit knows some people ride for free and it’s cracking down

New Jersey Transit is making efforts to minimize lost revenue from uncollected fares.

The conductors’ union said the agency might have lost more than $5 million in fares last year because more than 240,000 tickets weren’t collected on overcrowded trains.

New Jersey Transit executive director Steven Santoro questions that amount because about 80 percent of commuters buy pre-paid monthly passes.

“So the $5 million is probably a very high number but I’ll say that it’s greater than zero. So there are a couple of things that we are doing to get it closer to zero.”

Santoro said some of the money from the Transportation Trust Fund is being used to improve New Jersey Transit’s fare collection system.

“We’re seeing a significant growth in the use of our My Tix app for payment to buy a ticket, and not just monthlies but one way tickets and round-trip tickets. We’re hoping that will continue to grow and allow for a more efficient fare collection experience.”

Santoro said the agency also randomly puts spotters on its trains and buses to make sure riders are not traveling for free.