commuters are getting an apology and thank you wrapped in one by way of a free week of rides on New Jersey transits trains buses and rails during the last week of August after Riders endured a summer of Hell complete with delays breakdowns and cancellations that at some points left folks stranded on platforms and in trains for hours but the offer comes as the troubled rail agency is scraping to get by leaving many to wonder how they'll pay for it senior course respondent Brenda Flanagan takes a deeper look I'm on absolutely sure I think it's a great idea many commuters cheered the news NJ transits declared a fare Holiday from August 26th through September 2nd a whole week when folks can ride the system for free monthly passholders will get 25% off September fairs it's the agency's Olive Branch making amends for another so-called summer of Hell plagued by brutal breakdowns hours long delays and sudden cancellations that left Riders stranded and seething a week is nice I think it's good does it make up for what happened this summer yes it does cuz it was a it was horrible yeah it was terrible I was traumatized it's a courtesy to the commuters the passengers The Travelers but far as the trains are concerned there's a lot of work that needs to be done a lot of engineering especially when you're a worker in a commuter I was like you know behind late for work and I'm never late so it's like it messes up my my uh punctuality we caught Robert Lions passing through Newark Penn Station he says a one week fare respit while nice won't fix the problems have some working trains some some AC's in it you know someone some more security cuz a lot of stuff going on here Governor Murphy acknowledged that when he announced the fare holiday on Fox 5 this is a tip of the cap to say thank you thanks for your patience uh we're not you're not happy with the performance this summer neither are we but Riders know there's no such thing as a free lunch or fare this holiday is going to cost an estimated 19 million in Lost revenue and an agency that's been scrambling for every spare dollar NJ Transit says it's currently identifying offsets in response to the fair holiday costs according to Regional plan Zoe Baldwin the problem though again comes down to money it's expensive to give up receiving fares for that amount of time but I do think that there has to be an acknowledgement to riders as well that they have literally had another summer of hell so it's a nicity it's a feel-good it's a gimmick it's a gimmick to say thank you sorry business leader Michele Siekerka notes NJ Transit raised fairs 15% in July and they'll go up another 3% every year afterwards that on top of a 22% corporate Transit fee enacted by the legislature that'll generate up to a billion dollars annually over the next five years it it's like another just kick in the teeth to the business community no acknowledgement at all that the business Community is footing the bill and underwriting this and as you said now they're struggling to find how they're going to replace this $19 million for a fair holiday she wants an audit of NJ transit's fin an es to ensure money's not wasted even as the agency struggles to boost ridership back to pre-COVID levels and beyond Baldwin suspects an even longer fare holiday might actually help that if the system did a month for free that you might actually see some people who've never taken rail start to take it even locally not necessarily just into the city for now she'd like Federal officials to drop some money and fix Amtrak's unpredictable infrastructure Railways NJ Transit will need to handle World Cup crowds in just a couple of years I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music]