Good morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you might be reading this. I appreciate the time you took out of your day to read this. I'll try to make it worth your time.

You might recognize me and/or my name from a very recent petition (PATH Hoboken's closure) that won with 130 signatures. I'm coming to you today to try to get your vote in my movement to upgrade, improve, and make the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) more rider friendly, in favor of the rider, NJ TRANSIT (NJT), and the contractor operating it (21st Century Rail (21st Century) at the time of this post, but will be ACI-Herzog JV (Herzog) on 9/15/25, as they've signed a 15 year, $1.5 bil. contract) by suggesting upgrades to the light rail system, such as expanding platforms and adding a third car to ease crowding, more off-peak service, and more enforcement. From here forward, I'll list my ideas and suggestions.

1. Resume the Bayfront-Route 440 extension

(THIS WEBSITE IS BETTER AT EXPLAINING THE BAYFRONT PROJECT THAN ME! https://hblr440.com There has not been any public updates or visible work done with the Bayfront-Route 440 extension / project since September 2020, when West Side Ave station was closed to repair sewer pipes, while NJ TRANSIT worked on this construction. Since then, no obvious movements have been shown or made. The project, with Herzog's new $1.5bil contract, can be done easily and overtime. My purpose in bringing back efforts on the Bayfront-Route 440 extension will do the following:

1.  Generate more revenue for NJ TRANSIT and 21st Century Rail or Herzog by increasing the ridership, connecting HBLR to shopping areas
2.  Allow riders to connect to shopping centers, and more amenities within Route 440
3. If the Bayfront housing project, unrelated to HBLR, is completed, this will allow more urban connection opportunities, from people living in the Bayfront housing to travel to Jersey City, Hoboken, and further north

This generally should appear as a great idea for every party involved. Nobody loses anything, and although fare evasion is highly common, people say that making service worth paying for, would make them pay for it. I'm open to questions and concerns regarding this area of the petition. And for the question that will arise, how will passengers commute to West Side Ave if they close it for this construction? For starters, NJ TRANSIT already started construction 5 years ago, giving them a good start, so I don't believe they'll have to close. But in the event they have to close, they can run a shuttle bus from MLK Drive to the station, or cross-honor with bus service. Shuttle buses are pretty cozy, considering they use Academy buses. Onto my next proposition for improvement.

2. Heighten police & fare enforcement presence

Not only is fare evasion an issue, but the amount of rule violations done on trains is insane. I'm not pleading for police on every single train, but at least one on every station platform, and some in the trains to at least intimidate some to quit antics. Here's what every involved party can gain from this:

1.  NJ TRANSIT, 21st Century Rail, or Herzog can gain profits from people finally paying the fare. 
2.  Riders can recognize a service worth paying for after enough growth.
3. NJ TRANSIT police are deployed and get paid for true work. They can enforce fares and catch unruly behavior, such as rowdy passengers or delinquents.

This helps much more people than you could think, teens vape on trains, and fare evasion is only good for the rider. Not paying your fare makes matters much worse for the train management. While we're on the topic of positive upgrades, and train management, let's go to our next proposition, which was made to promote ridership.

3. Convert select stations southbound of Essex St into Bayonne Flyer stops

Alright, this feels like I don't even have to explain. After Essex St, Bayonne Flyer trains run nonstop to 45th St. This doesn't just cause aggravation because trains don't run fast southbound, but also confusion. Many passengers board Bayonne bound trains hoping to get home, and as such, I personally believe that the Liberty State Park and Danforth Av stations should be listed as Bayonne Flyer stops. Liberty State Park is the final chance for a transfer to WSA-TON trains and buses before entering Bayonne, and Danforth Av is the final stop before entering Bayonne. Not just their significance, but they also board and deboard a large amount of passengers on average. Just like the previous 2 propositions, let's evaluate why this benefits every party.

1. NJ TRANSIT, 21st Century Rail, or Herzog could make a large amount of income from running Bayonne Flyers to these stations. If they implement heightened fare enforcement and police presence, passengers paying for Bayonne Flyers brings the companies mentioned profit.
2. Passengers no longer stress on either catching a flyer or a regular all-stop train to get home or anywhere, primarily passengers who get home at Danforth Av.

There's no losing on this project, having LSP and Danforth Av isn't crucial but it's beyond a great idea, you still manage to skip stops but stop at the most important ones for light rail riders. Speaking of importance to riders:

4. Run the West Side Ave - Tonnelle Ave route via Hoboken Terminal on weekends

This may be seen as a controversial idea to many, but on weekdays, HBLR runs 3 routes, 8th St - Hoboken (8-HOB), West Side Ave - Tonnelle Ave (WSA-TON), and Hoboken - Tonnelle Ave  (HOB-TON). On weekends, the HOB-TON route doesn't run, and riders must take a HOB-8 train to Newport and wait for a WSA-TON train. I believe that if WSA-TON trains included Hoboken Terminal as an additional stop, it would increase ridership and lower travel time. Here's how it benefits parties involved:

1. Higher ridership benefits NJT, 21st Century Rail, or Herzog, makes life simply easier
2. Easier connections to PATH trains, NY Waterway ferries, and NJ TRANSIT rail service
3. Passengers don't have to accommodate extra travel time to travel north of Hoboken Terminal

Although unrelated to HBLR, it's worth noting PATH does this too on the weekends on their 33rd St line running out of Journal Sq. Passengers out of Jersey City don't find the extra travel time enjoyable though, but PATH and HBLR are 2 different systems, and to be fully honest, we all know who has the edge. Back with ridership, and making riders more satisfied with the light rail service, crowding can become a fast issue with HBLR's off-peak service that has southbound trains running less than northbound trains, Exchange Place in early evenings is a good example. With this being said, I'll move on to my next idea, and I hope you're in it with me:

5. Introduce the 3 car trains and extend station platforms to accommodate such a change

The idea of 3 car light rails have been talked about, but no action at all has been brought up. The extension of station platforms eases crowding on platforms, it also presents the opportunity for track replacements, on top of allowing 3 car trains to be brought into service. 3 car trains can allow more passengers to board, with more seats and more passengers being attracted to the same train, rather than being fended off because of the train appearing crowded. Time to evaluate how this helps every party involved:

1. 21st Century Rail or Herzog will get to use their DBOM contract to design, build, and maintain the extended platforms and make a profit from more riders utilizing these.
2. Riders can board more trains easily with much more room to spare on the platforms and the train. Added to the fare enforcement being heightened, riders can also see a service worth paying for if the platforms are extended and the train lines get an additional car.
3. NJ TRANSIT gets more profit from more tickets purchased.

This might cause station closures, less weekend or off-peak service, but the return will be extremely positive. The reason station extensions are necessary is because many/most platforms on the HBLR can only support 2 cars, however with a platform extension the length of another light rail car, with tracks being spaced out as they are, riders can get some feel for joy riding a train with more room and accommodation. With ridership still in mind, I'll present my next idea.

6. Terminate light rail service later at 2 AM, and resume it earlier at 4:30 AM

Let's talk about it. If light rail reliant riders are using HBLR to connect to other services, such as ferries, PATH trains, or NJ TRANSIT rail, and rely then on that to go elsewhere, maybe out of state, having an earlier travel period can help riders get to their destinations easier and more reliably. Although this is good for the rider, unfortunately I don't think this will bring NJ TRANSIT the desired revenue because of running more trains earlier. As much as this one isn't a great option, I've still got more.

7. Introduce FARE-PAY to the HBLR system

I'm confident this can be done with ease. It's currently available at only a few bus park and ride stations, and the Newark Light Rail system, however FARE-PAY is completely accepted on NJT bus, but not the HBLR. If the TVMs at HBLR stations could dispense FARE-PAY cards, like the Newark Light Rail, and these could be used as proof of payment on the already existing tap to pay system at HBLR stations. Fare enforcement could have upgrades on their machines to tap these FARE-PAY cards and see payment history on it. Though complex, it's really simple, in fact, it will be the fastest way to pay your fare on HBLR. You tap your FARE-PAY, and within seconds as it's an NJT connection, the fare is taken out of your card, and upon fare enforcement, the officer reads your card, and payment history from today clears you. This could also be used to show even more information from that one reader, like the next train that would be incoming to that station, the station it was used at, and the card holders name if it's registered on NJ TRANSIT, so ID can be valid for defense if it is not properly believed originally.

I'm out of room for ideas here, but I appreciate you and the time you took out of your day to read this. You definitely could have had better things to do. Now, I'm not seeking to get every single one of these implemented, but if we can strike at least 4 out of these 7 propositions, or at least one before December 31st, 2026, I'll consider this a victory.

I'm not here to terrorize NJ TRANSIT, 21st Century Rail/ACI-Herzog JV, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, or you, the reader/rider, but I'm here to try and bring HBLR back to its former glory, and make it one of the preferred options in travel in Hudson County. Right now, Hudson County has 3 ways of transport. PATH train, bus, and the HBLR. We don't have an exact ranking right now for any of them, but we know that HBLR isn't close to the top. Let's change that.

By you signing this petition, you are electing to join this movement, support this cause, and join me in forming a better light rail system, for the sake of all light rail riders.

Thank you for your time.