Sometimes writing a story is like pulling teeth. You agonize for days on what angle to take to best represent the topic. And then there are places like New Jersey Transit where the story just writes itself. As I rode in from the Newark airport the night before I interviewed New Jersey Transit's executive director, George Warrington, I saw a billboard proclaiming, "Newark's Best Kept Secret!" The sign was one of many in the area touting the new light rail line between Newark Penn Station and the Broad Street Station. Now you could take the light rail to Penn Station and get on the train from there it said. I thought this was a pretty interesting advertising angle, and after spending a few days in New Jersey traveling the system's length and breadth, I realized that the ad people didn't realize what they had when they came up with that tag line. Newark's best-kept secret wasn't just the new light rail line, it was the entire wonderful transit system that it was a part of.

FROM THE BEGINNING

For most people in the public transportation industry, especially the executives, it's not a vocation, it's a life choice. Transit gets into your blood. I've heard that from more than a few people since coming to Mass Transit. I agree. I can see it in the faces of the people I see at agencies and industry events.

So for most, when they get into transit they are in it for the long haul. But few have been with the same system since it was created and helped shape that system along the way. When NJ Transit started in 1979, George Warrington was 'the kid.' Fresh out of college at Syracuse University, he was looking for a job in the public sector that allowed him the opportunity to get tangible results from his work.

"I found that the transportation world was one of those places where you could engage in public service, but also drive and measure results because of the nature of the business," says Warrington. "And it was also one of those opportunities to blend public service and the public sector with a business and the business side of an operation."

Warrington began with NJ Transit even before there was a transit system per se, getting a job with the New Jersey DOT in 1975 in what he calls the "bad old days."

"And back in those days, I call them the bad old days, the transit system in this state was operated by about 30 bankrupt private bus companies or near bankrupt private bus companies and bankrupt private railroads.

"All of whom were operating service under subsidy contract with the state in many instances. The system had been grossly undercapitalized for several decades. The fl eet on both the bus and rail side was probably averaging 40 or 50 years old. The rail fl eet certainly, and the bus fleet was in the 20- to 30-year realm. So the state of New Jersey was artificially propping up this bankrupt system. Reliability and customer service were virtually non-existent. And ridership and demand had been declining for many years."