NJ Transit Says Goodbye to Dollar Coins at Ticket Machines

By the end of the year, it'll be a much smoother process to buy a ticket from New Jersey Transit vending machines. 

New ticket vending machine technology will be expanded into Newark Penn Station.  The move kicks off a system-wide roll out of the new system at all 674 terminals by the end of the year.  NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein made the announcement today.

In January 2012, NJ Transit became the first transit agency in North America to introduce Bank Note Recycler (BNR) technology which allows the machines to dispense change in the form of paper bills rather than dollar coins.

"We've heard from customers at our 'We Are Listening' forums that they dislike receiving large amounts of one-dollar coins as change," said Weinstein.  "We have listened to their concerns and by equipping our ticket vending machines with this new technology, we will further improve the ticket purchasing experience for our customers while also reducing cash handling costs for NJ Transit."  Once fully implemented, the technology is expected to generate an annual cost savings of $1.2 million per year.

The move comes in concert with the Christie Administration's Scorecard initiative designed to improve the overall customer experience for users of NJ Transit .

A video demonstration of the technology can be found on NJ Transit’s YouTube channel.