America's Most Confusing Fare System... In Song
Channel: Alex Davis
Date: 2022-07-25

NJ Transit is hard at work creating a reloadable fare card. But right now, riders have to calculate their payments manually before boarding. Math nerds rejoice! But fare warning, it's about to get very complicated.

My website: https://newbrunswickbuses.com/

Override fares: https://newbrunswickbuses.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NJ-Transit-Bus-Override-Fares.pdf

5 additional bus fare tables: https://www.njtransit.com/bus-fare-charts

Lyrics:
NJ Transit uses zones to charge you by how far you've gone.
Count the boundaries that the bus is gonna cross while you are on.
Buses in the north or south will charge you at a different rate.
Each of those has separate scales for intrastate and interstate.

Buy the ticket in the app and activate
only when you see the bus in case it's late.
Show the driver. Hopefully you did the math.
If you did it wrong, then you may face their wrath.
But secretly, most drivers let It go!

These are the fares on NJ Transit.
The quest to understand it,
could be its own academic discipline.
Each bus ride is a research project of algebraic logic.
Fuck it. Here's a 20. Keep the change.

Transferring from bus to bus, that's where it gets really fun.
Transfers can be bought with coins but only let you travel one
zone and if you'll travel more, you'll have to pay an override.
If you haven't heard of these, get ready for a wild ride.

Overrides aren't posted on the internet.
I called them up and they refused to send me it.
That's fine. I'll just plot them out empirically.
Internet, I really hope you're proud of me.
And also you can only pay the overrides in cash.

These are the fares on NJ Transit.
We don't know who plans it.
But they've got a twisted sense of humor.
Cause the increments are in 5 cents so bring a coin dispenser.
Nickels are the only way to pay.

This bizarrely massive route has northern fares for just the shore.
A rail pass gets you on the bus, even if it costs you more.
These five buses feature a unique fare structure. Here it is.
Some routes let you transfer with continuing trip privileges.

River Line is only one zone all the way.
Hudson-Bergen, two South Jersey zones you pay.
Newark Light Rail's cheap if you stay underground.
Probably more anomalies I haven't even found.

We've finally reached commuter rail.
Head down to your local station.
Tap the screen on this machine.
Put your origin and destination.

These are the fares on NJ Transit.
We don't know who plans it,
but I think I know which mode they ride the most.
Commuter rail is easy, but the rest is like
an IQ test for the entire Garden State.