New Info Shows Academy NJ Transit Mess Even Worse

According to newly available court documents in a whistle-blower lawsuit against Academy Bus, a former employee claims that the private bus company defrauded NJ Transit since 2003. This is nine years earlier than the accusations made by the lawsuit filed against Academy Bus by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office in November 2020. Academy is a company that was paid to operate seven NJ Transit routes in Hudson County.

“When the Academy Bus whistle-blower first spoke up, it was bad. Now this new information shows that what is happening at NJ Transit is even worse. This shows that the fraud from Academy Bus goes all the way back to 2003, which is nine years more than we knew about. The original charge went back to 2012 and found that NJ Transit lost $15 million, so now we know it is 9 more years and probably more money. The state needs to change their lawsuit to reflect this new information,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “New Jersey needs to be suing Academy Bus for defrauding NJ Transit since 2003, not just since 2012. The state also needs to fix NJ Transit because the lack of proper auditing is what allowed Academy Bus to overcharge them in the first place.”

In 2011, NJ Transit spent $22 million to buy and install GPS tracking technology for buses, but the agency didn’t have the IT employees and back office software necessary to monitor private bus operators. The technology was fully implemented in the past year. This resulted in Academy Bus being able to underreport the number of trips missed and charge for trips that were never made.

“The State needs to hold Academy Bus accountable for those additional 9 years. More importantly, the state needs to fix NJ Transit so that they have better oversight and accountability. They also need a stable source of funding for operations and maintenance so that they can stop robbing capital funds to keep the lights on,” said Jeff Tittel. “NJ Transit invested in GPS technology back in 2011 that would have helped them keep track of private bus operators, but they didn’t have the funds to implement it. This means that they wasted $22 million, and they lost millions from Academy Bus deliberately missing trips and overcharging them. Who knows what else they missed because they are using 1980s technology in the 21st century.”

During the beginning of the pandemic, passenger ridership dropped by 27% and rail ridership was down by 96%. Revenue from fares usually make up around 43% of income toward NJ Transit’s operating budget.

“New Jersey needs to hold Academy Bus accountable for all of the years they were defrauding NJ Transit. They need to update their lawsuit to go back to 2003 when the misreporting started. NJ Transit also needs to work to improve our transportation system. This includes starting to buy electric buses and establishing a stable source of funding. Other systems have operations and maintenance covered by parking fees or value-added tax on properties around transportation improvements. They could also implement parking cash out programs. The system we have now is broken because NJ Transit keeps robbing capital funds for operations and maintenance. This is like robbing our future to pay for current expenses,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “It is critical that NJ Transit makes effective decisions when it comes to sustainable spending and projects. Governor Murphy and NJ Transit need to take proper steps so that our trains and buses can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”