When Kris Kolluri thinks of ways to improve how New Jersey residents get around the state, he thinks of all the transportation services he oversees — NJ Transit and the N.J. Turnpike Authority — and then he thinks of the best transportation app he knows.
“Why can’t the state have something like Waze,” he said.
Kolluri, in a recent sit-down with BINJE, said an app that would combine all options would be nothing short of transformative.
“The app would look at trains, buses, roads, maybe even future express or microtransit options, and recommend the best path — not the best path for one agency,” he said.
The idea of all agencies working together to provide the best transportation experience follows the guiding principle of new Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Kolluri said.
You know, like Waze does.
“If you go on Waze today, the app tells you how to go from point A to point B,” Kolluri said. “It may take you on a toll road. It may take you on a local road. It may put you on a state highway. And if there’s an accident or backup, it’ll take you around.
“That is, in essence, a metaphor for what the governor thinks should happen in New Jersey.”
Kolluri offers a simple example.
On a given day, a smart system should tell someone in East Windsor that it’s faster to drive to Secaucus, park and take the train — rather than automatically heading for Princeton Junction — and it should show that tradeoff clearly in the app, he said.
Kolluri feels this potential app would do three big things:
- Provide real-time routing across all options: “Mobility is truly about what makes the most sense if you’re a customer — not because I want your money because I’m the Turnpike or because I want it because I’m Transit,” he said. “The app would look at trains, buses, roads, maybe even future express or microtransit options, and recommend the best path, not the best path for one agency.”
- Offer immediate recommendations when things change: “When you go to Uber and book a car, it tells you exactly how long it’s going to take, because the algorithms have really worked very hard to know what is happening on the road,” he said. “Why can’t we do the same thing so you can make a good decision? If there’s a delay, the app should nudge you: leave now, take this route instead of your usual one.”
- Create a unified payment model: “Maybe it’s just one payment method, instead of having an E-ZPass and a Transit app,” he said. “Is there a way to integrate both? Can we create one account for Transit and for E-ZPass?”
None of this happens if each agency guards its data and systems, Kolluri said.
And with NJ Transit and the Turnpike under one leader, Kolluri says there’s finally a path to standardize information, align technology and sort out who owns pieces of the rider experience, from alerts to refunds.
Kolluri admits this won’t happen overnight.
“This doesn’t happen overnight,” he said. “Having it a year from now is a big ask, but I would love to challenge us to think about that.”
The potential, however, is obvious, Kolluri said.
“This would be a game changer,” he said. “This would be a perception changer.”
