At its October meeting, the NJ Transit board announced that after years of not following the legislature’s direction to hire a new customer advocate, they finally have hired Franck Beaumin to fill the position. Congratulations—we think. When the law was first passed, and during the short term of the original public-relations expert, a “round table” of approximately 14 rider-advisors was selected. At least one of these, Adam Reich, is a good advocate and has been eager to get started.
Although we have been complaining about the title “customer advocate”, believing that no employee can be a true advocate, it appears that NJ Transit is following corporate practices in designating their customer support person an “advocate”. Time will tell how strongly Mr. Beaumin is permitted to speak up for riders, and whether the advisory round table will be truly heard.
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