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Train commuters get concierge service
MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (Reuters) - No time to get to the dry cleaners after work?
Need a quart of milk after the grocery store is closed?
New Jersey Transit has the answer -- a concierge service for commuters.
The service, which made its debut Friday, lets commuters order goods from
more than 50 local businesses in the morning on their way to work and then
pick them up in the evening on their way home.
Dressed in vests and ties, the concierge staff handed tired commuters their
dry cleaning, groceries, photos or videos. The service takes a cut of 5
percent of the price from both passenger and merchant.
"It's astounding. I like the idea a lot," said Durward Branigan, a retired
sales manager who attended Friday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new
service.
Some 500 commuters signed up for the service -- more than a third of the
1,400 people who use the train station daily from Maplewood, about 10 miles
west of New York City.
The service also can help customers with other tasks, such as buying a pass
to the town pool or paying their sewer fees.
State Transportation Commissioner John Haley called the service "a good
example of a public-private partnership."
A brainchild of downtown businesses, the local Chamber of Commerce and state
and local officials, the service is run by local businesses.
It is part of a New Jersey Transit project to install consumer services such
as restaurants and banks at train stations around the state.
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