Home New Jersey Transit Did NJ Transit let its domain registration lapse?

Did NJ Transit let its domain registration lapse?

by Benjamin Kabak

Update (12:15 p.m.): New Jersey Transit’s website is back up and running. Below is the saga of their technologically frustrating morning.

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On any given day, New Jersey Transit’s website, redesigned and relaunched in October 2009, should look a little bit something like this:

This morning though visitors to NJTransit.com found a placeholder instead. Right now, when I navigate to the commuter rail, I see the following:

Essentially, New Jersey Transit allowed its domain name registration to lapse, and its registrar put up the standard link farm. According to the WHOIS record for NJTransit.com, the domain name expired on Jan. 7, 2011, coincidentally the same day that I’ve heard the agency’s CIO stepped down. New Jersey Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said that the agency was “investigating the glitch” and that there is no danger of their losing the website. “There is no risk of anyone buying the website,” he said. “We’ve got it for the next 20 years.”

Of course, if the renewal wasn’t submitted in a timely fashion, the site will inevitably go down for a few hours. According to The Star-Ledger, the agency continued to send out text alerts this morning while dealing with this so-called glitch, and customers using AT&T — but not Verizon — were able to access the website. Either way, that’s an embarrassing and amusing mishap in an age when transit agencies are trying to better integrate technology into their daily operations.

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6 comments

Kevin P. January 13, 2011 - 12:06 pm

You posted a bad link to NJTransit.com. It points to a nonexistent page on your site.

Reply
Benjamin Kabak January 13, 2011 - 12:10 pm

Talk about irony.

Reply
E January 13, 2011 - 12:13 pm

I don’t get it. I see the right web page when going there.

Reply
Benjamin Kabak January 13, 2011 - 12:14 pm

It has since been fixed, and the registration extended.

Reply
Al D January 13, 2011 - 4:12 pm

Maybe Christie thought he could save a few $ by not renewing the domain and was hoping nobody would notice.

Reply
pea-jay January 13, 2011 - 9:15 pm

This is the same state that lost out on Race to the Top funding for not following paperwork requirements of the Feds…

Reply

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