It’s something to bear in mind the next time a New Jersey Transit bus slows to a crawl in traffic. By keeping you and other riders off the roads and out of gasoline-fueled private cars and pickups, the state agency is helping reduce CO2 pollution, a component of climate change. In fact, NJ Transit displaced 3.7 million metric tons of carbon in 2019, reducing by 3 billion the number of miles traveled by personal vehicles and offsetting the annual emissions from 470,000 homes.

But the agency considers these stats just a place to start, as it crafts its first-ever sustainability plan. It will be hosting its fourth sustainability webinar on June 20; participation is open to registrants. The public is also encouraged to submit comments between June 1 and July 7.

NJ Transit is the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 925,000 weekday trips on 253 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines and through its Access Link paratransit service. It is the third-largest transit system in the country with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations and more than 19,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.