NJ Transit's refund policy for tickets originally sold without expiration dates — which are nonetheless considered expired under a policy that started this summer — is now in effect. Here's how to get your money back if you have one.

What’s changed

Until recently, NJ Transit customers could buy one-way and 10-trip tickets with no expiration dates for bus, rail and light rail.

In April, the agency announced that it would hike fares by 15% starting on July 1. It also set a new policy: As of July, all one-way and 10-trip tickets would expire after 30 days.

That change affected already-purchased tickets as well as new ones. The older tickets were declared only valid until July 31.

After pushback from riders, NJ Transit created a new return policy for tickets purchased before June 1, allowing customers to receive refunds for them, but not immediately. Those refunds would first become available Aug. 1.

If you've been holding onto an old one-way bus, rail or light-rail ticket — or an unused (or partially used) 10-trip rail ticket — it's no longer any good.

But now NJ Transit will refund those tickets through the end of the year.

How to get a refund

NJ Transit will only refund tickets purchased before June 1. Tickets purchased between June 1 and June 30 were honored through July 31 but are not eligible for refunds.

How you can claim a refund depends on how you bought your tickets:

If you have paper tickets, you’ll need to bring them to an NJ Transit office or ticket window. Be sure to have your contact information ready and your tickets in order of purchase, so that the process goes faster.

By the time an agent documents the number and type of tickets, forwards it to NJ Transit's refund department for verification and processing, and then issues the refund, it could be three to four weeks, according to the agency. For those without receipts, it could take longer.

If you want to return tickets purchased on NJ Transit's website, you’ll have to print them out and follow the paper-ticket instructions. NJ Transit’s refund policy doesn’t provide any instructions on getting them refunded through the website directly.

If you have unused mobile app tickets, they will automatically turn into credit in the electronic wallet in the NJ Transit app. You don’t need to specifically ask for a refund.

What if you had Flexpass? As part of the fare overhaul, NJ Transit eliminated its Flexpass program, which provided 20 one-way tickets for travel within 30 days between one origin and one destination, at a 20% discount. The agency stopped selling those tickets after June 30, meaning they’re all expired at this point. They aren’t eligible for refunds because they had expiration dates in the first place.

NJ Transit made the changes to address a budget shortfall — over many riders’ objections — as the agency entered a summer marked by repeated delays and cancellations in sweltering heat. The disruptions were often prompted by mechanical issues when equipment atop NJ Transit’s trains intersected with sagging wires in the aging catenary of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.