And at long last, New Jersey Transit has filled the customer advocate role, which sat vacant for four years.

The board of directors on Thursday night officially named Franck Beaumin, who's worked in customer experience for transit systems across the world, including in Paris and Bangladesh.

He came to the U.S. to work with Rhode Island and Boston's transit agencies, and he's got a tall task ahead.

New Jersey Transit has faced intense scrutiny in recent months, after the summer was filled with those widespread delays and cancellations, leaving commuters stranded and frustrated with calls to fill the position growing louder.

All this, of course, as ticket prices went up.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has more details on the new customer advocate and which problems passengers want him to attack first.

Commuters waiting for their NJ Transit train today.

Welcome news that the agency finally hired customer advocate Franck Beaumin after four years of delay.

Frustrated riders say they're done with waiting and tired of excuses after this latest summer of hell.

Their message to Beaumin every other day there's a problem.

So it seems like I can't get to work at the time.

So just more on time service.

I work in New York.

I live right here in Hackensack, and it's sometimes disheartening to take two hours, get home from work.

I go one stop from Secaucus, and, most of the time it's late.

So.

And then, you know, and I got to catch a bus when I get to there.

And I missed that bus.

And I got to take an Uber.

Customer expectations are high.

Bowman's French born with a mass transit background and experience in Bangladesh and Boston.

His salary 175,000 a year.

Riders hope he's more responsive to customer complaints than NJ Transit's app.

As one rider told the board, as anyone ever filled out the app.

That's like 20 minutes of my life that I'm never going to get back.

It's so clunky.

And I get a lovely email like six weeks later from the thing and it says like, we're so sorry.

She demanded action, not apologies.

Bowman wasn't available for interviews when his appointment was announced last night.

Frank brings a unique and customer focused perspective with his transit background, both in Europe as well as in Boston.

We look forward to see how he'll apply that experience in the interest of our customers here in new Jersey.

We took them long enough to get here, but at least on paper, they found somebody who who looks like he's got an appropriate background.

Former Senator Loretta Weinberg in 2018 wrote much of the legislation creating the customer advocate position.

She notes Beaumin will report to the board for an agency that pays his salary.

That's a potential conflict.

He's got a tough job, but hopefully he will do it as an independent voice.

Reporting directly to the board and, that he chooses to spend the better part of his week riding public transit, that there's sort of an ivory tower mentality from the agencies.

Adam Rieich was amongst a group of transit advocates who had hoped to interface between NJ Transit and its customers.

Rieich wants to discuss a long list of problems with a new advocate, and advises Beaumin to monitor social media and talk to customers.

Go to the stations.

See what I've seen in recent months.

You know, benches that are broken, platform sections that are crumbling.

Things like that.

And, you know, we see on Twitter, right, people talking about dirty bus seats, clothes, train cars.

Understand, rider and understand why it's such a problem.

He says NJ transit needs to improve its app so customers get real time warnings of canceled or late rides, and the agency should offer more data on its poor performance record.

Almost everyone advised Bowman ride the system, as one tweet said, I would 100% require he not own a car and traverse our fine state with the rest of us commuters.

It should be mandatory as part of your job that you need to ride the train yourself either once a month, once a quarter or something like that.

But it needs to be some regimen where you go not as me ride the train and kind of audit like what you're cooking.

I think that will go a long way.

Beaumin’s first day on the job Monday morning I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.