A significant internet outage at cloud services provider Cloudflare has caused widespread travel disruption, severely impacting the digital services of NJ Transit, a major transportation provider for the New York City area.
Widespread Digital Disruption
The outage, which occurred on Tuesday 18 November 2025, left commuters stranded as the NJ Transit website and mobile app became inaccessible. Users reported being completely unable to purchase tickets for their journeys, creating significant inconvenience during the busy travel period.
The technical failure was not isolated to the transit service. The Cloudflare outage had a domino effect, bringing down a host of other major online platforms including the AI chatbot ChatGPT, the social media platform X, e-commerce giant Shopify, cloud storage service Dropbox, and the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
Service Provider's Response
Cloudflare quickly identified a critical issue impacting multiple customers. The company confirmed that its own Dashboard and API were also failing as a result of the internal problem.
In a statement, Cloudflare outlined its recovery steps, noting it had made configuration changes that allowed its Cloudflare Access and WARP services to recover. The company specifically mentioned that it had successfully re-enabled WARP access in London and was continuing its efforts to fully restore all other affected services.
Broader Implications for Digital Reliance
This incident highlights the fragile nature of modern digital infrastructure and how dependent critical public services, like mass transit, have become on third-party internet providers. For thousands of daily commuters relying on digital tickets, the failure of a single technical provider translated directly into real-world travel chaos, underscoring the vulnerability of our interconnected systems.
