And the cutting begins

I realized something yesterday while watching my New Jersey Transit bus break down. Will the spending freeze halt construction of Wesmont, 8th Street Bayonne and Pennsauken Transfer, or are they good to go to their finish?

When Christie was prosecuting his way to the governorship, he went after some of the biggest and most obvious crooks. But that's not what's pulling this state down. It's waste, mismanagement and patronage at the mid- and lower-levels of government (i.e. county and local government). It's the Freeholders handing out no-bid contracts and creating no-show jobs. It's the redundancy of municipal services in every little two-bit boro. Kids on one side of the street walk three blocks to their school and kids on the other side are bused five miles. It's the economy of scale that's killing us in this state, lowering purchasing power and creating huge inefficienies in resource utilization. It's these slow leaks that are rotting our economic foundation year after unchecked year.

As for choking off the training programs, well, I hope they do remember what happened last time. Like in the '70's when all of the Vietnam-era USAF guys jumped to the airlines and the guys who didn't get hired found other careers, the reserves and the national guard couldn't find enough mechs and drivers to keep their fleets flying. When those guys retired and President Reagan started rebuilding the armed services in the '80's, it was us old-timers who got called back and logged thousands of hours. It took forever to build up the skills and transfer operational knowledge to the current crop.

I hope seniority still counts for something at Transit. Good luck to all.

Roadgeek Adam wrote:I realized something yesterday while watching my New Jersey Transit bus break down. Will the spending freeze halt construction of Wesmont, 8th Street Bayonne and Pennsauken Transfer, or are they good to go to their finish?

West 8th street connection as far as i can tell from what i saw down at 22nd st station, is well under way, with wires being raised soon, possibly this summer or maybe fall. Nice spot to do some freight fanning too if i don't say so myself. I will try to get down there again soon to see what's going on in more depth. There is absolutely no sense in canceling this extension, it's right in the middle of construction. That said, the funds may be phased, and i dunno if you can relocate $ once it has been dedicated to a project. Anyone with more info please feel free to chime in.

- A

So true, but no politician wants to do anything because the rich corporations that control politics want these guys here for the cheap labor. It really annoys me to no end how they'll make citizens suffer but non-citizens seem to continue to suck us dry like ticks.
Everybody is missing the point. They dont belong here. They shouldn't be entitled to anything except a trip back where they came from. Our nation is failing because we cant uphold law anymore. And the consequences like we are seeing, declining transportation infrastructure (both rail and road) are only going to get worse. Do we really want to wind up like a 3rd world country? People need to get their heads out of the sand and see how this problem is destroying our nation, before its too late.

Zeke wrote:Why is the political class whipping up anti-union hysteria ? It's quite simple the 1.5 million illegal aliens residing in our sanctuary state have bled it dry. The political class is scrambling to find ways to plug the giant hole this de facto sanctuary policy has incurred. This sacred cow is untouchable at this time. A splendid job by the media and their fellow travelers has purposley kept this topic and it's terrible fiscal result out of the discussion, hence the union bashing and class warfare. I do agree kindergarten teachers making 90K a year are over paid for 8 months of work. But the issue of unchecked immigration into NJ and the corresponding costs are a MAJOR budget problem. Reform groups like FAIR have proven that taking illegal alien entitlements out of the California budget would actually balance it. The isuue is so polarized these days that any attempt to restrain and or heaven forbid deport these colonizers results in liberals going completly unhinged and possibly berserk.So get used to the fact of less of everything we receive in our fine state, many have already voted with their feet and left.

By the way there goes your property tax rebates. Tell me one thing he has done so far for the middle class so far? Train tickets going up,property taxes going up,no more property tax rebates, and I'm sure tolls are going up next. He did cut taxes for business or wants to,he does want to cut taxes for the rich. Oh wait I'm not rich. JC

So anyone making over $75 k is not in the middle class in NJ? That was the limit on rebates in 2009. Rebates are a gimick. Take people's money then spend millions on a government program to give some of it back, usually to select voting groups. This is a massive recession. The state is broke. Stop the gimicks and fix the problem. Too high income taxes drive away business and thus jobs. That is a proven economic fact.

I'll give you something he has done to help the MC. He isn't raising the gas or sales tax. Those are recessive taxes that hurt the lower and middle class more than does the income tax.

Gas tax recessive depends on if you use gas.

$100 a year in gas tax and $20,000 per year income is recessive compared to $100,000 per year income, but in the perfect world where the poor person takes transit and pays no gas tax it's not recessive.
I think we assume the lower class uses public transit more than other economic groups. If that's true it can mitigate the recessive traits of the tax.

However in this thread's theme it looks like we're effectively going to impose a recessive tax on the poor by making public transit more expensive.

Devil's advocate here, I believe quite the opposite when looking at the big picture - environment, safety, etc....
If each public transit ride is a money loser and each penny in gas tax collected is a money maker then it's to the treasury's advantage to have fewer public transit riders and more gasoline purchases.

101.5 FM and 880 AM says the official announcement on fare hikes and service cuts come today.

Any news yet?

Roadgeek Adam wrote:I realized something yesterday while watching my New Jersey Transit bus break down. Will the spending freeze halt construction of Wesmont, 8th Street Bayonne and Pennsauken Transfer, or are they good to go to their finish?

Projects that have already been funded will continue with no direct impact on their scheduled delivery dates.

firthorfifth06 wrote:101.5 FM and 880 AM says the official announcement on fare hikes and service cuts come today.

Any news yet?

That doesn't jibe with NJT's own press release, which was from Monday and says "next week", but we'll see.

2 PM the info should be at:

http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... SE_ID=2596

matawanaberdeen wrote:By the way there goes your property tax rebates. Tell me one thing he has done so far for the middle class so far? Train tickets going up,property taxes going up,no more property tax rebates, and I'm sure tolls are going up next. He did cut taxes for business or wants to,he does want to cut taxes for the rich. Oh wait I'm not rich. JC

Listen, we get it. You've been trying really hard for a while to become an engineer for NJT and with the cut in subsidy and the subsequent hiring freeze, it's even less likely than it was before of your dream coming to fruition. I can understand your frustration with the man, but please keep your politics off the boards. It's getting rather tedious listening to all your belly-aching. Discuss the topic on hand.

Projects that have already been funded will continue with no direct impact on their scheduled delivery dates.

does this include the cutoff to andover?

northjerseybuff wrote:

Projects that have already been funded will continue with no direct impact on their scheduled delivery dates.

does this include the cutoff to andover?

If it was funded... then yes.

The cuts have been announced here: http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet. ... SE_ID=2596

NJ TRANSIT RELEASES FARE AND SERVICE PROPOSAL

Public hearings scheduled for March 25-27


March 5, 2010
NJT-10-020

NEWARK, NJ — Citing a looming $300 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, NJ TRANSIT today released a proposal to increase fares by 25 percent systemwide and trim service proportionate to recent ridership declines.



Under the proposal, a one-zone local bus trip or one-way ticket on Newark or River Line light rail lines would increase from $1.35 to $1.70 per ride, remaining lower than base fares on transit systems in New York ($2.25) and Philadelphia ($2.00). One-way commuter rail tickets would increase about 25 percent, subject to rounding. Rail ticket prices vary based on distance, but one-way fares would rise from a range of $1.25-$13.25 to a range $1.50-$16.50. (For example, a trip from Metropark in Iselin, NJ to New York Penn Station today is $8 and under the plan would rise to $10.) Hudson-Bergen Light Rail tickets would increase from $1.90 to $2.40 per trip.



“We recognize that any increase is a burden for our customers, particularly during a recession,” said Executive Director Jim Weinstein. “However, we have worked to keep local bus fares below the regional average and preserved some important discounts for seniors and people with disabilities, as well as for students and others who are among the most transit dependent.”



Commuters will be able to continue to take advantage of discounted travel by purchasing monthly passes, which in many cases provide a discount of 25 percent or more off full fares. The plan also continues interchangeable features that allow customers to connect between trains and buses without paying additional costs. However, off-peak roundtrip discounts—used today by about 17 percent of rail customers—would be eliminated and 10-trip bus discounts would be capped at 15 percent off the full fare price.



The plan calls for most of the changes to take effect May 1, 2010, and NJ TRANSIT expects to generate more than $140 million in revenue. The agency pointed out that with the proposed increase, fares will be three percent lower than they were in Fiscal Year 1991, based on inflation-adjusted dollars.



On the service side, NJ TRANSIT set a goal of reducing service proportionate to ridership, which has declined systemwide by about four percent as a result of the economy and low fuel prices. In all, the agency proposes to eliminate 32 of 725 commuter trains, with at least two trains scheduled for elimination on each of the system’s 11 lines. A few lines will see a handful of trains cut, mostly those that today have the greatest service frequency, such as the Northeast Corridor, which is slated for a reduction of five weekday trains. Morris and Essex line service would be reduced by seven trains on weekdays (four are off-peak), as ridership to Hoboken has declined faster than ridership to New York. Since Fiscal Year 2009, rail ridership to New York has declined about three percent, while ridership to Hoboken declined 13 percent.



“Our service plan is designed to size our service to match ridership demand,” said Weinstein. “We also looked at where we could squeeze out the most costs while impacting as few customers as possible.”



Under the plan, bus customers would experience reduced service frequency on about 50 routes systemwide. In most instances, the interval between bus arrival times will grow by a range of five to 20 minutes. NJ TRANSIT’s proposal also calls for service to be discontinued on three NJ TRANSIT bus routes (nos. 68, 134 and 138) and several local routes operated by private carriers. In addition, WHEELS minibus service would be discontinued in all counties. WHEELS is a legacy program that has exhausted its original federal funding to connect people to transit rail stations, and is underutilized in most areas, particularly in rural parts of the state.



Likewise, light rail customers will see frequency decrease under the plan. Hudson-Bergen Light Rail intervals between late night trains would extend from 20 to 30 minutes on weekdays, and redundant weekend service on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Tonnelle Avenue to Hoboken branch would be eliminated.



Frequency of Newark Light Rail service between Broad Street and Newark Penn stations would decrease during weekday midday hours from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes; Sunday service would operate every 25 minutes, rather than every 20 minutes. On the River Line, select double car trains will be operated with a single car and late-night trips between Entertainment Center and Pennsauken Route 73 stations would operate for concerts and special events only, rather than nightly, according to the proposal.



“I look forward to hearing the feedback personally from our customers at the public hearings because we need to understand the on-the-ground impacts for folks, not just how this works on paper,” said Weinstein.



The public hearings are scheduled in 11 locations across the system from March 25-27. The hearings and information sessions will be held in the evenings and on Saturday to encourage participation.