Hearings set on NJ Transit fare increases

Citing a looming $300 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, NJ Transit last week 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.
The one-way bus fare between Newark and Irvington would rise from the current $2.15 to $2.70. A monthly pass on the same bus route would go from the current $65 to $82.
One-way commuter rail tickets would increase about 25 percent, subject to rounding.
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 3 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 4 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 3 percent, while ridership to Hoboken declined 13 percent.

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