But Did The Trains Run On Time?

New Jersey Transit has announced that it will be raising fares on its trains and interstate bus routes effective in July. The average increase will be 11 percent, which is less than the 15% that NJ Transit had wanted.

Let's see where to begin with the problems associated with this increase. For starters, my raise wont come close to dealing with the increase, and I'm probably in a pretty good economic situation right now. Many others who take NJ Transit aren't in the same kind of economic shape. The increases vastly outstrip the rise in income.

Then, there's the issue of intrastate buses. There aren't any increases there, even though the cited reasons for the increases have to do with rising pension and health costs of employees and rising energy prices. Those intrastate buses use fuel and personnel, yet the increase is largely on the backs of those who commute into New York City. This is fundamentally and environmentally incorrect. The whole point of mass transit is to make it affordable and an attractive alternative to driving into the City. By taking cars off the road, you lessen pollution, traffic, congestion, and improve the efficiencies of all involved. Increasing the price reduces the differential between the costs of driving into Manhattan and taking mass transit. People will opt to drive instead of taking mass transit, which also has the deleterious effect of increasing wear and tear on the roads leading to New York City.

Considering that another reason that this increase is necessary is that the Transportation Fund is nearly depleated, the NJ Transit increase is shortsighted and doesn't remedy fundamental problems with funding transportation in New Jersey.

The fare increases come as New Jersey Transit, the nation's third-largest public transit agency by ridership, struggles with a longstanding problem. Annual state operating subsidies have remained essentially unchanged, which has required the regular diversion of funds intended for capital investment to keep fares from rising out of control. State transportation officials and advocates for mass transit have been pressing for structural changes in both operating and capital financing, but find elected officials reluctant to face the political perils of increasing taxes or dedicating new taxes for mass transit.

The effects of the increase approved on Thursday will vary according to when and how people travel.

Commuters on rail lines and buses going into and out of New York and Philadelphia will be hit with an average 9.9 percent increase. But off-peak round-trip riders will feel a greater pinch because their discount, now 25 percent, will shrink to 15 percent. One-way bus fares for those traveling one intrastate zone will rise to $1.25 from $1.10, and fares for two-zone travel to $1.95 from $1.70. One-way fares on the light rail systems serving Hudson and Bergen Counties and Newark and Camden will rise to $1.25 from $1.10. But the cost of monthly passes for the light rail lines and intrastate buses will stay the same.

Those changes mean that riders will choose alternatives where possible. They will drive instead of take the bus or train, or they will commute during rush hour, when the system is already strained to capacity on many lines.

And these problems don't address the fact that there are some train lines whose on-time record has slipped as well as capital projects that have been delayed because the capital budget has been raided to fund operating costs.

New Jersey politicans do not have the honesty to tell voters that they need to increase the gas tax, even by 3-5 cents per gallon to fund transportation projects around the State, even though roads are falling apart everywhere you look, and mass transit cannot climb out of a hole because of inadequate funding.

The solution is rather simple: increase the gas tax by 5 cents per gallon. Mandate and declare that half of the increase will go towards road capital projects and the other half will go towards mass transit projects, not the operating budget. Further, mandate that New Jersey Transit cannot raid the capital budget to handle the operating costs. If the head of NJ Transit cannot make that happen, then find someone who can. There are gross inefficiences within New Jersey Transit and no will to fix them.