Bad Decisions Abound At NJ Transit

The $28 million complex at Montclair State University in Little Falls has been drawing about 130 cars per day at its 1,500-space deck.

The $27.5 million garage and station in Ramsey gets about 200 commuter cars daily for the 1,250 spaces available.

The 2,400 empty spaces at the two new garages provide a stunning contrast to the situation at other stations in Essex, Union, Middlesex, Morris and Monmouth counties, where the waiting lists for parking spots stretch for years.

"NJ Transit took a chance and they put a lot of capital into these two projects," said Martin Robins, executive director of Rutgers University's Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute. "I can't say it's a mistake, but it was a risk. My guess is that in five years, these facilities will be well-used."

In the meantime, NJ Transit is renting out 350 spaces in Ramsey for $7,000 per month to a Bergen County auto dealership that stores BMWs and Mini Coopers on the top two levels of the five-story deck. The agency also is negotiating with another dealership to lease space at Montclair State University.

The expenditure of almost $60 million on two new train stations comes at a time when the state is facing a transportation funding crisis that is forcing officials to reassess what to do in coming years.

Transit officials insist the investment at Montclair State University on the Montclair-Boonton Line and Ramsey on the Main-Bergen Line will pay off in the long run. But they acknowledge the new stations and garages may not reach full capacity until after a second rail tunnel gets built to Midtown Manhattan -- a $5 billion job that won't get done for another eight years, at the earliest.

The parking garages are not in places that will see the most growth, nor are underutilized stations nearby closed and consolidated to maximize the potential of the new stations.

We saw a similar problem with the Secaucus Junction station, which cost NJ Transit nearly $500 million, and sees a fraction of the people necessary to truly justify the cost overruns that more than doubled the cost. And Secaucus Junction doesn't have parking lots built, which would alleviate the traffic heading into Manhattan with a park-and-ride station minutes from both Downtown and Midtown. The Turnpike Authority is building a new interchange at Secaucus Junction, which will probably be open some time next year. A park and ride with more than 1,000 spots would have been a logical accompanyment to the station, but it was dropped.

What NJ Transit excells at is projects that suffer from huge cost overruns and see minimal rates of return on investment - parking lots that are underutilized all while there are dozens of other stations in the system that need the parking and demand but no way to improve capacity.

Depending on wishful thinking to reach capacity at the new parking lots is another sign that things aren't right in the capital plan.

A solid capital plan for NJ Transit would address several key issues:
~parking at several stations, including Edison, which has a multi-year waiting list to get a spot. That demand alone should have signalled the need for new parking, yet there is no sign of additional parking capacity added there.
~consolidating and closing underutilized stations in the system. If you build a major facility, like Rt. 17, closing the Mahwah or Ramsey station makes sense.
~rebuilding stations to lessen dwell time (raised platforms)
~adding track capacity on the Pascack Valley line, an area where there has been tremendous growth, and high vehicle traffic congestion rates.
~purchasing train cars that maintain at least current capacity (an old four-car passenger car set has more seats than a new four-car set because of seating configurations and center-door openings. The proposed bilevel car will remediate some of the problem, but people are less likely to board trains currently when they know that the cars appear full - that there aren't seats, and/or that the parking for the trains is non-existent).
~getting projects completed on time and under budget.

The current plans do not do a good job of meeting the needs for today, tomorrow, or 10 years from now, when based on wishful thinking and projections that are woefully inadequate. People need safe, reliable, and useful mass transit. In light of the current situation, one has to ask whether NJ Transit is meeting those needs.