NJ Transit Fare Increases and Service Cuts- BAD

[ns3010]

NJ Transit has posted the proposed fare increases and service cuts. They are not good at all. Fares are being raised by 25%, and 36 trains (both weekday and weekend) will be cut or combined.
Proposed Fare Increases
Proposed Service Cuts

This is very bad...

[henry6]

Transit is a Robbing Peter to Pay Paul game.  However Mr. Christie doesn't see where he's actually robbing himself.  Some of these cuts are not as bad as I would have suspected but the immediate fare increase is a little hard to swallow for long term commuting.  He seems to favor the automobile without figuring how much it will actually cost the state in the long run (even his tenure); I really don't think he or his staff have actually dug into the facts of the need to move massive number of people to, through, and from his state daily.  Nor does he understand the cost of highway maintenance and pollution controls, the cost of people not working because they cannot get to and from work, or any more of the consequences.  Cutting costs is one thing but he's got to watch out because NJT unions get less than other mass transit/rail workers in the Metropolitan area, which, right or wrong, would make his workers hunkerdown against him. 

Cutting trains and bus runs means cutting services and mass transit is not running trains and buses but providing a service; a whole is greater than the sum of its parts so to speak, so doing the cutting can be very counter productive.  Yet, I see the proposed train cuts to be surprisingly judicious with the largest hit appearing to go to the Corridor Main lIne.  However, the main line is also blessed with half hourly service which can be altered and finagled better than on some of the other lines where by eliminating one train you have to eliminate two; but there is the combining of two trains to make a single train do the work of two.

Overall, I think the rail service cuts are going to hurt less than the fare increases. But from what I've read the bus cuts are just plain going to hurt.  For Christies sake I hope the transit cuts aren't the same as him cutting his own throat for the sake of populism and politics because that will hurt all of NJ.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

How long has it been since NJ Transit's last fare increase?  Metra in the Chicago area tends to go with smaller increases every 2-3 years and it hasn't affected ridership that much.

[henry6]

2007 saw a small incerease.

[BNSFwatcher]

Q:  what do NJ commuter buses pay to cross the Hudson River, via the Holland & Lincoln Tunnels and the GW Bridge?  When were their tolls last adjusted?

Hays

[henry6]

Good question, Hays, but no real answer!  Checking the on line 2009, 2008 and 2007 Annual Reports does note really tell the story.  2009 has no financial statment.  2008 and 2007's financial statments reveal a "track, toll and fee" charge of over $41 million for 2008 and over $44 million for 2007... without explanation.  I could assume that to mean charges for using Amtrak, SEPTA, Conrail, NY-NJ Port Authority bridges and tunnels and Delaware River Joint Toll bridges and tunnels, and NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and other toll roads.  I could, but for some reason I don't really feel comfortable assuming that.

[BNSFwatcher]

Could it be that the "Politico's" are hiding something?  They sure won't tell us where Jimmy Hoffa is interred!  Doesn't anyone ask what the cars, trucks, and buses pay for tolls?  That, methinks, should be public knowledge, but I no longer live in New Jersey.  Scary!

Hays  -- b:  Plainfield, 1938.  Muhlenberg Hospital went T/U, long after I was born, as they couldn't keep up with the welfare caseload.  They just shut it down, I understand.

[henry6]

BNSFwatcher

....I no longer live in New Jersey.  Scary!...

NO!  Living in NJ today, that's scary!

All kidding aside, I'm not sure why the Annual Reports are so vague.  Of course, being it is a public agency, the complete report is made for the NJDOT Commissioner to pass on to the Legislature or the Governor, I don't know which.  And being a public agency the complete accounting, and annual figures can be requested and seen by anyone in the public or the media.  The published Annual Report is pretty revealing though.

[schlimm]

The bad part long term is really the service cuts, as we know in Chicago with the screwed up CTA and its overpaid drivers and bloated maintenance staff.  A lot of patrons never return because it is no longer a convenient travel option.  Metra has a different management style that works quite well.   Harvey or Paul:  Have you seen numbers on any impact for the recent Metra fare increase?  Even raising the flat weekend fare 40% to $7.00 leaves it a real bargain.

[rogerac]

 In England rail fares go up and up and up. I visited a few years ago, took lots of trains and ferries (trying to book from US was a real pain) but on one sector, Ft William (Scotland)-Llandudno (Wales), the lowest train fare I could find was THREE TIMES the fare by motor coach. Guess which way I went?

Dunno about "the Tube" (London Transport); but it's awfully expensive. Used it v. little, mainly to get from one of London's many railway stations to another. For tourists, the "Oyster" transit card is supposed to be best.

[joecool1212]

 I know service cuts can be counter productive in the long run, I also know when we get a rate increase it never goes back down.  I love trains model and real, but I also live here in NJ.  The problem Christie has is the state Supreme Court said your not going to borrow any more money to pay the budget gap, and not raising taxes is good for me and the rest of the state.  So out of all the programs he cut, Transit was just one of all but 3.  What else was he to do.  I use Transit to go to the city regularly and a fare increase will hurt.  Lucky I'm not a commuter!  Not sure there was an easy answer but glad I wont see as large a increase in my property taxes this year. 

[ns3010]

CSSHEGEWISCH

How long has it been since NJ Transit's last fare increase?

Q: When was the last NJ TRANSIT fare increase?
	NJ TRANSIT's fare increase history is as follows: June 2007 - 9.6 percent July 2005 - 11.5 percent April 2002 - 10 percent July 1990 - 9 percent May 1989 - 12.5 percent May 1988 - 9 percent July 1986 - 10.6 percent Sept. 1983 - 9 percent July 1982 - 17.5 percent July 1981 - 22 percent July 1980 - 11 percent

The thing that bugs me the most is the elimination of the ORT tickets. The fact that they would even think of something as insane as that blows my mind.
Apparently they tried eliminating ORT a few years ago, but dropped the idea because customers didn't like it, and they never went through with the plan.
So yes, they actually DO listen to customer input.

I'll be sending them an email, and encourage everyone else to do the same.

[oltmannd]

Wonder how that compares to ridership? In the "bad old days", the rule of thumb was that fare increases generally caused ridership to drop out of proportion to the fare increase such that overall revenue would drop. I suspect that rule of thumb is no more, particularly in NJ where the alternatives to NJT range from bad to expensive!

The 1980 to 2007 fare increases work out to a six fold increase over that time period. Inflation was roughly three fold, so NJT are double what inflation alone would have done.

[henry6]

I don't think the old "rule of thumb" holds true today, at least not as much as it did say 10 to 20 years ago.  Today there is more congestion on the highway, more awareness of pollution, and even with NJ's low gas tax the cost of fuel is higher.  You also can't just look at NJ soil in making judgments because there has also been NY-NJ Port of Authority toll increases coupled with parking and traffic on Manhatten Island itself.  And Mayor Bloomburg will be talking about banning cars south of whatever streets once again.  All this despite a down economy, too.  I'm an "outsider" being an Expatriot of the Garden State, but I feel Christie is either being very short sighted in his dealing with both bus and rail services of NJT or still back in  the "good ole days" of cheap gas burning in supposedly clean air on highways built on otherwise useless and wasted open space.  Or he's in the pocket of the old school portion of the so called highway lobby.  Urban planners, traffic planners, highway planners, you name the planners over the past 10 to 20 years who have been urging more mass transit, that there is a lack of new space for highway building, there is growing traffic congestion, and there are choking pollution problems all to be addressed,  Is Christie, like many, feel that this present economic down turn is permanent and thus feel there no need to prepare for the future much less serve today?   There is a lot that bothers me, and I hope others, in Christie's handling of mass transit problems. Not that there isn't room for improvement or adjustments that need to be made from time to time, but not so shortsighted and damaging as have been projected.

[BNSFwatcher]

An oft-cited statistic, back in the "Really Bad Old Days" (1950s), was that one New Jersey County (Hudson?  Union?) levied local taxes on the Central Railroad of New Jersey that were more than the gross revenue the railroad took in in the entire state!  How does NJT fare, on the tax issue?  Do they get any relief?  Could that be a part of the fare increase problem?

Hays -- born in Union County, and not at all proud of it!

[henry6]

The other great story of NJ state taxes on railroads in the 50's was the building of the NJTurnpike Extension through JC on CNJ, Erie, and DL&W properties.  Built upon railroad property, forced change in track arrangments, etc, and then deemed a property improvement and raised the tax.  NJ had quite a problem back then with railroads being charged taxes higher than industry and business.  The railroads of the state formed the NJ Association of Railroads as a lobby and public relations group and did a massive advertising campaign. 

[henry6]

Did a Ridewithmehenry trip yesterday leaving Port Jervis at 9:20AM changing trains at Secaucus Jct. around 11:30AM, and at Newark Broad St. at 11:54AM arriving in Gladstone at 1:18PM then returned leaving G'lstn 2:01, arriving Hoboken 3:33, lv Hobken 4:08 and back in Port 8 minutes to the good at 6:05.  SecJ's escelators great advantage in making connections; all crews friendly and helpful, equipment in pretty good shape except for very dirty wndows out of PJ in the morning. 

But did hear an interesting and tellling statistic that when a train handling 29 people daily was cut the effect was over 100 lost passengers because of other trains loosing patronage. In other words, as often pound away, passenger rail, be it commuter or long distance, is not running trains but providing a service.  The bean counters pull everything apart penny by penny not realizing that in providing a service the sum of 100 pennies is often more than a dollar!

[ns3010]

Unfortunately, I had school, or I might have been able to go. Yeah, I know, school is always getting in the way!

I just sent Transit a comment over their website

The decision to eliminate the ORT may have been shortsighted because, although it will create more revenue per ticket sold, it may also possibly discourage potential riders. If it costs that much more to travel, passengers may choose their car as a way to save costs.

Additionally, the ORT tickets discouraged riders from traveling during peak periods, if avoidable. If there is no discount for off peak travel, it may cause passengers to travel during peak periods, causing problems for many trains that are already overcrowded and/or standing room only. The discount prevents unnecessary travel during peak times, which makes a major impact on the crowds on trains.

Although I understand that it is necessary to raise fares in order to keep revenue at acceptable levels, I believe that cutting and trimming in the appropriate areas can help to offset, but not eliminate, the need for such a high fare hike. As planned, the elimination of unnecessary/low ridership trains helps a lot to save operating costs. Also, running longer trains farther apart is useful because it utilizes equipment that may be sitting unused, and reduce the overall number of crews needed.

 

We'll see what happens...

[henry6]

Neither MNRR nor LIRR offer ORT.  They do however have PEAK and lower OFF PEAK fares without a round trip discount.  And over both their fares I believe are higher than NJT's fares.  How can I politely say that Jerseyans are spoiled?  NJ has the lowest gas taxes (NJ State, not Federal tax), and the lowest commuter fares (and the lowest commuter rail wages, too).  Bringing NJT up to regional standards is what is needed to allow for the exploring of more interagency operations: the more equal the partners (MNRR? LIRR? SEPTA? or ???) the better the chances of making equitable and useful agreements.

As a non commuter, as a non resident of the Metropolitan area, but a frequent user of all services, I have rarely had a really bad experience with any train, any crew, any bus, light rail, any service.  And I always feel that the price I've paid (both regular and Sr. discount fares) have been well worth the value.  While I can understand the pressure of dealing with a household budget and having to fight for every penny, I also find the pricing for regional services to be extremely fair and workable.  On Thursday evening riding #51 a handful of regular commuters were discussing this very topic noting that one of them had deserted the train for his car. But none of them agreed that it was the financially senseable thing based on insurance, gas, tolls, parking, wear and tear on car and nerves, and even timing.  NJT, even with higher rates is still going to be a transportation bargain.  I just hope the Christie and the powers that be study the real nitty gritty of operating this service for the good of the State and its constituants seeing that not provideing NJT services as full as possible, is actually more cost effective for both the State and its constituants.  I can only hope the NJT riders can see this and rally against the cuts but know it is worth rallying for higher fares at the same time.  they'll still be further ahead.

[schlimm]

Raise peak fares

Offer off-peak fares and weekend all-day flat rate tickets.

Don't cut services unless the train is running on empty

[ns3010]

The thing is the ORT is the only discount fare (not including monthlies, weeklies, 10 trips, student monthlies, senior, child, etc.). Without the ORT, it won't matter when you travel, be it peak, off peak, weekend, holiday, whatever. If it costs the same no matter when you travel, then there might as well not even be a peak time printed on the schedules.

It's hard to cut service in places where it's already lacking. The midday service on the Montclair-Boonton is basically non existant. By cutting 1024, 1025, and 1028 (1029 will be replaced, not entirely cut), you're putting a 5 hour service gap on that line. Yup, by cutting three trains (2 EB and 1 WB), people between Denville and MSU have basically no trains outside of peak periods. Absolutely rediculous. At that point, you might as well shut down the line and replace it with busses.

[henry6]

I think I see what they have rationalized.  There are very, very few one-way's during peak periods and the one-way fare is higher than multi ride commuter tickets. So rather than create another rate for peak one-way they have just one one-way ticket price.  In other words, they rationalize they don't have a peak rate one-way ticket, only an off peak one-way rate good anytime instead.  Thus a round trip is two off peak one-way rate.