Today, a scoping session for parts of the Riverside South development in Manhattan will be held today from 6:00 to 8:45 PM at the City Planning Commission located at 22 Reade Street. This portion of the large development, being proposed by Extell Corporation, would occupy West 59th Street to West 61st Street along the [...]
Some of the MTA's proposed fare increases (for more, see links in the article below).
What does doomsday look like? The MTA answered the question over the holidays, releasing an official menu of the onerous fare hikes and service cuts that will take place if state legislators do not pass the Ravitch Commission’s [...]
 (Clockwise from left:) Rendering of new NJ Transit rail station in NYC, section of 12-lane NJ Turnpike, new NJDOT Commissioner Stephen Dilts, NJ Transit's GoBus route. The Corzine administration spent much of 2008 trying to fund three megaprojects. One was the Access to the Region’s Core project to build a second rail tunnel connecting NJ and New York City, a vital project that will double NJ Transit rush-hour capacity into and out of NYC. The other two were unwise widenings of the NJ Turnpike from exits 6-9 and the Garden State Parkway from exits 30-80, which together could cost over $3 billion.
Early in 2008, the governor pushed his “asset monetization” plan which would bond against huge highway toll increases to fund the three projects and replenish the state’s nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund — the funding source for most transportation capital projects. By the spring it became clear that the hugely unpopular plan had no chance of passing the State Legislature. The critical question of how to fix the Trust Fund was pushed aside for later, and smaller toll increases on the Turnpike and Parkway were approved in September to fund the three megaprojects.
Unfortunately, the state’s focus on megaprojects, especially the highway widenings, seems to have come at the cost of a broader transportation policy. In December, the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection released a draft greenhouse gas plan full of progressive transportation recommendations like transit-oriented development and complete streets legislation. But the plan said nothing about the Turnpike and Parkway widenings, which would clearly increase the state’s emissions.
New Jersey Transit
Due in part to skyrocketing gas prices and continued investment in transit projects, NJ Transit was poised for another year of record ridership in 2008. It continued to expand and improve its network, laying the groundwork for many more years of increased ridership.
Governor Corzine further solidified his commitment to transit by increasing the agency’s operating budget by $60 million over the previous year. Unfortunately, NJ Transit once again had to divert capital dollars to cover operations (for an earlier look at this pattern, see MTR # 564).
NJ Transit’s biggest project, the ARC passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson River, made great advances in 2008, and the state can fully fund its portion of the project after making the innovative decision to use New Jersey Turnpike Authority toll increases to fund the transit tunnel. If NJ Transit receives final approval on environmental documents, which could happen in the next few weeks, it would be eligible to receive federal transit funding and move forward. Similarly, the federal stimulus package expected under the Obama administration also has the potential to spur construction in 2009.
NJTransit took a leap toward bus rapid transit with the April premiere of GoBus in Newark. Servicing the 4.8-mile corridor between Irvington Bus Terminal and Newark Penn Station, the new line offered improved seating, lighting and passenger information displays, streamlined service with fewer stops, and redesigned user-friendly shelters among other amenities. It proved so popular that NJ Transit doubled service a mere 5 months later.
In the fall, NJ Transit began construction of a new Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station, at 8th Street in Bayonne. Unfortunately, the agency also approved the first phase of the Lackawanna Cutoff rail project, planning to build a station in the sparsely developed Highlands that could induce greenfield construction and is not projected to attract many riders.
On another disappointing note, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission voted in April to allow the construction of a 4,280-space parking garage and a 1,094-space surface lot near NJ Transit’s Secaucus Junction rail station.
Overall Trend in 2008: Up. Securing funding and completing the ARC Tunnel environmental study are major accomplishments, and it’s good to see the agency getting involved in innovative bus projects like GoBus.
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 (Clockwise from left): New Haven after a boulevard conversion of Route 34, new ConnDOT Commissioner Joe Marie, Hartford-New Britain Busway, a station on the New Haven-Springfield Commuter Rail line. Last year, MTR wrote that Connecticut was “poised for success” after the state began to embrace progressive transportation policy reform in 2007. Though a broad overhaul of Connecticut’s transportation policy did not occur in 2008, ConnDOT is clearly more focused on transit and transit-oriented development than in 2007. New Haven also embraced livable streets policy, becoming a hotbed of civic and political advocacy.
Jan.-May: ConnDOT Reform and Legislation
2008 began with the release of a much anticipated report from the Governor’s Commission on the Reform of ConnDOT. The report set the stage for effective planning reform throughout ConnDOT, emphasizing the prioritization of road and bridge maintenance over expansion (“fix-it-first”) and policies that would support smart growth initiatives and reduce driving. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on these thoughtful ideas, Governor Rell introduced a bill to split ConnDOT into a Department of Public Transportation, Ports and Aviation and a Department of Highways, which would have forced the agency to spend much energy on structural rather than policy reform. Thankfully, the legislation was not enacted.
In addition to the proposal to split ConnDOT, the General Assembly session started off with some bold transportation initiatives. However, by the end of the session, bills that would have improved access for bikes and pedestrians, and increased funding for bus operations were dramatically watered down.
The Connecticut Bond Commission also dedicated $75 million to a bridge and road repair program. While the program was billed as “fix-it-first,” it did not represent a fundamental shift in the way the State allocates funding to transportation projects. ConnDOT spends the majority of the road and bridge money in its capital budget on expansion rather than maintenance and repair.
New ConnDOT Commissioner
The biggest coup of the year in Connecticut transportation news, however, was the appointment of Joseph Marie as the new ConnDOT Commissioner in late April. A self-proclaimed “transit guy,” Commissioner Marie has spent the latter part of the year getting to know the lay of the land in Connecticut. But by all accounts, his appointment looks like a boon for progressive transportation policy reform in Connecticut. Eight months into his new job the Commissioner is already discussing the link between transportation and land use, has publicly supported transit-oriented development and corridor planning efforts, and is looking into how the Department can fast-track projects like the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter rail line and the Hartford-New Britain Busway. All are vast improvements over previous commissioners’ efforts.
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 (Clockwise from left: Rendering of a Sheridan-less Hunts Point, NYSDOT Green LITES program, pedestrian deaths on Long Island, transit ridership numbers for Tappan Zee project. 2008 began and ended very differently for New York, and transportation was no exception. The first half of the year was dominated by discussion of New York City’s congestion pricing proposal to fund MTA projects and reduce traffic. In March, Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned, throwing state government into turmoil. By the end of the year, the global economic slowdown had sent the MTA, the state, and NYC scrambling for funds and put the MTA on the brink of financial collapse. From a policy perspective, 2008 has seen steady improvement from state and city agencies. But the fiscal crisis could overwhelm recent policy innovations and mean a harsh 2009, especially for transit riders.
MTA
The MTA began 2008 with an ambitious vision. CEO Lee Sander held the first “State of the MTA” address in March, describing a planned 5-year capital program that would be the agency’s largest ever and complete the LIRR East Side Access connection into Grand Central and the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway.
But financial realities quickly set in, as the agency continued to strain under a debt load caused by years of underfunding by the state and city, and its disastrous decision (backed by then-Gov. Pataki) to borrow billions of dollars in 2000. A fare increase went into effect in March, the MTA withdrew planned service increases, congestion pricing failed to make it through the State Legislature, and many capital projects including the LIRR Third Track were delayed.
As the problem unfolded, Gov. Paterson created a commission, led by former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch, charged with fixing the MTA’s finances. The commission began work in the summer and released its report in December, recommending a payroll tax and East River bridge tolls to fill the agency’s operating and capital needs and increase service, especially for bus riders. At the end of the year, the MTA unveiled a doomsday budget of fare hikes and service cuts that will be staved off only if state elected officials adopt the Ravitch Commission plan or an alternative which raises a similar amount of money.
The Ravitch Commission report also included several recommendations to improve the MTA’s transparency and governance, which were much-needed. During the congestion pricing debate, it became clear that public distrust of the agency had an impact on elected officials’ willingness to support increased transit funding.
MTA staff displayed more policy innovation than in years past, though the MTA is still far behind many of the other transportation agencies in the state and city. Under Sander, the MTA made progress towards regional bus, launched NYC’s first bus rapid transit route, and announced it would study high-speed tolling on its bridges and tunnels. Individual MTA agencies have made progress on promoting development near its transit stations, although the agency has been slow to launch a formal program. The agency is also working to improve its relationship with the riding public, via line managers and a new service advisory text and email alert system.
Trend in 2008: Up, but policy improvements won’t mean much if the MTA’s financial issues lead to drastic service cuts and fare hikes in 2009.
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Masthead Mobilizing the Region is published by the staff of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
Editors
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