The approximate locations of NJ Transit's major bus projects. (Springfield Ave. GoBus is already running; the others are being implemented or studied.)

An expansion of Newark’s GoBus service is only the first of many bus projects NJ Transit has in the works, TSTC learned after a recent meeting with agency staff. Statewide bus plans include projects on Route 9 in Monmouth County, Bergen and Passaic Counties, and Route 1 in Central NJ. But the agency faces several obstacles to bus rapid transit expansion in some of New Jersey’s most congested corridors.

In many cases, the quality of existing infrastructure is the largest hindrance to progress. In some places, old traffic signals prevent NJ Transit from implementing full signal prioritization. Other bus corridors center around highways where there are almost no sidewalks or other pedestrian amenities.

Most bus shelters in the state are maintained by private companies or local governments, giving NJ Transit limited control over their design and upkeep. This makes it difficult to implement one of the quintessential components of a “true” BRT system, updated shelter design. Features like pre-boarding fare collection and “next bus in X minutes” information greatly enhance the overall efficiency and customer experience.

In parts of the state, BRT planners have gotten pushback from local businesses who fear that loss of parking for bus lanes will alienate customers. In others, business owners want better bus access and feel that existing studies will not give it to them.

NJ Transit overcame one obstacle to better bus service in January of this year, when the State Legislature passed a bill that adjusted state regulations on bus axle weights. This clears the way for NJ Transit to buy low-floor buses, which provide easier and quicker access for passengers as they get on and off the bus.

Below is a brief outline of NJ Transit’s major bus projects:

Newark: Bloomfield Ave. – Newark Airport GoBus

Closest to completion is a project to enhance bus service along the busy Bloomfield Ave. corridor in the Township of Bloomfield and the City of Newark, connecting to the Newark light rail and the Springfield Ave. GoBus. As part of the Liberty Corridor initiative, the route also establishes a one-seat ride to the airport and connects to existing bus service to the port areas of Elizabeth and Newark.

Signal prioritization will be implemented along the whole corridor, but not at every intersection. NJ Transit planners told MTR that they are looking at Staten Island’s Victory Blvd., where NYCDOT has installed signal prioritization to speed up multiple bus routes, as a model.

However, the planned route runs on both City of Newark and Essex County streets, which use two different signal systems. Newark’s signals are too old to allow signal priority and would need to be replaced entirely. Some local merchants have balked at extension of dedicated bus lane hours, due to the loss of parking.

Replacement of some traffic signals and construction of new shelters with improved passenger information (funded through the federal economic stimulus) began in the spring. Exact location of stops has jet to be determined, but service is expected to begin by the end of 2009.

Route 9 (Monmouth & Ocean Counties)

In 2006, buses gained access to Route 9’s shoulder lanes on a 4.2-mile stretch in Old Bridge. NJ Transit now aims to enhance existing bus service by extending the use of the highway’s shoulder lanes for buses from Old Bridge south to Lakewood. Implementation could likely begin as soon as the engineering analysis wraps up, if funding for the project is identified.

Bergen-Passaic Bus Study

This wide-ranging study is a joint effort between the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and NJ Transit to improve bus service in Bergen and Passaic Counties, potentially improving access to northern Essex County, northern Hudson County, central and southern Passaic County, southern Orange and Rockland Counties in New York, and Manhattan (particularly via the George Washington Bridge).

Potential capital improvements include new and restructured bus and shuttle routes; vanpool, carpool, or other non-traditional transit programs and subsidies; shoulder lane, “queue jump” operations, and transit signal priority to expedite buses through congested intersections; new or enhanced park and ride facilities and transit hubs; improved passenger facilities and access at bus stops; and informational enhancements and better coordination of various transit services.

The main centers already identified in the study are William Paterson University, Bergen County Community College, Hackensack Medical Center, and numerous malls. William Paterson University will lead an examination of how to maximize student ridership. Longer term plans include bus service between Paterson and Morris County on the Broadway corridor.

The business community south of Route 4 is angry that it is not in the initial scope. The perpetually congested Route 17 may only have two stops, partially due to the complete lack of pedestrian infrastructure along the roadway. One possible solution is shuttle service between Route 17 bus stops and nearby destinations.

The next step in the process is a series of stakeholder meetings, broken up into subgroups such as Education and Shopping. According to NJTPA, the study should conclude by next summer.

Central NJ Route 1 Bus Rapid Transit

This study envisions bus rapid transit through Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset Counties as part of the Route 1 Regional Growth Strategy. The BRT system is estimated to transport 31,200 person trips per weekday and will include several park and ride lots. Since such a system could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the study also includes a plan to phase in implementation.

NJ Transit is currently working on ridership analysis, route configuration, and a growth strategy that will tie into any bus plans for the corridor. For example, the expansion of the Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrenceville will include a pedestrian overpass that makes the mall accessible to bus riders. A completed study is expected by early 2010 (how soon any construction would begin is an open question and likely depends on many factors, including the progress of the Regional Growth Strategy meetings.)

Routes 42/55 Bus Rapid Transit

Announced in May, this joint project between NJDOT and the Delaware River Port Authority proposes dedicated bus lanes on I-676 and Routes 42 and 55, speeding bus travel between Gloucester County, Camden, and Philadelphia. The bus study is part of a larger South Jersey transportation plan including a new light rail line and improvements to the Atlantic City Rail Line. The agencies are seeking federal money for the project, which is clearly years away.

The Museum of the City of New York will host a panel on “The Future of the MTA” on Wednesday, July 15 at 6:30 pm. The panel is well timed, since the agency is going through a leadership transition, has been impacted by the economic crisis, and will soon release a five-year capital program that is only partially funded. Henry Stern of New York Civic will moderate a panel consisting of:

• State Assemblymember Richard Brodsky, who chairs the Assembly committee on public corporations, authorities, and commissions;
• NYC Councilmember Gail Brewer;
• the Manhattan Institute’s Nicole Gelinas, who contributes regular columns on the MTA and financial issues to the New York Post;
• and Transportation Alternatives executive director Paul Steely White.

Tickets can be purchased at a discounted rate of $6 by calling 212.534.1672, ext. 3395, and mentioning the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. The Museum is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue (at 103rd Street) in Manhattan.

Since 2007, NYSDOT has been conducting a “Managed Use Lanes” study, aimed at getting the most out of the NYC-area road network without expanding highways. Managed lanes can be as passe as carpool lanes or as high-tech as speed limits that dynamically change if computers sense an accident up the road. They include busways and other transit priority features, as well as road pricing measures like high-occupancy toll lanes. With little news or communication from NYSDOT over the last year, it was unclear what would come out of a study that could, in theory, recommend virtually anything.

But the study appears to have gained some sense of direction, based on a presentation given at a recent stakeholders committee meeting. By November, the study team will release a list of at least five specific projects that can be built within 5 years. By the end of the year, NYSDOT plans to begin preliminary engineering and design on any projects that make it through a round of public hearings.

The 18 "high priority" corridors (click to enlarge).

It’s not clear what these projects will actually be, but the study singles out 18 “high priority” corridors that, based on a detailed set of criteria, could benefit from managed lanes. It also identifies eight “current opportunities” where the MUL study overlaps with other transportation initiatives in the region. These include supporting express bus operations — a recommendation coming out of New York City’s bus rapid transit expansion plans — and opening the Henry Hudson Parkway to small commercial vehicles.

The study goals include “maximize the use of the existing network,” “promote smarter energy consumption,” and “support sustainable land use.” Hopefully that means that a significant number of the projects NYSDOT chooses to advance into design are transit-supportive ones like a continuous bus corridor on the Staten Island Expressway, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and Gowanus Expressway; or a high-occupancy toll lane on the Long Island Expressway.

The presentation described above will be on NYSDOT’s study website shortly.

The widely-reported Urban Mobility Study from the Texas Transportation Institute, released today, finds that nationwide travel delay due to congestion declined slightly from 2006 to 2007. In the 25 years that the study examines, this represents one of the few years that travel delay has declined.   TTI points to spiking gasoline prices and the beginning of the economic downturn to explain the improvement in congestion.

Traffic on the Staten Island Expressway.

In the tri-state region, the trend mirrored the national picture, with travel delay falling in the New York City-Newark urban area, and holding steady in the Philadelphia, Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport-Stamford urban areas.

Even so, commuters in New York City still spent more than a typical work week (44 hours) stuck in traffic on an annual per capita basis.  In Philadelphia, the figure was 38 hours. TTI calculates that Stamford-Bridgeport commuters spent 33 hours in traffic. In Hartford and New Haven, commuters spent 21 and 19 hours in traffic respectively. The cost of wasting all that time in traffic (in extra fuel and lost productivity) amounted to an astounding $11.2 billion annually for the entire tri-state region.

Coverage of the TTI report sometimes omits the role of mass transit in alleviating congestion, which is significant. TTI estimates that without the region’s subways, commuter rail and buses, tri-state commuters would have spent almost 343 million more hours stuck in traffic, at a cost of $7.4 billion annually.

The most congested urban area is the country in 2007 was Los Angeles, where the average commuter lost 70 hours a year to traffic.

Image: Staten Island Advance file photo.

Over the holiday weekend, Governor Rell took time out from budget negotiations with legislative Democrats to sign the Complete Streets bill, legislation that was passed last month by the Connecticut General Assembly.  The law, the first of its kind in the tri-state area, dedicates 1% of transportation funding to bike and pedestrian infrastructure, establishes a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, and directs the ConnDOT Commissioner to provide a report at the end of 2009 and 2010 that consists of a list of bicycle and pedestrian access projects funded by the State Transportation Fund and by federal programs like the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ). In the past, ConnDOT has largely relied on one-time federal earmarks to fund bicycle and pedestrian projects and often ignored other federal sources.

Rell.

Governor Rell should be applauded for signing the bill fairly quickly, and Representative Thomas Kehoe and State Senator Donald DeFronzo deserve plaudits for shepherding the bill through the General Assembly.

However, it is now up to ConnDOT to fill a gap in the bill, the removal of a provision from the original legislative draft that would have predesignated CMAQ and Highway Safety Improvement Program funding for Safe Routes to School, Safe Routes for Seniors and Safe Routes to Transit programs.  If ConnDOT made it departmental policy to fund these programs, it would show that change can happen from within the agency, and not only as the result of legislative and executive directives.

Regardless, the enactment of a complete streets law is a major step  towards creating safer environments for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists alike, and Connecticut’s supportive elected officials should be applauded.

The Goethals Bridge Replacement Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been released by the U.S. Coast Guard and Port Authority.  The design remains largely the same as presented at the stakeholder meetings last fall, including three lanes in each direction, a peak hour HOV/bus lane, and a space in the center of the bridge for possible future transit expansion between NY and NJ.

A rendering of the replacement bridge.

The addition of one lane in each direction on the span will attract 28% to 40% more traffic, partly from trips diverted from the Outerbridge Crossing, according to the DEIS.

The added capacity will result in less congestion on the bridge itself, but traffic conditions on the surrounding roads and approaches will markedly deteriorate.  Worst hit is  I-278 and the New Jersey Turnpike at interchange 13 and the Bayway Circle/ Bayway Ave. corridor in Elizabeth, NJ.  The impact on the Staten Island Expressway (SIE) is not insignificant: traffic in the peak hour and direction is projected to rise 11% in the AM and 12% in the PM.

To deal with the increased traffic, the DEIS investigated several traffic mitigation measures.

The winner was a peak hour bus/HOV3+ lane extending across the Goethals, along the Staten Island Expressway to the Verrazano Bridge.  However, according to the DEIS, the initial alternative was complicated by NYSDOT’s decision to abandon an extension of the current SIE bus lane to the Goethals, instead terminating it at Richmond Ave.  Mitigation for impacts at the SIE/West Shore Expressway would likewise require NYSDOT to redesign the interchange.  The DEIS does not address the impact of NYSDOT’s  “pilot program” that allows cars with two passengers in the Staten Island Expressway bus lane during peak hours.

The plan also calls for system management changes, such as signal changes, restriping, reduced parking at approaches and the creation of turning lanes, at impacted corridors like Bayway Avenue/Bayway Circle and the local roads around the Verrazano Bridge.

Still missing is a commitment to ensure that there is bicycle and pedestrian access to the span.  While a 10-foot-wide sidewalk and bike path will be constructed on the north side of the new bridge, there is no indication of an agreement with the communities on either side of the bridge to provide access, needed since doing so will require construction in areas outside the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard and Port Authority.

The current bridge also has a narrow walkway, but over the last couple of decades it has been closed more often than it has been open. (The Port Authority simply lists it as closed without indicating why or whether it will reopen.)

Public hearings will be held on July 8 in Elizabeth, NJ and July 9 on Staten Island. Written testimony can be submitted until July 28 through the study’s website.

Image: From Goethals Bridge Replacement EIS.

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign continues to oppose the widening of the Garden State Parkway between exits 30 and 80 because the project will not relieve congestion and will create fewer jobs than projects that fix existing roads and bridges.

The NJ Turnpike Authority’s own studies show that portions of the new Parkway lanes will be filled with traffic as soon as construction is complete.

“Building more lanes just to be stuck in more of the same traffic is a waste of drivers’ and taxpayers’ money,” said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a regional policy watchdog organization. “New Jerseyans deserve better.”

A recent Smart Growth America report found that road repair and maintenance generate 16% more jobs than highway expansion and employ more types of workers.

More effective alternatives that would manage traffic in the new lanes were not adequately studied by the Authority. These include: high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, which would allow HOV and buses but require solo drivers to pay a premium toll to enter the lane, mass transit, congestion pricing, or smaller projects to eliminate key bottlenecks.

The Campaign has a lawsuit pending over environmental permits for the Parkway project and questions how a project of this magnitude can move forward before the case is decided.

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson.

New Rochelle has a message for developers in this Westchester County city: put in bike parking or put a check in the mail.

A new bike parking requirement requires developers to install one bike parking space for every 10 car parking spaces built for new commercial or residential buildings (with 10 or more units), or pay $300 in lieu of each required bike parking space.  The fee is the same price as a rack for two bikes, which is exactly how the city intends to use the opt-out money.

The pioneering measure is part of Mayor Noam Bramson’s effort to make the city more bike-friendly, reduce energy consumption and provide healthier living for the city’s 72,ooo residents.

“This is one of several steps New Rochelle has taken and hopes to take in order to become more bicycle-friendly and provide residents with transportation options that promote public health, enhance recreation, and reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions,” Mayor Bramson told the Journal News.

New Rochelle recently installed 18 bike racks, designed by a local artist, near City Hall, two parks and its only high school.

The mayor’s move complements countywide efforts to increase cycling and walking options.  In May, over 40 people from around the county met for the first meeting of the Westchester Biking and Walking Alliance.  The group is advocating for a dedicated county bicycle and pedestrian coordinator and is working with local municipalities for more balanced streets.

Meanwhile, farther south, legislation to expand bike access to buildings throughout NYC was just tabled by the City Council’s transportation committee.

A CT Transit bus.

[UPDATE: You can now send an e-mail to Gov. Rell opposing the fare hike by visiting TSTC's website here.]

Last week, both chambers of the Connecticut General Assembly passed a budget without bus fare increases, a victory for transit advocates in Connecticut who have been fighting the governor’s proposed 40% fare hike on CT Transit buses and 10% fare hike on Metro-North service.  However, Governor Rell has indicated that she will veto the budget because it increases income and other taxes. There do not appear to be enough votes in the legislature to override the veto, meaning that elected officials will need to renegotiate a budget.

At the urging of Bridgeport bus riders, the Transit for Connecticut coalition is circulating a petition that calls upon on Connecticut’s elected officials to oppose the fare hike and fight for transit riders in Connecticut.  If you would like to support this initiative you can download the petition here. You can also e-mail Gov. Rell through TSTC’s website.

Image: Wikipedia Commons / Adam Moreira.

Parts of Newark are close to light rail but not commuter rail stations.

Last week, state legislators passed the New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act of 2009, an omnibus bill designed to stimulate private sector development and job growth while revitalizing urban hubs. Sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Joe Roberts, A4048/S2299 expands the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit by broadening the definition of a “transit hub” to include light rail stations and businesses that are located along and utilize rail freight lines, doubling the geographic radius for Camden, and lowering the minimum investment needed to qualify.

The expanded tax credit program will provide a 100% corporate business tax credit to companies planning capital projects that invest at least $50 million and create or relocate 250 jobs within a half-mile of a transit station, and within one mile in Camden.

Similarly, the bill creates an Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant program to encourage redevelopment in transit villages, “centers of place,” and port and airport areas. It authorizes Newark and Elizabeth to impose a 5% rental car tax to fund local redevelopment activities.

Image: Newark Light Rail system map.