The board of NJ Transit unanimously voted to raise fares and cut service yesterday, spurring activists, advocates, elected officials and individual citizens to bring their frustrations to the streets and the board room. Originally planning to raise fares 25% across the board with significant service cuts, the agency scaled back the proposal, reducing the local bus and light rail fare increases to 10% and restoring service on the Access Link paratransit service and on dozens of bus routes.

After the vote, NJ Transit executive director James Weinstein made an important promise: “Short of the world coming to an end, we’re not going to be looking for a fare hike for quite a while.” Advocates called on Governor Christie to back that commitment. “Pledge to transit riders that you won’t raise fares again during your first term,” TSTC Executive Director Kate Slevin said in testimony.  “Riders will be suffering because of your recent actions, and they deserve your word that won’t ask them to pay more for less service again.”

Outside, activists rallied at 1 Penn Plaza chanting “No more cuts” and brandishing brightly colored signs. Organized by Next Step: People with Disabilities for Social and Economic Justice and NJ Citizen Action, demonstrators linked the agency’s proposal to a restriction on mobility for disabled users, who are not only faced with service reductions, but will no longer be able to get off-peak discounts.  “That’s when many of us go to the doctors to avoid the crowds,” said Ethan Ellis, founder of Next Step. “That’s when many people do their shopping — and they will be caught in that trap.

Inside at the board meeting, Gary Johnson, a transit-dependent Newark resident frustrated that drivers have not been asked to pay their fair share, said “My way is not the highway,” adding, “Most residents would rather pay a few extra cents per gallon [of gas] to keep today’s nearly 900,000 daily transit riders off of the highways so they don’t have to add to travel delays; after all, time is money. Think of it as a traffic relief fee.”

TSTC’s Slevin urged the agency to take several specific actions to address the crisis. To address the near-term crisis, she submitted a letter signed by 26 labor, business, planning, environmental, equity and transportation organizations calling on NJ Transit to use 10% of its available stimulus funds for operating expenses, as allowed by law, which would garner the agency approximately $42 million. To address the long-term shortfalls, she called on the Governor and legislature to fix the Transportation Trust Fund, and include a dedicated source of operating revenue for Transit.

New Jerseyans Deserve a Fare Deal

Through TSTC’s website, New Jerseyans can ask the governor to promise state residents he’ll avoid another devastating NJ Transit fare increase during this term in office.