June is a big month for celebrating anniversaries. Even New Jersey Transit is celebrating an anniversary this month.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of NJT’s Midtown Direct train service, which brought a one-seat ride to New York Penn Station to riders on the Morris & Essex Lines. The one-seat ride was made possible through building a rail link that allowed trains on the Morris & Essex Lines to merge on to the Northeast Corridor in the Kearny Meadowlands. The service was added on June 10, 1996 and weekend service was introduced on September 8, 1996. Before Midtown Direct, Manhattan-bound Morris & Essex Line customers had to transfer to PATH or trans-Hudson ferries at Hoboken Terminal. The direct services translate to a savings of 20 minutes of travel time in each direction.

But this direct access into Manhattan has done more than just save time; increased train capacity to Manhattan also means increased access to jobs in Manhattan. And better access translates to higher demand — and higher home values in the areas served by the Morris & Essex Lines. A Regional Plan Association report showed that after Midtown Direct service was implemented, home values rose by an average of $23,000 (in 2009 dollars), or $25,070 in 2016 dollars.

Had Governor Christie not cancelled the Access to the Region’s Core project, which would have also provided a peak-hour one-seat ride for NJT Raritan Valley Line riders, home values on that corridor would have increased by a cumulative $18 billion. ARC was scheduled to be complete in 2018.

But it will be at least another decade before New Jersey commuters and property owners see a transformative improvement like Midtown Direct. Given NJT’s history of capital-to-operating transfers, there’s no reason to expect the completion of the Hudson-Bergen Light rail extension, the Glassboro-Camden line or any other major transit projects before there’s a new Port Authority Bus Terminal or the Gateway Tunnel project is completed.