Good morning, my name is Corey Hannigan, and I am the Active Transportation Program Manager at Tri-State Transportation Campaign. TSTC is a non-profit advocacy and policy organization, dedicated to fighting for improved mobility, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability in our region. I’m here in opposition of the proposed fare hikes. 

Let’s put these fare hikes in context. NJTransit train commuters already pay the highest fares of the nation’s 10 biggest commuter railroads. Now we are asked to pay 15% more, and then 3% more every year after that, forever? It’s just too much.

I don’t have a car, and I take NJT regional rail, light rail, and buses, often with my bike onboard to expand my range further. When I was finishing my degree at Rutgers, the round trip to New Brunswick cost me $28 per day. With this new fare increase, that trip would cost $32 dollars. And then 33 the next year, 34 the next. Where does it end? And is one week of in-person only meetings enough to really hear from the public on a forever fare increase?

This proposal might have made sense when the agency was facing a $1B annual shortfall, but now that the governor has proposed a corporate transit fee to provide $800M in dedicated annual funding, shouldn’t we pause to reconsider this dramatic fare increase?

New Jersey is facing a triple-threat of unaffordability, fossil fuel-driven climate change, and roadway fatalities. We should be looking for ways to encourage *more* people to walk, bike, and  take transit, and this would do just the opposite.

There are ample other sources available to plug the remaining funding gap. In particular, the governor could cancel the plans to widen the NJ Turnpike through Newark and Bayonne, which would increase truck traffic and diesel exhaust in environmental justice communities, and instead use that money to fund transit, which takes cars off the road.

Trains and buses are an essential public service for working families in New Jersey. They keep countless cars off the road, and carbon out of the air. As Governor Murphy said in his State of the State Address – “commuters have always paid their fair share, and depend on our transit system every day.” So let’s look for alternatives before we burden them further.