TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Commuters in New Jersey who take nearly 1 million trips on the state transit agency’s trains, buses and light rail cars each week are facing a roughly 9 percent fare increase.
That’s because New Jersey Transit, which last week proposed its first fare increase since a 22 percent hike in 2010, is awash in red ink. The agency cited rising costs generally, but also the price of health care and retirement benefits for employees specifically. The agency’s most recent financial documents show a $22 million net income loss year-to-date for the period ending Feb. 28.
Without the fare increase, the agency says, NJ Transit faces a $60 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. Already, Executive Director Ronnie Hakim has said the agency has slashed $40 million in overtime costs, fuel savings and in vehicle parts.
That’s not enough, though, to buoy the agency, which has a $1.35 billion operating budget.
Here’s what commuters can expect as a public comment period on the proposal gets underway:
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WEIGHING IN
By law, NJ Transit is required to hold a public comment period before raising its fares. The agency will hold one information session and nine public comment hearings across the state from May 16 through May 21. The hearings will be in the evenings and the information session on Saturday to promote public participation.
The sessions will be held in New Brunswick, Atlantic City, Freehold, Secaucus, Camden, Newark, Hackensack, Trenton, Morristown and Paterson.
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COSTS AND CANCELLATIONS
Fare increases will affect rail, light rail and bus service. A roundtrip rail ride, for example, from Metropark to New York Penn Station will go up $1.50 to $21.50, while a monthly pass will go from $284 to $310. A half-dozen bus lines across the state would also be cut back, including two lines from Freehold and Philadelphia to the Great Adventure amusement park.
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POLITICAL CROSSFIRE
The proposed fare hike hits on several political fault lines in the state.
It comes as lawmakers consider Gov. Chris Christie’s $33.8 billion budget proposal and as he pushes back against making a nearly $3 billion payment to the public pension fund. He’s called for a $1.3 billion payment, but unions and Democrats say he should the higher figure set in a 2011 law. Christie argues the state doesn’t have the money. Republican lawmakers are linking NJ Transit’s retirement benefits, which Hakim said contributed to the budget gap, to the fight between Christie and unions over public pensions.
“The driver for the 9 percent is pension and health benefits,” said Republican state Sen. Jennifer Beck. “That’s why we have the increase is because of fringe benefits, and the cost of them has gone up so much they’ve had to raise fares. It sort of brings us full circle.”
Legislative Democrats, though, link the fare hike to Christie’s decision not to come up with a new revenue source for the state’s $1.6 billion transportation trust fund. The Christie administration has proposed paying for transportation costs through a combination of new debt as well as a loan repayment of almost $242 million from NJ Transit.
“Let’s not forget how the administration is patching together transportation funding for next fiscal year by using $241.5 million from NJ Transit, along with more borrowing that will saddle future generations with debt,” Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said.
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