NJ Transit taps former Amtrak exec to head agency

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey Transit named a former Amtrak executive Wednesday to head the state’s mass transportation agency as it emerges from a contentious labor battle and confronts continued economic challenges.

NJ Transit’s board unanimously approved William Crosbie as executive director at a special board meeting Wednesday.

Crosbie is a former chief operating officer at Amtrak, where he oversaw areas including transportation, infrastructure and security. He replaces Ronnie Hakim, who left last fall to take a job at New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

While NJ Transit’s bus and rail unions have both reached agreements with the agency in the last several months, other challenges remain for Crosbie.

LABOR COSTS

Last month’s rail union agreement averted a strike that would have been the agency’s first in more than 30 years and would have affected more than 100,000 daily commuters who travel from New Jersey to New York.

Interim executive director Dennis Martin told federal arbitrators during negotiations that the contract sought by unions would cost NJ Transit roughly $180 million and would require another fare hike. Union officials disputed that assessment.

The agency raised fares an average of 9 percent last year, the fifth increase since 2002.

After an agreement was announced March 11 that gave the unions much of what they were asking for, Gov. Chris Christie said the deal won’t require a fare hike through at least June 2017.

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DEDICATED FUNDING

The fare hikes were necessitated by a $60 million budget gap, even after NJ Transit made $40 million in cuts, officials said at the time.

State subsidies have fallen from $285 million in the 2012 fiscal year to $40 million in 2015, according to figures provided by NJ Transit.

Those realities may be more consequential than who occupies the executive director’s chair.

“We’ve got to get a dedicated source of funding,” NJ Transit board member Ray Greaves said this week.

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RIDER SENTIMENT

Last year’s fare hikes combined with riders’ perceptions that delays and overcrowding are increasing has created a backlash in some quarters. The fact that many of the delays are caused by equipment and infrastructure that is owned by Amtrak often is lost in the din.