(The following story by Tom Davis appeared on The Record website on May 12, 2010.)
BERGEN, N.J. — More than 1,500 North Jersey commuters will be trying to catch different trains once NJ Transit’s service cuts take effect May 23, officials said Wednesday.
The service cuts also could lead to layoffs as NJ Transit’s largest rail union has refused to eliminate or defer a 3 percent salary hike in fiscal year 2011.
NJ Transit plans to cut seven trains on the Morris and Essex lines, four trains on the Main/Bergen line and two trains on the Pascack Valley line as a way to help plug a $300 million budget gap.
The Pascack Valley reductions won’t take effect until June 21 because they will be coordinated with changes on the Metro-North line, which originates in New York and connects to the NJ Transit service, spokesman Dan Stessel said.
James Weinstein, NJ Transit’s executive director, said the canceled trains had low ridership — compared to other lines — and were scheduled close enough to other departing trains so commuters could easily switch.
“We’re trying to minimize the changes as much as possible, but still maintain the savings so we’re on a sound financial footing,” he said.
Some of the canceled services operate at peak times — including a 5:27 a.m. train departing from Hackettstown and a 5:06 p.m. departure from Hoboken, both on the Morris and Essex lines.
On the Pascack Valley line, a 4:56 a.m. departure from Spring Valley and a 6:55 p.m. train leaving Hoboken will either be discontinued or no longer serve New Jersey stations, Stessel said.
The service cuts will come three weeks after NJ Transit raised train fares 25 percent, and bus fares 10 percent. Out-of-state bus fares jumped 25 percent, and off-peak round-trip discounts that were used by about 17 percent of rail users were eliminated.
Stessel said the reductions on most of the lines had to be coordinated with schedule changes on Amtrak, which owns the Northeast Corridor between Trenton and New York.
Transportation advocates appeared at the agency’s Wednesday meeting to criticize the changes, saying NJ Transit is trying to balance its budget on the backs of mass transit users.
“It’s the kind of downward spiral they had in the 60s and 70s — it’s a disaster in the making,” said David Peter Alan, an advocate. “Every time they cut a train, people who are transit-dependent lose mobility.”
Patrick Reilly, general chairman of the United Transportation Union, said the service cuts “means less workers, and following that will be the layoffs.”
“It means more crowded trains,” he said. “If they eliminate the trains, the passengers have to go somewhere else.”
Reilly, whose union represents 1,200 rail workers, said the union plans to discuss its discontent with NJ Transit’s actions when the UTU’s contract expires on July 1, 2011.
His union already has already joined the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen in rejecting NJ Transit’s request to eliminate or defer a 3 percent salary hike in fiscal year 2011.
“In the last contract, we gave them some concessions on work rules, so we feel like we did our part at the table,” he said.