(The following story by Steven Lemongello and Thomas Barlas appeared on the Press of Atlantic City website on February 18, 2010.)
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie’s proposal to cut NJ Transit’s subsidies comes just as the Atlantic City Rail Line is planning to expand.
Transit officials have proposed building a new station in Egg Harbor Township, near Galloway Township’s Pomona section — a station that could turn into a major work transit hub for the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center and future businesses such as the Next Generation Aviation Research and Technical Park. This comes as lines across the state already have seen numerous service cuts — including a popular early morning Atlantic City-to-Philadelphia run that was canceled less than a month ago.
Today, the public will get to hear more about the state’s plans for NJ Transit when the state Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee meets at 10 a.m. to hear public testimony.
But despite Christie’s proposing cuts, raising fares and some service decreases, it is possible work on the Atlantic City Rail Line upgrades could continue, even though trains and service to the Pomona station may be severely reduced. The proposed station is part of NJ Transit’s capital budget, not its operating budget, so it probably will not be affected by the subsidy cuts.
Another factor: “A lot of federal money that New Jersey gets from the Federal Transit Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation comes with specific strings attached to be used for certain purposes,” said Paul Larousse, the director of the National Transit Institute at Rutgers University. Building the new station to serve workers at the FAA and Next Gen Park could very well proceed, even with fewer trains, he said.
“You can’t use (the money) for other purposes,” said Larousse. “People may ask, ‘Why are they building a station now?’ But a lot of that may be economic stimulus money, stimulating jobs (in construction) while cutting jobs from the operating budget.”
NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said Wednesday that no final decisions have been made about which lines might be affected by cuts to the operating budget. He said he could not provide a breakdown of the current operating budget.
Calls to the governor’s office for comment were not returned.
NJ Transit’s options
Christie revealed his subsidy-cut decision Feb. 12 to a joint session of the Legislature as part of a budget deficit reduction plan. He wants to cut about $33 million from NJ Transit’s $296 million subsidy for the current fiscal year. He also said the state must reduce future subsidies to NJ Transit and force the agency to become more financially self-sufficient.
Passenger fares paid for only $4 million of the Atlantic City Rail Line’s $24 million in operating costs in fiscal year 2009. The other $20 million came from subsidies in the form of advertising and parking revenues and sources that include state income tax funds, according to NJ Transit and the state Department of Treasury.
As the cost of running the Atlantic City Rail Line increased over the years, so did the size of the subsidy: The figure was $10 million in fiscal year 2000 and nearly doubled by 2009. About 77 percent of the line’s operational costs were subsidized by the state in fiscal years 2000 to 2008 before jumping to 82 percent in fiscal year 2009.
Rutgers’ Larousse said that there were few good options available to NJ Transit.
One of the easiest ways to generate more money for operations, he said, is to raise fares. “But that could also cause ridership to go down,” he added. “It’s not a one-for-one proposition.”
NJ Transit had been considering more trains and stations for the Atlantic City Line, which has the largest percentage of its operating costs subsidized by state funds of all NJ Transit rail lines, excluding light rail.
The Atlantic City Rail Line already took a service hit Jan. 17, when NJ Transit canceled a run popular with many southern New Jersey residents who work in Philadelphia. The train left the Atlantic City Rail Terminal at 5:49 a.m. on weekdays, with riders saying it got them to their jobs in Philadelphia at just the right time. NJ Transit blamed the cut on ridership declines caused by a slumping economy and said other runs on other rail lines were also cut for the same reason.
While NJ Transit officials said earlier that specific upgrades for the Atlantic City plans are still being analyzed and there are no cost estimates for the proposed work, other projects indicate the potential expense. The Pennsauken Transit Center, for instance, will link the Atlantic City Rail Line with the River Line, NJ Transit’s light rail system that runs between Trenton and Camden. The project, which includes a bi-level station and parking lot, will cost $40 million.
‘A jobs express’
The Atlantic City Rail Line is the only rail system that crosses southern New Jersey and enters Pennsylvania. The train travels 64 miles between Atlantic City and Philadelphia, with stops in Absecon, Egg Harbor City, Hammonton, Atco, Lindenwold and Cherry Hill. Rail advocates say the line is crucial for southern New Jersey workers.
“Gamblers take the highway,” Matt Mitchell, of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, said last month. “This is a jobs express.”
One of those jobs is held by Tammy Brennan, a 47-year-old bartender at Bally’s Atlantic City.
For years, Brennan drove to work from her home on Frankfurt Avenue in Galloway Township’s Germania section. A co-worker finally suggested she try the train, which she did about two-and-a-half years ago.
“When (increasing) gas prices started kicking in, I thought I would just see,” she said last month. “I love it.”
The trip from the Egg Harbor City train station to Atlantic City takes about 14 minutes, she said, and, with incentives provided by Bally’s, the commute by rail costs slightly more than $13 per week. She said that’s a lot better than when she spent $3 to $5 per day for parking, $1.50 in daily tolls and about $40 per week on gasoline for her 8-cylinder pickup truck.
Additionally, a jitney shuttles her back and forth between the Atlantic City Rail Terminal and Bally’s.
“It’s like door-to-door service,” Brennan said. “You cannot beat it. Also, in bad weather, I don’t have to panic anymore.”
More changes to the Atlantic City Rail Line, she said Tuesday, would only drive away more Atlantic City casino-goers.
“It gives us a lot of bad press,” she said of the existing cuts in service. “You overhear customers when you’re riding on the train. When you hear them say, ‘Well, it’s a lot easier to go to a casino closer to home,’ you can see the effect on Atlantic City.”
Further cuts in service, she said, “would be totally devastating for Atlantic City. Things are tough enough as it is.”
At the Atlantic City Rail Terminal on Tuesday, continuous changes to the train schedule had already inconvenienced Carol Weaver, of Egg Harbor City, formerly a regular of the 12:40 p.m. outbound train. A recent schedule change to 12:29 — made with little advance notice — leaves her scrambling every day.
“It’s hard for me,” Weaver said. “I get out of work at noon, and I have to get out in five minutes to get the shuttle to the train station.”
Demand for station
Still, the changing schedule, cuts in subsidies and potential new costs are not discouraging stakeholders from supporting more Atlantic City Rail Line service and upgrades.
In Galloway Township, Herman J. Saatkamp Jr., president of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, believes the proposed Pomona station would serve not only the technical center and research park, but also his college and Atlantic City International Airport.
“The station itself is important for a variety of reasons,” he said Tuesday.
Stockton, Saatkamp has said, has 7,500 students and 900 employees, and gets about 10,000 campus visitors annually. Finding a way to get more of them to visit without driving cars meshes with the college’s green mindset, would reduce parking congestion on campus and would help clear up traffic backups on Jimmie Leeds Road, he said.
The station would also make the line more attractive for students who cannot afford cars, Saatkamp said. The station would help link the main campus with its proposed satellite campus in Hammonton, and create an affordable and easy way for students to take advantage of cultural and entertainment events in Atlantic City and Philadelphia, he said.
With little information coming out of Trenton, riders and residents can take comfort that the process will eventually be aired in the open, Larousse said.
“Before they raise fares and cut service, there will be public input,” he said, including today’s Assembly hearing. “It may be frustrating, but maybe an alternative will come out of the process. Yes, the budget’s been cut, but how are these cuts going to be addressed?”
“The public will have a lot to say about that,” Larousse said. “As they will about a lot of stuff.”
NJ Transit operating subsidies
NJ Transit relies on a number of funding sources to operate its rail and bus service.
Some of the money comes from revenue NJ Transit earns from advertising and parking-lot operations. Passenger fares are another source.
The agency also relies in part on taxpayer money to subsidize its operations.
For instance, the state gave NJ Transit $296.2 million in operational subsidies for fiscal year 2010. The money comes from the state’s general fund, which is essentially a depository for all state revenues, except those which have a specific use as outlined under state statue.
Revenues in the fund include income tax funds. No information was available on amount of tax revenue used as part of NJ Transit’s operating subsidy.
The following shows the overall subsidies, in millions, given to NJ Transit in fiscal years 2000 through 2010:
* 2000: $149.2
* 2001: $209
* 2002: $254.4
* 2003: $259.6
* 2004: $193.8
* 2005: $278.7
* 2006: $273.7
* 2007: $300.7
* 2008: $298.2
* 2009: $348.2
* 2010: $296.2
(Source: NJ Transit, state Department of Treasury)
Potential Atlantic City Line improvements
NJ Transit is considering several ways of increasing service on the line, which runs between Atlantic City and Philadelphia.
More stations
One station at Pennsauken is currently under construction. The $40 million facility will link the Atlantic City Line with the River Line light rail system that runs between Camden and Trenton.
Another station could be built in Egg Harbor Township, near Galloway’s Pomona section. The station would service agencies such as Atlantic City International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration’s William J. Hughes Technical Center and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
A third station could be built in Woodcrest, Camden County. The facility would be a second transfer station for the Atlantic City Line and PATCO’s High Speed Line.
Laying a second track along portions of the line
The majority of the Atlantic City Line is single-tracked. That means some trains must pull onto sidings to allow other trains to pass. That helps limit the number of trains that can run on the line.
Given that it costs tens of millions of dollars to add one mile of new track, it’s unlikely this proposal will go far. NJ Transit officials said they’ll more likely extend sidings as a way of running more trains.
Adding more trains
The line currently runs 28 trains a day. NJ Transit believes that increasing that number, coupled with more stops, would boost ridership by making it more convenient for travelers to use the line.
Station access
NJ Transit may use shuttles to get people to and from Atlantic City Line stations. The agency must determine how far to run the shuttles.
However, NJ Transit officials said using shuttles would be one way to link The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey with the proposed Pomona station.