(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Geoff Mulvihill on March 13.)
CAMDEN, N.J. — This semester, Mindy Chapin gave up her parking pass at Rutgers University-Camden, a sign that she was sold on the much-derided River Line, which began carrying passengers two years ago this week.
Chapin, a nursing student, drives a few miles from her home in Moorestown to the station in Palmyra, where she catches a River Line train to campus. “It’s just less stressful,” Chapin said, adding that the train allowed her to study on her way in.
One by one, converts are dramatically driving up ridership on the light-rail line, though the increase is not putting a dent in the cost to taxpayers.
In February, weekday ridership averaged 6,912 – nearly 1,000 more than a year earlier.
“We are making it work,” said Joe North, NJ Transit’s general manager for light-rail operations. “It is becoming an effective people-moving transit system.”
Whether the River Line would become a cost-effective way to move commuters has always been a big question, largely because the line stretches from Camden to Trenton through several old industrial communities where the population has declined.
Fares for mass-transit systems rarely cover all operating costs, and taxpayers make up the difference.
The government subsidy for the River Line is exceptionally high. For each one-way trip, the state pays $7.77 per passenger just to cover the operating cost – compared with $3.21 for New Jersey’s other light-rail system, the Hudson-Bergen line.
In addition, it costs New Jersey taxpayers about $49 million a year to pay back the debt incurred for construction of the River Line.
On most big transportation projects, including the Hudson-Bergen line, the federal government pays part of the construction bill. But the federal government did not help the River Line, which cost about $600 million to build, because it did not think the line was necessary.
The Hudson-Bergen line, which runs through a densely populated area just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, has about three times as many weekday riders as the River Line.
NJ Transit officials say the River Line’s success should not be judged by how many riders it carries but by how much economic development it sparks.
Some businesses have said the trains were a major factor in their decisions to open or expand along the 34-mile route. In Cinnaminson, for example, a new residential development will have direct access to the train platform. And across from the Riverside station, Zena’s Patisserie & Cafe has expanded from a small bakery to a booming lunch spot.
Camden’s aquarium, amphitheater, and minor-league baseball park and other attractions have helped boost ridership, especially in the summer and on weekends, North said. The best months in the first two years came in the summer, with 199,361 riders in July 2004 and 215,537 in July 2005.
Two factors in the last year have made the River Line more attractive to commuters who transfer to New York-bound trains in Trenton, North said. In July, NJ Transit raised the fare from $1.10 to $1.25 per one-way ride, but also started allowing people with weekly or monthly rail passes to ride for free. And in October, Amtrak raised the cost of monthly passes for commuters between the Philadelphia area and New York.
North said the River Line was trying to be convenient to the growing number of South Jersey residents who work in New York by setting schedules that accommodated transfers with NJ Transit’s Northeast Corridor line.
Southbound morning trains can be standing-room only as they head to Camden, filled with Rutgers students, people who work in Camden, and others who connect in Camden to buses or PATCO High-Speed Line trains into Philadelphia.
Passengers seem to have little to complain about the train, other than wishing it ran later at night. The River Line received the highest score ever on a recent NJ Transit customer survey, North said.
One of the satisfied riders the other day was Jomar Paez, 21, who was heading to class at DeVry University in Philadelphia after getting on a few blocks from his home in Palmyra.
“It’s much easier than taking the bus,” he said.