NEWARK — New Jersey Transit’s proposal to raise fares on its buses, trains and the Newark subway system over six years was sharply criticized at public hearings tonight here and in five other cities around the state, according to the New York Times.
Commuters, environmental groups and advocates for mass transit denounced nearly every aspect of the proposal and said higher fares would drive riders onto the roads, increasing highway congestion.
“A fare increase is a tax increase,” said William Wright, secretary of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, a commuter group based in Freehold. “History tells us that higher fares will lead to the spiral of fewer riders, higher fares and the ultimate destruction of New Jersey Transit.”
Under the proposal, fares would be increased an average of 10 percent on April 1. In addition, five annual increases tied to the rate of inflation could be imposed.
The proposed increase is intended to raise $44 million for the fiscal year that starts July 1 and help offset a deficit estimated at $169 million.
The agency’s board is scheduled to vote on the proposed increase on Monday, one day before Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco leaves office. If the board approves new fares then, which is considered likely, Mr. DiFrancesco will have time to approve them and spare his successor a politically unpalatable chore.
Many of the 125 people at the Newark hearing criticized a provision allowing New Jersey Transit to order the inflationary increases without public hearings. One commuter, Gary Johnson of Edison, said the five annual inflationary increases could amount to 3 percentage points a year, for a total of 25 percent.
In Freehold, commuters complained about poor service and crowded trains and said higher fares would force them to consider alternatives to mass transit. “If that happens, you’ll have one more car on the parkway,” said Ken Allan, a bank employee from Brick Township.
As an alternative to the fare increase, Mr. Wright’s organization, as well as the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which promotes mass transit, called for a 10-cent increase in the state’s 10.5-cent gasoline tax and asked that the revenue be dedicated to New Jersey Transit.
At a news conference before the hearings, Jeffrey A. Warsh, New Jersey Transit’s executive director, noted that the agency had no power to increase gas taxes. He said he hoped that Governor-elect James E. McGreevey and the State Legislature would increase the agency’s annual state subsidy, now $260 million, by $125 million to plug the deficit.
At a news conference this afternoon, Mr. McGreevey declined to take a position on the fare proposal or on any other new transportation financing.
Besides the projected $169 million deficit for the fiscal year starting July 1, the agency expects a $3.1 billion deficit in both the operating and the capital budgets for the five fiscal years after that.
Some of that shortfall involves projected costs for a major new rail hub in Secaucus; although work has begun, its opening was thrown into doubt after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Other expenses include a new concourse for New Jersey rail passengers in Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, a new train station at Newark International Airport and 30 transit police officers hired in the wake of the attacks, Mr. Warsh said.
Besides increasing fares, the proposal would:
–Eliminate the 25 percent discount on weekday round-trip excursion fares on trains.
–Create a uniform fare — $3.30 one way — between Newark’s two train stations and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. The current fares are $2.50 between Newark’s Penn Station and Manhattan and $3 between Newark’s Broad Street Station and Manhattan.
–Reduce the ticket discount for passengers 62 and older to 50 percent from the current 55 percent.
–Raise the surcharge for buying tickets on trains to $5 from $3.
–Eliminate refunds for unused one-way tickets.
–Combine one-zone and two-zone bus routes into a new single zone with a one-way fare of $1.20 and a monthly pass costing $49.