(The following article by Joe Malinconico was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger website on September 23.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Never before has NJ Transit handled so many passengers on its buses, trains and light rail lines.
The mass transit agency’s ridership climbed by more than 5 percent during the past year, reaching a record level of 800,900 one-way passenger trips per day, according to statistics released yesterday.
“These demand trends are fueled by the new and expanded rail, bus and light rail services we’ve put in place,” said NJ Transit executive director George Warrington. “Coupled with a strong regional economy and job market, and oil price increases, more people are relying on public transportation than ever before.”
Among the services added in recent years were the Secaucus Junction train station and the light rail lines in Hudson County and South Jersey.
The growing demand for mass transit has strained the system, as officials have added scores of trains and buses to the schedules. The increased service has left little margin for error when equipment breaks down, creating a cascading effect of delays that has frustrated riders.
Some of the biggest growth was on the bus routes into New York, which added 12,850 passenger trips per day; on the Hudson County light rail, which picked up 6,000 new passenger trips a day; and on the Northeast Corridor trains, which handled an extra 4,450 passenger trips a day.
Overall, the agency’s bus lines handled 518,950 passenger trips per day. Its trains handled 236,900 daily trips and the light rail system carried 45,050 passengers.
In other developments at yesterday’s NJ Transit board meeting:
— NJ Transit is looking to design trains that would operate on both electricity and diesel fuel in order to give Raritan Valley Line rail riders a one-seat trip into Manhattan. Right now, those riders have to switch trains in Newark.
The so-called dual mode passenger cars and locomotives would run on electricity between Newark and New York and use their diesel engines on the rest of the route where the tracks do not have overhead power lines.
NJ Transit yesterday approved a $10.4 million engineering contract that including about $5.7 million worth of work on the dual mode trains. The railroad plans to run Raritan Valley lines trains directly to New York after a second rail tunnel gets built, a project that’s supposed to be done by 2015.
— A Teaneck law firm has gained a piece of NJ Transit’s legal work.
The agency yesterday voted to retain DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler for a $350,000 share of the special counsel contract. That leaves $750,000 for the law firm that handled the work the past three years, Hill Wallack of Princeton.
Until 2002, NJ Transit had staff attorneys perform much of its legal work. At that time, the agency retained Hill Wallack for a $960,000 legal counsel contract.
— NJ Transit approved the purchase of 184 minbuses for a program that provides transportation to people with disabilities.
The $9.9 million minibus purchase will allow NJ Transit to replace 103 vehicles and to expand service by adding 81 buses to the fleet, officials said.
The program, known as Access Link, provides about 2,000 trips per day for people with disabilities who are unable to use existing bus services. The services takes people to medical appointments, to shopping centers and on other errands.
— Mass transit riders frequently complain about waiting at stations and terminals, not knowing when a delayed train or bus might arrive. The agency yesterday approved an engineering contract that officials said puts into motion a $27 million project to install improved public address systems at 22 train stations and bus terminals.
Among the places that will get the improved announcements, which will be provided through computer systems, are train stations in Edison, Elizabeth, New Brunswick, Rahway and Westfield and bus facilities at Irvington, Jersey City’s Journal Square and the Old Bridge park-and-ride.
But commuters shouldn’t get their hopes up for change anytime soon. The job is supposed to take three to four years, officials said.
— NJ Transit approved a revised contract with the company the state hired to operate its light rail system in Hudson County, which officials say will save the agency about $5 million per year.
Under the new contract, NJ Transit police will provide security on the system, replacing guards who had been on the payroll of the private company, 21st Century Rail Corp. NJ Transit also will provide utilities for the system, which it gets at a cheaper rate than 21st Century Rail.
Under the change, NJ Transit will pay the company $40 million a year once three new stations open in Weehawken, Union City and North Bergen this winter. The payments under the old contract would have been $45 million, officials said.