(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 23.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Daily ridership on NJ Transit trains and buses rose more than 5 percent in the past fiscal year, topping 800,000 trips for the first time, the agency said Thursday.
Nearly 37,000 more trips were being taken daily by June 30 than a year earlier, which NJ Transit executive director George D. Warrington credited to expanded rail, bus and light rail service.
“Coupled with a strong regional economy and job market, and oil price increases, more people are relying on public transportation than ever before,” Warrington said.
Light rail, the newest and least-used mode, saw the biggest gains. Use of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail rose by nearly one-third, to 21,050 daily trips, while the River Line in southern New Jersey now has 6,100 weekday trips, a nearly 30 percent gain over the prior year.
More people were also commuting to New York. Bus trips to the Port Authority Bus Terminal rose 8.4 percent, to 163,700, while 140,000 rode the rails into Penn Station New York, up nearly 2 percent.
Use of the Northeast Corridor trains grew more than three times the rate of other lines, with 4,450 new trips.
NJ Transit also Thursday announced plans to improve the public address systems at more than 20 stations. An $846,000 contract will allow for new speakers as well as the replacement or addition of signs that can provide updated information.
The agency also approved $1.4 million to rehabilitate the Beach Thorofare Waterway Drawbridge on the Atlantic City Rail Line, and $1 million to rehabilitate Camden’s Walter Rand Transportation Center. The work is to be done in about a year.