(The following story by Steven Lemongello appeared on the Press of Atlantic City website on February 18, 2010.)
TRENTON, N.J. — The language was grim but the specifics were few in Thursday’s Assembly hearing about $33 million in subsidy cuts for NJ Transit proposed by Gov. Chris Christie.
New NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein told the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee that a 4 percent cut in rail and bus service “is not an unreasonable thing” — especially since 4 percent would equal the drop in ridership on NJ Transit’s system in 2009.
Assemblyman John Amodeo, R-Atlantic, who sits on the transportation committee, said he hopes the Atlantic City Rail Line, which runs between Atlantic City and Philadelphia, would avoid further service cuts. NJ Transit already cut a popular early morning run to Philadelphia last month.
“We’ve got to lose something, but we have to really look that what we lose does not hurt our commuters,” Amodeo said before the hearing. “We have to look at ways to cut (the deficit) down that are more reasonable than raising fares.”
Weinstein assured legislators that his agency would go about any service reductions “with a scalpel and not a meat axe,” stressing that they would be across-the-board cuts and not target at any particular region, route or line.
Low-income residents of rural areas of southern New Jersey, especially sprawling Cumberland County, have long sought more public transportation to connect with jobs.
Service on the Atlantic City Rail Line, meanwhile, could be reduced even as proposed upgrades — including a new station in the Pomona section of Galloway Township — are completed as planned. Such projects are funded through the agency’s capital budget and would not be affected, NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said.
Officials couldn’t comment on any possible changes to rail line fares — though passenger fares paid for less than 17 percent of the Atlantic City Rail Line’s $24 million operating costs in fiscal year 2009, compared with a statewide average of 50 percent. The line is the most heavily subsidized in the state, excluding light rail.
In March, a series of public hearings will be held statewide to hear from passengers affected by fare increases and rail cuts. The dates, times and exact locations have yet to be determined, but Stessel said one of the hearings would be held in Atlantic City.
‘Hard and difficult’
Weinstein’s testimony to the committee comes after Christie’s announcement that he would cut about $33 million from NJ Transit’s $296 million operational subsidy for the current fiscal year 2010, which ends in June. Christie said the subsidy reduction is necessary to help him balance the state budget.
Weinstein told the committee that fiscal year 2011 could be “even more grim,” estimating NJ Transit could run at a $300 million deficit for that fiscal year — $100 million more than had been anticipated. Contributing factors include the unlikelihood of receiving any more federal stimulus dollars — $150 million designated for NJ Transit in the so-called “Stimulus 2” has been stripped out of the bill — plus the costs of fuel and contracted employees.
“I’m obliged to balance the budget,” Weinstein said. “Make no mistake about it, it’s going to be hard and difficult. We cannot ask the state for a handout it can’t afford to give.”
Weinstein did place some guidelines on how the cuts would be made.
“We will not compromise safety and service reliability,” he said. “We will not ask customers to pay more at the fare box until we’ve identified every efficiency and sacrificed internally. … We’re still developing budget and action plans and reviewing every option, from reducing payroll and fringes to hedging fuel costs to cutting overhead and back-office costs.”
‘The little guys’
While authorities in Trenton discussed NJ Transit’s future, people waiting for a bus at the Pleasantville bus terminal said they oppose fare increases or service cuts. They complained that NJ Transit buses are often late and that a week after a series of storms, they still have to walk through snow and ice to get on and off the bus.
Grover Savage, 57, of Kline Avenue in Pleasantville, said reductions could ultimately reduce the number of people who take public transportation. Coming back from work in Atlantic City he said, “So many things that could benefit from (public transportation) are not going to benefit.”
It was unfair to people who take public transportation, he said, and could have ripple effects. “You can’t cut out the little guys because the little guys are the ones who keep everybody in business.”
Loretta Edward, of Martin Luther King Boulevard in Atlantic City, said NJ Transit should either be improved or privatized. She has taken public transportation since emigrating from Trinidad 18 years ago, and buses are consistently late, she said.
“I’m waiting,” she said Thursday afternoon. “That’s all we ever do. Wait, wait, wait.”
Jenna O’Brien, 19, of the White Horse Pike in Hammonton, said cuts would hurt people who can’t afford other transportation. She was midway through a two-bus commute that takes two hours one way to travel between her home and the Prism Career Institute in the West Atlantic City section of Egg Harbor Township.
“A lot of people need the bus. No one I know has a car,” she said. “They can’t cut a service that everybody needs.”
Alternatives to cuts
Among the alternatives to service cuts, Weinstein suggested at the hearing was changing the frequency of bus routes — for example, a bus that currently arrives every 20 minutes would instead arrive every 25.
“It sounds so simple when I say it,” Weinstein said, “But it’s not simple. There are federal requirements, rules you have to follow. (But) if we can effect a savings by adding a 5-minute time to buses, that’s the kind of scalpel I’m talking about.”
For his part, Amodeo suggested that “stable” private businesses could pick up the slack in case of any route reductions — or even complementing existing routes. The independently owned jitneys of the Atlantic City Jitney Association, he gave as an example, might be able to provide more service on Atlantic Avenue.
“Maybe that can relieve some debt,” he said — although Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, Bergen, said that his district has had “difficulty” with private carriers, including one that “stranded 1,000 people before NJ Transit stepped in.”
Assemblyman Matt Milam, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, asked Weinstein about how NJ Transit purchased its fuel — through contracts, not on a commodities market or co-operative — and what would be done with any surplus equipment. Weinstein answered that he didn’t know.
Milam also floated the idea of NJ Transit, the state Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority being combined into one agency.
“I think that’s not unrealistic,” Weinstein responded.
Contracts with several of the employee unions are up in July, including the bus operators in the Amalgamated Transit Union, or ATU, and the security personnel represented by the Fraternal Order of Police and the Patrolman’s Benevolent Organization. Contracts for rail operators represented by the United Transportation Union, or UTU, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen don’t expire until 2011.
Weinstein did say that any salary reductions in the NJ Transit work force would be across the board.
“If folks, agreement or nonagreement, are asked to take a salary reduction, it has to begin at the top,” he said.
John Costa, the state ATU executive, took issue with what he said was Christie’s characterization of union workers having “rich contracts,” saying that the average ATU worker makes $40,000 and approved a pay freeze in 2009.
Daniel O’Connell, of the UTU, said that “prior to the global recession, mass transit in the U.S. was at a 52-year high, and the reason was simple: The price of gas was at $4 per gallon. Mark my words, when this economy gets better, the price of gas will go up.” If NJ Transit service “is inconvenient because of service cuts or unaffordable because of fare hikes, we will all be the losers.”