(The following story by Karen Rouse appeared on The Record website on March 18, 2010.)
BERGEN, N.J. — The state’s new transportation chief wants to use the Turnpike Authority — and its considerable assets — to help fund the state’s transportation system.
A gas tax increase and Route 80 tolls are not on the table, Jim Simpson told The Record in his first interview since being confirmed as transportation commissioner.
“The New Jersey Turnpike is a very profitable entity,” he said. “There is more money, more profit to be made out of the turnpike without impacting New Jersey residents with increased tolls.”
The Route 80 tolls — an idea he told the Judiciary Committee he would consider — lacked support, Simpson said. And a gas tax increase burdens state drivers – not out-of-state companies whose trucks batter New Jersey roads, he said.
“You can’t just say let’s just double the gas tax or let’s just even toll the road or let’s increase tolls until we know what the needs are,” he said.
Simpson said he is will listen to citizens, management and unions at NJ Transit, elected officials like Bergen County’s Sen. Loretta Weinberg, builders and transportation watchdog groups to find solutions.
“We’re going to do things a lot differently,” he said.
The candid-talking 53-year-old said he plans to do away with the “cozy” relationships and politics he claims have influenced transportation decision-making.
“Politics gets in the mix and decisions are made for other reasons than for transportation,” Simpson said. Rather than relying on a cost-benefit analysis or experienced transportation planners, special interests barter for projects built with the public’s money, he said.
Simpson said he wants to first determine what it costs to maintain the existing infrastructure, then use data like traffic volumes, congestion statistics and cost-benefit analysis to see what new projects are vital.
Meanwhile, all highway and transit projects approved before 2008 and not already in progress have to be reviewed, he said.
Simpson estimates that it will cost $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion to keep roads and bridges in good repair.
The state currently has a $3.5 billion transportation capital program for the 2010 fiscal year. Of that, $1.6 billion comes from the Transportation Trust Fund, which is supported in large part by a 10.5-cent-per-gallon gas tax.
However, starting in mid-2011, revenue generated by the fund must go to pay off debt resulting from years of borrowing and refinancing.
As a result, the state will lose its primary source of transportation funding unless a new revenue source is found, according to a report released last week by the Regional Plan Association.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski has proposed a graduated increase in the gas tax to help fill the gap. Every penny increase in the tax could generate as much as $50 million for capital projects, Wisniewski said.
Simpson, however, said the “roads should be subsidized by the trucking companies that use the roads.”
As transportation commissioner, Simpson heads the boards of NJ Transit, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the |South Jersey Transportation Authority.
At last month’s Turnpike Authority board meeting, Simpson gave staff and board members a taste of the kind of scrutiny he plans when he grilled officials over the awarding of a contract to one firm over another firm that offered a lower bid.
“I’m going to try to squeeze a heck of a lot more money out of the turnpike,” he said.
Specifically, he told The Record, he wants to see the Turnpike Authority, which had a $481 million budget last year, get more money from concessions, sign¬age and right-of-way contracts for fiber-optic lines.
Concessions last year brought in $35.2 million, while fiber-optic right of way brought in $3.3 million, figures show.
Simpson said extra revenue could go to transportation projects outside the agency, which he noted has already committed $1.25 billion in funding for a mass transit tunnel over the next seven years.
“I can go to the Legislature and say, ‘Here, these are there extra cash flows that we have from the turnpike,” he said.
Simpson said he would leave it up to the Legislature to decide how to spend any extra dollars he can pull from the turnpike assets, but that they should be used for transportation-related projects.
Simpson also wants more automated tolling.
Franceline Ehret, president of the union that represents turnpike toll collectors, said she doesn’t believe entirely automated tolling is imminent, but “we would work with the administration.”
Simpson’s other ideas for funding transportation include:
• Streamlining the Transportation Department, including removing homeland security and aviation offices that he said duplicate work already handled by the federal government.
• Asking the Port Authority to assist with repairs on roads that access the ports of Elizabeth and Newark.
• Building public-private partnerships with companies that could repair or build transportation infrastructure, such as repairs to the Pulaski Skyway, with private funds.
For mass transit, Simpson said, he faces two major issues — finding a dedicated source of funding for NJ Transit’s operations and collective bargaining agreements he said contribute to the need for fare hikes.
NJ Transit has proposed a 25 percent fare hike, service cuts and other measures to reduce a $300 million deficit.
Simpson said “archaic work rules,” such as a requirement that NJ Transit keep a worker at a station even if ticket sales are automated, deny managers the flexibility to deploy employees where needed.
“We need reform on work rules and pension benefits,” he said. “If today we need you to be a conductor on a train, that’s fine. If we need you to be a service station attendant, that’s fine.”
Calls to the United Transportation Union, which represents conductors, were not returned. However, Rich Darcy, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said swapping out jobs is not simple because many of the rail positions are specialized.
Engineers, for instance, are subject to 3,000 rules, regulations and requirements, he said.
Simpson said “labor contracts and benefits, not just in New Jersey, but in systems around the country,” have gotten way out of hand.
At NJ Transit, he said, labor costs have increased 8.3 percent as the result of union agreements. “Employment costs have increased $81.4 million because of labor contract increases by collective bargaining agreements and overtime costs,” he said.
NJ Transit has a $1.4 billion capital budget, and a $1.8 billion operating budget.
Simpson, a former administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, said he doesn’t take fare increases lightly.
“The last thing anybody wants to do is put a fare hike for people who are transit dependent, older Americans and people who require transportation to get from point A to point B,” he said.