(The following article by Rudy Larini was posted on the Newark Star-Ledger website on March 3.)
NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit needs regular fare increases tied to inflation and dependable state funding to stabilize planning for the state’s rail and bus operations, the agency’s executive director said yesterday.
George Warrington said the transit agency has for too long operated on a roller coaster of one-shot fare increases and relatively flat state aid that makes its economic projections less reliable.
“What I’m suggesting is we all need to work together as policymakers toward a firmer economic foundation for this business,” the executive director said. “From a business point of view, I think it’s very important to establish a firm, businesslike foundation for the economics of the company.
“It’s not just about fare increases. It’s about a long-term fare scenario that allows for reasonable, periodic fare increases at a minimum to keep pace with inflation, coupled with predictable state appropriations to support both inflation and expansion of the system.”
Warrington said he did not know whether fare increases would be needed for the budget year that begins July 1.
“It’s too early to make judgments about what the budget picture will look like,” he said, adding the 2007 budget scenario would become more clear in about a month or two.
NJ Transit raised fares by an average of 9.9 percent last July, but prior to that, fares had risen only once since the early 1990s.
Warrington said predictable fare increases based on inflation and the consumer price index would eliminate the need for the large, one-shot increases that have characterized NJ Transit’s operations in recent years.
“But even inflation-based fare increases will have to be supplemented by some level of state appropriations,” he said.
As for capital spending, Warrington said he was encouraged by Gov. Jon Corzine’s plan to stabilize the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which will increase NJ Transit funding for capital projects from $525 million to $675 million a year.
He said the agency plans to use the trust fund money, combined with increased federal aid under a five-year transportation law Congress passed last year, to replace all 1,200 buses in the NJ Transit fleet in coming years. The money also will be used to replace 42 diesel locomotives and 1970s-era Arrow III self-propelled rail cars on the Northeast Corridor, Morris & Essex and North Jersey Coast lines. In addition, the agency plans to rebuild 148 Comet rail cars across the system.