NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Transit will add 10,000 park-and-ride spaces statewide and extend the Hudson-Bergen light rail system farther north into Bergen County under initiatives approved by its board on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
The projects were among those listed by the agency’s executive director, George Warrington, in a report to the board on the agency’s activities and plans during his first six months in charge.
“Six months ago, I arrived here at NJ Transit with a mandate and a mission,” Warrington told the board. “The mission: Issued by Gov. McGreevey and Commissioner Fox to redirect NJ Transit `back to basics’ of system safety, reliability, increased capacity and performance.”
To that end, Warrington said, the agency has added 34 new trains on various lines, including the new Midtown Direct service from Montclair, totaling an additional 11,500 seats. He also listed better cleaning of trains, buses and stations; expansion of hours for discounted round-trip tickets, and improved services for disabled and elderly.
The agency is in the midst of a cost-cutting plan, most of which involves eliminating about 170 jobs through early retirement and layoffs, said Ken Miller, a transit spokesman.
Prior to the board’s vote, Warrington spelled out what he said would be the benefits of expanding the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System, which now runs along the Hudson River waterfront from 34th Street in Bayonne, through Jersey City, to downtown Hoboken. Construction has begun on the second phase of the line, to be completed by 2005, extending it farther south to 21st Street in Bayonne and north to an existing park-and-ride facility in North Bergen.
The newest expansion, or third phase of the project, would extend the line still farther south, to 8th Street in Bayonne, and north, possibly to Tenafly in Bergen County.
The original northern terminus of the line was planned for the Vince Lombardi Service area off the New Jersey Turnpike in Ridgefield. But the service area may be bypassed entirely, and the terminus may become an unspecified site in Tenafly, Miller said.
He added that an extension to Tenafly might use existing track known as the Northern Branch, a freight line only since passenger service was discontinued by the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad in 1966.
For new parking, the board authorized $9.1 million for 840 new spaces this year, and land acquisition for another 3,300 spaces in fiscal 2003. The new spaces are part of a plan to develop 10,000 new spaces to meet growing demand over the next three or four years, Warrington said.