(The following story by Tom Davis appeared on the Bergen Record website on September 2.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. — New York City’s plan to charge motorists $8 a day to drive into most of Manhattan could force New Jersey to spend millions of dollars to upgrade the state’s mass transit system, transportation officials and advocates say.
“All the riders would be challenged immediately,” said Kris Kolluri, the state’s transportation commissioner, who declined to put a dollar amount on the effects of what’s been called “congestion pricing.”
And whatever that price is, it may go higher if New Jersey approves a plan pushed by environmentalists that would raise rush-hour rates on the state’s toll roads, they say.
Congestion pricing is designed to reduce traffic and toxic emissions by encouraging commuters and recreational travelers to choose mass transit.
New York’s plan ultimately would create 14,500 new train and bus riders a day for an NJ Transit system that’s near capacity during peak hours, Kolluri said.
The immediate 6 percent jump would match NJ Transit’s typical annual ridership growth. An additional 50 to 60 buses and 10 or 11 rail cars would be needed “to accommodate this surge,” Kolluri said.
As a result, New Jersey residents should expect hefty toll hikes — and possibly tax increases — if New York lawmakers ultimately approve a congestion pricing plan, said Steve Carrellas, coordinator of the National Motorists Association’s New Jersey chapter.
“We’d be paying more for a poor service,” Carrellas said. “The National Motorists Association will do our best to keep that … from happening.”
A 17-member Traffic Mitigation Commission was formed recently to examine New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to charge cars that enter Manhattan below 86th Street on weekdays.
But Governor Corzine, speaking through a representative Friday, noted the commission has no members from New Jersey.
“New York has completely ignored the short-term impact on New Jersey,” Corzine said. “I plan on expressing myself through the Port Authority, which has significant oversight in New York.”
State Senate President Richard Codey, in turn, warned that establishing congestion pricing in New Jersey wouldn’t immediately encourage commuters to use mass transit because there’s no viable substitute to driving.
“You’re going to be nailing the commuter more than somebody else,” said Codey, D-West Orange. “There’s no way around it. There’s no [train] mass transit from West Orange to Matawan.”
Even the state’s environmentalists say massive mass transit upgrades and rush-hour toll increases of 50 percent or more would be necessary for congestion pricing to be effective in New Jersey.
Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, said forcing motorists to pay an extra $1 or $2 a day wouldn’t be enough to steer them away from the New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway.
Right now, only turnpike drivers with E-ZPass get a toll discount of approximately 30 percent if they’re driving during off-peak hours. The parkway, which does not have rush-hour rates, hasn’t had a toll increase in 20 years.
“That’s one of the things New Jersey has to work on, and I think it [congestion pricing] would force the kind of changes we have to make,” said Tittel, who has pushed for a New Jersey-based plan. “We have to come up with an alternative.”
Other state officials question whether congestion pricing in New Jersey could get legislative approval — even though Corzine has linked toll hikes to his “asset monetization” plan.
Corzine hopes to reduce the state’s fiscal problems by selling or leasing state assets. Leasing an asset such as the turnpike would generate money for congestion-relief projects. Toll hikes, which would make the toll roads more valuable to potential buyers, could be part of that plan, Corzine has said.
The governor has yet to publicly discuss his plan in any detail and likely will not until after the November legislative elections.
“We may have begun a process of having a tremendous increase in tolls,” said Leonard Lance, R-Flemington, the Senate’s minority leader. “My concern is that we’re going to toll the people to death.”
The congestion-pricing concept has many defenders — largely because it would channel money toward mass transit expansion in both New York and New Jersey.
In New York City, the Bloomberg administration has said some of the $380 million it expects to raise during the first year would go toward building express bus lanes and paying for new rail tunnels that would increase capacity for NJ Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Motorists also would be able to deduct tolls from their $8 congestion pricing fee if they have E-ZPass, costing them as little as $2 when they use the Hudson River crossings.
“Congestion pricing revenues will provide major improvements for the whole region,” said John Gallagher, a Bloomberg spokesman. “It will also ease congestion throughout the region — not just Manhattan.”
In New Jersey, charging higher rush-hour toll rates would encourage more motorists to drive during off-peak hours and spread out the day’s traffic, said Jeff Zupan, senior transportation planner for the Regional Plan Association.
“It’ll [also] be an encouragement for them to get E-ZPass,” Zupan said. “That will have a positive effect — plus you will get people off the roads. All of that will be a plus.”
But others have expressed concern that New Jersey would reap the financial benefits of congestion pricing benefits too slowly, because mass transit improvements are needed immediately.
Some of the projects that would expand mass transit capacity — such as a plan to build a second commuter rail tunnel to New York City — are not expected to be completed for another decade, Carrellas said.
But even with these improvements, NJ Transit would never be able to provide the traveler with the comforts of driving their own car and having the trunk space available for storing their belongings, Carrellas said.
“When the motorists understand it, they won’t like it,” he said. “They’re doing it because of emissions, but there’s still going to be people driving in.”