NJ-ARP Hotline #615 available
January 16th 2008
NJ-ARP Hotline #615 is now online. When you’re finished reading the Hotline, you can come back here and leave your comments in this thread.
Federal gas tax proposal dwarfs proposed NJ increase
January 15th 2008
Transit Panel Urges Gas Tax Increase
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 15, 2008
Filed at 9:03 a.m. ETWASHINGTON (AP) — A special commission is urging the government to raise federal gasoline taxes by as much as 40 cents per gallon over five years as part of a sweeping overhaul designed to ease traffic congestion and repair the nation’s decaying bridges and roads.
Toll scheme is extremely unfair
January 13th 2008
Governor Corzine’s scheme to hike tolls more than 700% over 14 years is extremely unfair. According to figures published by the Star-Ledger, the burden of paying the state’s debt will be unfairly placed on the backs of the toll road users. The following chart shows the relative amount of tolls paid per capita for each county:
Now remember that a lot of the money from the toll hikes is supposed to pay-off the state’s debt. The debt was incurred by all the residents of the state. But the above chart shows that residents of Monmouth and Middlesex counties will pay 10 times as much as residents of Sussex and Warren counties.
A better plan would be to use toll hikes mainly for toll road expenses/debt, a gas tax hike for other transportation-related expenses/debt, and other state-wide sources of income for the state’s general debt.
(The above chart isn’t perfect. It only covers residential E-ZPass accounts in New Jersey paying tolls on the Turnpike and Parkway. It doesn’t cover business accounts, drivers who pay cash, Atlantic City Expressway tolls, or people living outside of New Jersey. But it’s pretty clear that the debt will not be paid equally by all New Jersey residents.)
Toll scheme details
January 8th 2008
After spending many months and millions of dollars, Governor Corzine has finally released the details on his toll scheme. Bottom line, by 2022:
- Turnpike tolls increase by over 8x today’s rates
- Parkway barrier tolls increase to $5.40 (yes, $5.40 for each toll plaza)
This assumes a 3% inflation rate. If inflation is higher, the tolls will be even higher.
Details available here (800 KB PDF).
NJ-ARP board meeting moved
January 7th 2008
The January 9 meeting of the NJ-ARP Board of Directors has been moved to the Good Friends Chinese Restaurant in Princeton Jct.
Toll scheme public meetings
January 6th 2008
The governor’s office has started releasing details of the public meetings for Governor Corzine’s secret monetization plan. The list of meetings can be found here. But you can’t just go and show up, you’re supposed to register in advance and provide your e-mail address and other personal information. However, the Governor’s spokeswoman says, “Anyone that shows up will be allowed in.”
PATH fare increase approved
January 4th 2008
The Port Authority approved an increase in the PATH fare this morning, effective March 2, 2008:
Cash fares on PATH will increase from $1.50 to $1.75, a 25-cent reduction from the original proposal. Daily PATH commuters who use the 10-, 20- or 40-ride fare card will see an increase from $1.20 to $1.30 per ride, less than half of the original increase proposed. PATH also is developing an unlimited monthly ride fare similar to what’s available on MTA’s public transit system.
The Port Authority says they received only 18 comments opposed to the PATH fare increase.
Sierra Club jumps the shark
January 3rd 2008
Back in March 2007, the New Jersey Sierra Club said restoration of train service on the Lackawanna Cut-Off was intended to promote sprawl:
In a public-comment letter on the rail plan sent Thursday to NJ Transit, New Jersey Sierra Club Director, Jeff Tittel, opposed NJ Transit’s request for $21 million in federal funds in fiscal year 2007 to advance the cutoff project and the 133-mile line. “We believe that this project will not enhance mass transit, but that its real intention is to promote sprawl and overdevelopment in environmentally sensitive and rural areas,” Tittel said. “We believe that NJ Transit’s time and money should not be subsidizing sprawl in the Poconos.”
– Star-Ledger, March 11, 2007
Now the New Jersey Sierra Club is saying that giving incentives to companies to locate in cities with transit, like Newark and Camden, is a bad idea:
Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club, questioned whether the tax credits would lure any corporation to an urban area or create any new jobs. “This is dumb growth for cities,” Tittel said. “This is the antithesis of what you do to spur urban development and economic growth… Corporations are attracted by low rents, not tax breaks.”
– Star-Ledger, January 3, 2008
Can these guys be taken seriously anymore?
Words of wisdom
January 1st 2008
From an article in the Asbury Park Press:
“It’s time to stop reacting, and time to start meeting the curve, if not getting ahead of it,” said Douglas Bowen of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers. “It (NJ Transit) now has a unified network. It’s time to start growing.”
“NJ Transit has to look intra-Jersey, and that includes (lines like) MOM,” Bowen said. “We’ve got to stop focusing on the one-seat ride to Manhattan. Rail can do so much more than that.”
Bowen said he has heard stories about commuters who are going to some extremes to use mass transit for in-state commutes to suburban workplaces.
“I’m hearing stories about people leaving a second car (overnight) at their morning destination station, so they can drive to work from that station,” Bowen said. “It shows that people want solutions and want options.”
“We’ve got to grow the product,” Bowen said. “We need more than arteries, we need capillaries.”
Other steps needed to accommodate the growth could include changing how the railroad operates, such as “zoning” different rail lines, so peak-hour trains don’t stop at every station, said Ralph Braskett, Committee for Better Transit NJ coordinator.
Such an operation might have one train stopping at several high-volume stations and then running express to its final destination, he said. The busy Northeast Corridor Line would be a prime candidate for this type of operation, followed by the North Jersey Coast Line, if the number of riders on that line grows, he said.
Other lines, such as the Morris and Essex, will need different rail equipment to keep up, he said. The trains pulled by electric locomotive that run on the Corridor and Coast lines are not suited to the Morris and Essex, which has hills and stations closer together.
A better choice of trains for that line would be using multiple-unit rail cars, which have electric motors in each car, he said. NJ Transit’s current generation of electric multiple-unit cars run on the Corridor, have been rebuilt once and will need replacement in a few years.
Read the rest of the article.
Trip to the Prudential Center
December 29th 2007
I went to the Prudential Center last night and saw the first place New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in a shootout before a sell-out crowd. Take the jump and I’ll tell you all about the train trips and my opinions on the Prudential Center.