Rail-line funding remains a hurdle

If a proposed rail line for South Jersey is built, who will pay to run the trains?

Because fares would probably cover less than half the expected $29 million annual cost of the service, the deficit would have to be made up by somebody.

The most likely candidates:

Commuters who use any of the Delaware River Port Authority's four toll bridges to Philadelphia.

Taxpayers who provide the revenue for New Jersey's general budget.

The $1.3 billion light-rail line that Gov. Corzine and port authority officials proposed last week would run 18 miles from Camden to Glassboro alongside an existing Conrail freight line to Glassboro, Pitman, Mantua, Wenonah, Woodbury, Deptford, West Deptford, Westville, Bellmawr, Brooklawn, and Gloucester City.

The line would connect to PATCO and River Line trains at the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden, where passengers could catch trains to Philadelphia or Trenton.

The first leg of the line, from Camden to Woodbury, could be operational in about five years, said John Matheussen, the port authority's chief executive.

Corzine has committed $500 million in state funding to help build the line, and transit officials hope to get state, federal, and corporate funding for the rest.

But many questions remain, including who would operate the trains and how the day-to-day operations would be paid for.

The Delaware River Port Authority, which operates the PATCO commuter line between Philadelphia and Lindenwold, would like to run the service. But NJ Transit, which operates the state's network of 11 rail lines, has more railroad experience. In South Jersey, it runs the Atlantic City line and contracts out to Bombardier Transportation the operation of the River Line, a five-year-old light-rail line between Camden and Trenton.

Richard Sarles, executive director of NJ Transit, said his agency had been working with the port authority in planning the Glassboro line. He said there would be "no turf war" over its operation.

Most of NJ Transit's rail, bus, and subway operations are in northern and central New Jersey; only 11 percent are in South Jersey.

"We live here. We know the region," said Robert Box, general manager of PATCO. "We'd like to do it, but no decision has been made."

PATCO, like transit operators around the world, depends on a subsidy to augment its revenue from passengers.

To operate its current service, PATCO gets $20 million a year from tolls on the Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry, and Betsy Ross Bridges. Passengers pay about 53 percent of the cost of PATCO operations.

The River Line collects only 9 percent of its $25 million operating costs from fares. The rest comes from New Jersey taxpayers. SEPTA's rail division, by comparison, collects 48 percent of its operating expenses from fares.

Planners project that operating the rail line from Camden to Glassboro would cost about $29 million a year, with trains running every seven to eight minutes during rush hours, carrying an estimated 17,000 riders daily.

Operating the line from Camden to Woodbury would cost $17 million a year, according to estimates.

If fares covered about half the operating costs, that would mean an annual operating deficit of about $15 million for a Camden-Glassboro line or about $9 million for a Camden-Woodbury line.

Who would pick up that tab? Probably taxpayers.

"That's you and me," Matheussen said, acknowledging the limited options for transit planners.

Federal money is not generally available for transit operations. Municipal and county governments "are so strapped now" they're unlikely sources, Matheussen said.

Gasoline-tax revenue is generally limited to the construction, not operation, of roads and transit projects, although NJ Transit gets about $45 million in gas-tax money for its operating budget.

Matheussen said the rail operator probably would "have to look to a more equitable solution than just tollpayers," as the trains would serve a larger area than that served by the four port authority bridges.

Bridge tollpayers are already restive after a $1 increase - to $4 - in September, with another $1 raise scheduled for 2010.

Teri Jover, managing director of New Jersey Future, a "smart-growth" advocate that supports the Glassboro train route, said the train deserved a subsidy from taxpayers or tollpayers, or both.

"In general, infrastructure costs money, and taxpayers support those investments even though not everyone rides on them," Jover said. "Transit is a worthy investment for the state, and we have to think how to pay for it."

She said tolls "should be on the table, because the trains will offset traffic on those local roads and bridges."

A motorists' group agreed about the traffic relief, but disagreed about requiring drivers to pay more.

"It's difficult to see a way bridge tolls should be used, but clearly there will be a benefit to South Jersey motorists through congestion mitigation," said David Weinstein, spokesman for AAA Clubs of New Jersey. "The economic benefit that a project like this creates, like we've seen with the River Line, is real, but like most passenger rail, the subsidy is big."

"In the end, the entire region should benefit, so the question becomes: Is the entire region willing to chip in?"