Fare hikes, service cuts ahead for NJ Transit

NJ Transit today will announce fare hikes of about 25 percent and widespread service cuts, as the agency tries to close a $300 million budget gap.

Acknowledging the anger and financial pain the changes will cause bus and train riders, the agency's new chief, James Weinstein, said he expected the moves to push more commuters onto already congested highways.

But he said that he hoped those shifts would be temporary, and that NJ Transit could rebound when the economy did.

The fare hikes and service cuts will take effect May 1 if approved by the NJ Transit board. Public hearings will be held March 25, 26, and 27 in Camden, Atlantic City, Trenton, and other cities.

A 25 percent increase would push a two-zone bus fare that is $1.90 to about $2.35. A train ride from Hamilton, N.J., to New York would cost about $15 instead of $12.

Bus riders can expect to wait five to 10 minutes longer for their rides, and some rush-hour trains would be eliminated, Weinstein said. Some River Line trains that have two cars may be cut to one.

In an interview yesterday, Weinstein said he still expected NJ Transit to ultimately increase service - to Atlantic City and elsewhere - "but the money's just not there yet."

As the new administration of Gov. Christie grapples with deficits of $2.2 billion this fiscal year and as much as $11 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1, Weinstein has spent most of his first five weeks on the job cutting his budget.

The agency said this week that it would lay off more than 200 workers and cut executives' salaries 5 percent.

The fare hikes would cause some riders to abandon buses and trains, Weinstein acknowledged.

"There clearly will be diversion," he said. A 25 percent increase could be expected to reduce ridership, already down 4 percent this year, by an additional 2.5 percent, he said.

Weinstein, a former Philadelphia Bulletin reporter who served as transportation commissioner in the Whitman administration from 1999 to 2002, said he hoped to improve transportation for all residents, including motorists.

"There's nothing we like better than mode-bashing," he said, saying that pits motorists and train and bus riders against each other. "It's really important that we work better together.

"Because if the transportation system doesn't work, New Jersey doesn't work."

To increase revenue, he said, NJ Transit is looking to outsource its parking operations and allow charges at some lots that are now free.

NJ Transit needs to spend more on technology to provide a "smart-card" fare system, he said. He said the agency also hoped to install "bus rapid transit" lanes along congested Routes 42 and 55 and elsewhere.

But riders clearly can expect to pay more.

"It's important that you understand you have to pay for it," Weinstein said. "We're asking folks to pay about 50 percent of the cost. We're not going to get there, but that's the goal."

Currently, he said, fares provide about 42 percent of NJ Transit's operating revenue.

The agency last increased fares in 2007. The new fare increases would be the fourth since 2001.

Labor leaders and transit experts gave Weinstein high marks as a knowledgeable and fair-minded manager with an unenviable task.

John P. Sheridan Jr., president of the Cooper Health System in Camden, hired Weinstein as a press spokesman when he was commissioner of transportation for Republican Gov. Thomas Kean in the early 1980s. He soon promoted Weinstein to be his chief of staff.

"He's very smart, and he has a good sense of issues and how they should be dealt with in the public arena," Sheridan said yesterday. In a position like Weinstein's, Sheridan said, "you have a lot of balls to keep in the air. You've got the governor, the Legislature, and all the citizens of New Jersey. And Jim can do that."

"He's a very cool customer. He doesn't get rattled," Sheridan said. "If anybody's up to the job, he is."

Another ex-transportation commissioner, Kris Kolluri, who worked for Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine, agreed.

"He has the depth of experience necessary to make the kind of systemic changes that are necessary," Kolluri said. "He has a thoughtful, pragmatic approach to management. I'm not sure I can think of another person as good for that job."

Kolluri predicted Weinstein would cut costs while "preserving the core of the system."

Daniel O'Connell, state legislative director of the United Transportation Union, said Weinstein "understands New Jersey Transit. . . . I'm hopeful he understands the value of that agency to the state as a whole."

The UTU has about 1,000 members at NJ Transit, primarily rail conductors and trainmen.

"We realize the tough economic times we're in," O'Connell said. "We're just concerned that fare increases and service cuts will work against Transit when things come back."

He praised Weinstein for contacting union leaders, legislators, and others about fare hikes and other changes.

"I've always known him to be a straight shooter," O'Connell said. "We realize that there will be times when we disagree, but his reaching out to everyone is to be commended."

Rich Darcy of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said his biggest concern was that cutbacks would "impact on the safety of the commuter system in New Jersey."

Darcy said Weinstein "satisfied me that these challenges could be met without destroying the system as a whole. . . . His mission, he said, is to leave the system intact."

Weinstein, who was transportation chairman for Christie's transition team, is a Moorestown resident who served as vice chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority from 1994 to 1996. He was Amtrak's senior vice president for the Northeast Corridor in 2002.

Most recently, he was a senior vice president in the Philadelphia office of AECOM, an engineering and architectural design firm.

Married, with two grown children and three grandchildren, Weinstein usually commutes to his Newark office driving to a train station in Trenton or Hamilton.

A 5 percent pay cut for NJ Transit executives means Weinstein's salary will be reduced July 1 to $248,257.80 from $261,324.