TRENTON, N.J. — Aiming to address NJ Transit’s ongoing service issues, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed 2020 budget includes a $100 million increase in funding for the transit agency.
If passed by the state General Assembly and Senate, the total budget of more than $36 billion includes $407 million for NJ Transit in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019.
“We owe our commuters a transportation system that makes their lives smoother rather than harder,” Murphy said in his speech to state lawmakers. “They deserve a system that is safer, more reliable, and customer-oriented.”
The proposed budget 2020 will end the use of capital funding for operations and provide for hiring more engineer trainees; a shortage of engineers has led to regular cancellation of commuter trains. It will also allow for more stringent ticket enforcement; currently, trains are sometimes so overcrowded that conductors can’t get completely through rail cars to check tickets or collect fares. After NJ Transit and Amtrak reached agreement last month on back payments, additional funding will help badly needed infrastructure and renovations at New York’s Penn Station. New Jersey Transit’s facilities there are barely adequate during overcrowded rush hours and weekends.
Commuters have already received good news for their personal budgets. Last week, Gov. Murphy signed into law a commuter tax cut. Commuters will be able to directly benefit from pre-tax savings accounts to pay for their rail fares.
Murphy made it clear the nation’s second-busiest commuter rail line remains a priority.
“If it kills me, we’ll rebuild NJ Transit,” he said, to loud applause in the chamber.
The transit agency has already announced plans for the May resumption of long-delayed resumption of service on its Atlantic City Line and Princeton Dinky, the shuttle service between the Northeast Corridor and Princeton University campus. [See “NJ Transit sets May 24 for return of Atlantic City, Princeton rail lines,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 28, 2019.]
I’m all in favor of making NJT #1 again, but where is the money going to come from? New Jersey businesses and residents are already among the highest-taxed in the country; will this be an additional squeeze?