TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is asking U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to mediate a dispute between his state, New York, and Connecticut over New York’s efforts to seek an additional $637 million in COVID-19 transit relief funding.
NJ.com reports that New Jersey and Connecticut agreed to use Federal Transit Administration formulas to distribute funding approved in December 2020 and March 2021, but New York Department of Transportation officials proposed that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should receive the additional $637 million. The disagreement threatens the states’ ability to meet a September deadline to submit grant applications to the FTA, leading Murphy to send an Aug. 12 letter to Buttigieg for help in resolving the matter.
The MTA contends it should receive the additional money — which would come at the expense of New Jersey and Connecticut — based on hardship calculations and a formula based on pre-pandemic operating expenses.
I think NJ transit and Connecticut could claim the hard ship thing also. I live on the west end of the old EL electrified line in Dover. Our parking lots around the train station hold about 400 cars and when covid was at its peak if there were 20 cars in those lots that would have been a lot. So maybe NJT should use the New York formula.
Walter – I haven’t seen much data on transit ridership. When in Massachusetts last month I was (not pleasantly) surprised by how lightly patronized the Red Line subway trains were. Ironic the airplanes are full, the airports are jammed, but transit seems very slow to pick back up.