NJ Transit’s fare hike put into effect, draws criticism

New Jersey Transit has increased bus and rail fares across the state an average of 9 percent since Oct. 1, NJ Transit spokesperson Jim Smith said.

Smith said the fare hike, which is the first in five years, had been intended as a last resort, noting that the transit agency had to close a gap in its budget.

“Prior to going into the adjustment, we identified over $42 million in cost savings and efficiencies,” he said. “We had to resort to the fare adjustment.”

Some service lines, including the 655 bus from Princeton to the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, were discontinued altogether. In response, the University made the decision to add a Palmer Square stop on one of its TigerTransit lines that already included a stop at the hospital, Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert said.

TigerTransit buses exist for all members of the University community and offer rides for free.

While commending the University’s efforts to provide an alternative, Lempert noted that public transportation is a responsibility of the state government.

“The state needs to step up and think about its priorities,” Lempert said. “Transportation and keeping up with transportation infrastructure is an essential service provided by the state government, especially in a place like New Jersey, where you have so many people who are going daily back and forth either to New York or Philadelphia, passing through the state.”

Lempert acknowledged that NJ Transit was in a difficult position but she also said that the state government was responsible.

“One of the major problems is that the Transportation Trust Fund is out of money and the legislature and the governor have not been able to get their act together to continue to fund it,” Lempert said.

Lempert said her greatest concern is that the hike and service cuts will hurt the very population public transportation is intended to serve.

“What’s awful about what happened is that they’re pushing their financial problem onto the residents who can least afford to pay for it and who are actually helping the economy and helping our environment and helping our air quality by taking Transit,” Lempert explained.

Lempert added that she thinks the fare increase will prompt some commuters who own cars to start driving themselves, thinking that driving is more cost-effective. Once that happens, Lempert said, ridership would decline, as would NJ Transit’s revenue, and NJ Transit would be once again forced into the position of having to either cut services or raise fares to deal with the declining ridership.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“It’s a race to the bottom, and they don’t seem to have a plan,” Lempert said.

The increased costs have invited concern among students as well.

Priscilla Yeung ’17, who takes the Northeast Corridor Line into New York City once or twice a month to visit friends or attend job-related recruiting events, said that the fare increase is problematic because there is no good alternative. Yeung said the only other option is Megabus, which costs her $12 to $14 but arrives every hour or hour and a half. A Megabus round trip would save her $2 to $4, but she said she still opts for NJ Transit.

“The infrequency and unreliability [of Megabus] means I’d rather pay $2 to $4 more to know I’m going to get to New York on time,” Yeung said.

She said that she once submitted a recommendation to the Undergraduate Student Government suggesting it consider subsidizing students’ travel costs to New York, even if only to give a 20 percent discount on the first two tickets. Seeing that students receive subsidized Broadway shows and free movies, Yeung said she thought it might be feasible for USG to help students cover Transit fares.

USG president Ella Cheng ’16 said it was a great idea for USG to subsidize travel costs. However, citing major expenses such as Lawnparties and other events, she explained that such subsidies remain outside budget possibilities.

Cheng is a former staff writer for the Daily Princetonian.

Even so, Cheng said the University should consider the suggestion because of its relationship with NJ Transit. The University would also have more power to execute such an agreement, she said.

Cheng, who is a New York nativeherself, noted that she makes trips every weekend and found the fare increase unexpected. What formerly cost her $13.50 is now almost $17, she noted.

“It does impact me quite a lot,” Cheng said. “I’m definitely not pleased about it.”

Lempert noted that Princeton’s proximity to New York City is important for both University students and resident members.

“I know for everybody in the Princeton community — but including students — one of the attractions of being in Princeton is access to New York City,” Lempert said. "If that becomes financially out of reach for more and more of us, it changes the experience of being here at Princeton"