(erielack) Groups Oppose Proposed Rise in Transit Fares for New Jersey

["Gary R. Kazin" <gkazin_@_yahoo.com>]

December 20, 2001
Groups Oppose Proposed Rise in Transit Fares for New Jersey
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEWARK, Dec. 19 — A coalition of mass transit, consumer and environmental
advocates joined here today to denounce proposed fare increases for New
Jersey Transit buses and trains, urging state lawmakers to raise the
consumer gasoline tax instead.

New Jersey Transit announced last week that in April it plans to raise
most fares an average of 10 percent, the agency's first fare increase
since 1991. But opponents noted that it had been even longer since the
retail gasoline tax, known as the motor fuels tax, was raised.

At a news conference outside Penn Station here this morning, the opponents
said the fare increase would only discourage commuters from using mass
transit — a particularly bad idea, they said, given increasing highway
congestion linked to growth, and New Jersey's lagging efforts to reduce
auto emissions. 

The groups in the coalition are the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the
New Jersey Association of Rail Passengers, New Jersey Citizen Action, the
Sierra Club and the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group.

Jeff Tittel, executive director of the state chapter of the Sierra Club,
said in an interview that transit ridership had increased greatly
throughout the region since Sept. 11, and added that raising fares could
only turn away some of those new riders.  "Raising fares tells people,
'You might as well ride your car and keep polluting,' " he said.

After public hearings scheduled for Jan. 2, Acting Gov. Donald T.
DiFrancesco, a Republican, could approve the proposal on Jan. 7, the day
before he is replaced by Governor-elect James E. McGreevey, a Democrat. 
The timing would allow Mr. McGreevey to avoid signing off on a fare
increase that could be politically costly, fueling speculation that there
has been some kind of agreement between the two leaders, a notion both men
have denied. 

The proposed fare increase seems at odds with conventional wisdom that
more incremental increases help retain riders.  "Ten percent, that's big —
that's the classic way not to do it," said Ross Capon, executive director
of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, in Washington.

But Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, chairman of the Assembly Transportation
Committee, rejected the idea that raising the gasoline tax would be wiser
than a fare increase, saying that the tax already generates money for mass
transit.

The tax raises $420 million a year, including about $360 million for the
state Transportation Trust Fund, which finances both highway and mass
transit projects, said John Dourgarian, a spokesman for the State
Department of Transportation, which oversees New Jersey Transit.  He would
not comment on the criticism, except to say that a gas tax increase would
require legislation.

=====
Gary R. Kazin
DL&W Milepost R35.7
Rockaway, New Jersey

http://www.geocities.com/gkazin/index.html

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