I am very disappointed with the proposed increase. I have calculated that since I started commuting in June 2005, my fare will have gone up 55%. That is an unbelievable increase in a time when folks are not seeing pay increases and often pay decreases associated with the economy.
In that same time frame, I’ve seen no noticeable improvement in service. The cars are nearly the same as they were when I started commuting with the small exception for the double decker cars which aren’t used on my normal express times. I am often on rail cars that were refurbished in the 1980’s, let alone originally manufactured in the last 20 years.
How much money is being spent by NJT on the Ridgewood station and Rutherford stations? Why spend all that capital money now when there is a budget problem? It makes no financial sense.
On my standard in/out train, I know there are at least 2 groups of 7 total commuters that have formed car pool groups and are going to abandon NJ Transit. That’s about a $1600/mo loss and it’s just 2 groups I know of. Those 2 groups losses require 28 people’s increases to just break even. So instead of a $400 increase in revenue from those 7 commuters, your decision is resulting in a $1600 loss of revenue.
You have to make hard decisions as any business does, but I don’t think most/any businesses solution is to raise prices 25% for their customers. In fact, it’s probably the last thing they do before the “Closed” sign is permanently on their door.
NJ Transit · rail · train
