On Monday, there were four public hearings conducted by transit agencies proposing to charge the public more to maintain and improve their critical services. NJTransit had a morning and an evening session in South Jersey on their proposed 15% fare hike, while the MTA had a morning and an evening session at their Downtown HQs on congestion pricing.
Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy testified via Zoom. But he wasn’t speaking in favor of his own sound plan for NJT, but rather against congestion pricing backed by Gov. Hochul. Sorry, sir, we support both proposals and they both need to be adopted (and the way the gubernatorial-dominated NJT and MTA boards work, they both will be adopted.)
The higher NJT fares start on July 1, probably right after the MTA’s congestion pricing begins. We have spent a great deal of time on the benefits of congestion pricing to everyone (including Jerseyites who like to drive into Midtown and Downtown), so we will focus on the NJT fare hikes.
The fare, which has been held flat for far too long, must go up 15% and then there will be regular, annual inflation-based fare increases of 3%. We call that the Ravitch Rule, after Dick Ravitch, who repeatedly saved the subways, among other amazing accomplishments.
Murphy was an old friend of Ravitch, knowing him long before Murphy entered electoral politics with his first run in 2017, as the governor explained when he spoke at Ravitch’s funeral last summer.
Murphy also wants, for the first time, to have a dedicated and dependable revenue source for transit, with a proposed tax. That was also a Ravitch invention. Under Ravitch’s arm-twisting, the Legislature created a bunch of dedicated taxes for the MTA in 1981 when, as MTA chair, he saved the subways the first time.
And then Ravitch did it again with a dedicated payroll tax for transit that he successfully pushed for in 2009. And he kept at it, championing more financial support from Albany, which came last year, shortly before he died just shy of his 90th birthday.
The Ravitch Rule, of small and predictable fare increases, came in 2009, and with a few exceptions, the MTA has wisely stuck to the schedule.
Murphy, by catching up fares with the strong medicine of a 15% jump, and then setting a steady course with routine fare bumps and a dedicated tax stream, can do the same for NJT.
Murphy also knows well that Ravitch dearly wanted congestion pricing.
Ravitch agreed with us, as does everyone in New York, that it is unfair and bad policy for NJT to charge an extra, Manhattan-only fee for trips to and from Newark Airport’s rail station. The Manhattan-only surcharge began when the AirTrain debuted in 2001, with an added few bucks for only New York travelers. (Any knowledgeable rider can legitimately avoid the fee.)
We complained for years and in 2010, Gov. Chris Christie chopped the penalty to 25 cents, but refused to eliminate it. Now NJT is going to make the Manhattan fee 30 cents. Even though Penn Station is by far NJT’s busiest station, there are no fare hearings there this week.
Hochul should just tell Murphy to cut it out. Come on, sir, with these Ravitch-like moves, you are putting NJT on track. Now, just drop that unfair airport penalty.
