Lackawanna Coalition

advocating for rail passengers since 1979

Category: Budget

  • FTA Sends Bill to NJT

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has sent a bill to New Jersey Transit for $271 million for money advanced to the agency for work on the ARC Project, which Gov. Christie scrapped last month. NJT Executive Director James Weinstein disputed the bill and also said that there will not be a fare increase to raise…

    Read more

  • Legislature Reverses Course; Construction Freeze to End

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    On Monday, October 4, as Gov. Christie’s transportation project freeze went into effect, the NJ legislature’s Joint Budget Operating Committee held an emergency meeting on the crisis, and reversed course, voting reportedly 4–1 to authorize the bond issue.  Democrats had held that such a bond issue requires voters’ approval; the Christie administration said it was…

    Read more

  • Star-Ledger Columnist Pronounces ARC Dead

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine, an outspoken opponent of New Jersey Transit’s proposed deep-cavern terminal for the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) Project has pronounced the project dead, at least as NJT conceives it.  In a column appearing in the edition for Sunday, October 3d, Mulshine said: “The ARC is dead.  Long live the ARC.”  He…

    Read more

  • “Christie wise to say whoa to rail tunnel, terminal” says Record columnist

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    Bob Ingle, writing in the Daily Record, Sunday, Sept. 26, says Governor Christie’s decision to put the trans-Hudson ARC rail tunnel on hold is a wise move.  Ingle calls the plan “the rail line from Monstrosity by the Turnpike” (his term for the failed Xanadu complex) to Macy’s basement.  It would be the “third Hudson…

    Read more

  • Can the Transportation Trust Fund Be Saved?

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund pays for highway projects and some capital projects for New Jersey Transit.  By the end of next June, the TTF will run out of mony.  Assemblyman Joseph Cryan has proposed raising the user fee on motor fuels (it is not a tax) by 8¢ per year for the next 3…

    Read more

  • Big Contractor Gets Big Bucks from NJT

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    Despite the highest fare increases in the history of New Jersey Transit, implemented along with service cuts in May, LTK Engineering of Ambler, Penn. has been awarded a contract that would pay between $92,000 and $96,000 to inspect each of 100 new multi-level railcars that NJT is buying.  There are already 329 similar cars on…

    Read more

  • Riders Get Fare Hikes, Consultants Get Big Bucks

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    From our September/October 2010 Railgram newsletter  Regular riders on the Morris & Essex Lines are all too aware of the fare increases, along with service reductions, that New Jersey Transit implemented this past spring.  Yet this belt-tightening doesn’t go across the board; the most dramatic illustration is NJT’s insistence on building a new “deep cavern” terminal in…

    Read more

  • NJT Proposes Massive Fare Hikes with Service Cuts

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    New Jersey Transit has proposed drastic fare increases to fill an alleged $300 million budget shortfall during the next fiscal year.  In addition, Gov. Christie has cut NJT’s curent-year subsidy by $32.7 million. The fare increases will average 25% across the board, with a special increase for rail riders who ride trains outside of commuting…

    Read more

  • Increase in Funding for Transportation for Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities Becomes Law

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    Funding for transportation for senior citizens and persons with disabilities will be increased.  The bill that will raise the portion of the Casino Revenue Fund that will be spent on special transportation programs will increase from 7.5% to 8.5% beginning with the next fiscal year on July 1st.  Because revenue earned by the casinos in…

    Read more

  • Funding Bill for Senior/Disabled Passes Assembly

    –

    Donald Winship

    –

    Assembly Bill 2046, which would increase the portion of the Casino Revenue Fund for transportation for senior citizens and persons with disabilities, passed the Assembly on January 11th by a vote of 75 to 2, with 2 abstentions.  The measure would raise the percentage of the fund dedicated to special transportation from 7.5 to 8.5%.…

    Read more

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Tags

Amtrak ARC bicycles budget bus buses Chris Christie conference congestion pricing Delays electrification equipment fares From the Chair From the Railgram Gladstone Hoboken Jim Simpson Jim Weinstein Midtown Direct Montclair-Boonton Morris & Essex MTA Newark NJT board NJ Transit NJ Transit Board Northeast Corridor North Jersey Coast Line NY Penn Station off-peak Pascack Valley Line PATH Penn Station First Plan Raritan Valley RUN Safety SCDRTAC Secaucus Junction Super Bowl Superstorm Sandy transparency Transportation Trust Fund tunnels weather