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| NJT Proposing More Service Cuts On RVL, Coast Line, and M & E (633411) | |||
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NJT Proposing More Service Cuts On RVL, Coast Line, and M & E |
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Posted by 5301 Fishbowl on Sat Jun 14 01:56:36 2008, in response to NJ, PA Politicians discussing NJT to Easton PA, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Jun 14 01:08:37 2008. Ironic how one story talks about possibly re-extending Raritan Valley Line service while the other talks about cutting existing Raritan Valley line service.Asbury Park Press Story Advocate rails against train cuts LESS SERVICE AS OF AUG. 3 By Larry Higgs • STAFF WRITER • June 12, 2008 NEWARK — Rail advocates blasted NJ Transit officials at Wednesday's board of directors meeting for train service cuts scheduled to take effect in August. The changes, to start Aug. 3, include: Consolidation of some off-peak and midday North Jersey Coast Line trains. However, shuttle train service between Bay Head and Long Branch will be available. Consolidation of "a pair of trains" on each of the Morris and Essex branch lines in the off-peak hours. A switch to bi-hourly service on the Raritan Valley Line on Sunday morning, with parallel service on the No. 113 bus route from Dunellen offered as an alternative. NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles said the changes are being made to shift equipment and resources to where the demand is. He said the changes will provide 8,000 more seats, in conjunction with more new, multilevel rail cars entering service, allowing the redeployment of single-level cars. "What you'll see is . . . there is increased demand on service to midtown New York and we're using our resources to meet it," Sarles said after the meeting. "We want to get the capacity to where the demand is." Sarles said the cuts were made on trains with low ridership and low demand. But advocates charged that NJ Transit created the conditions for those declines by targeting off-peak riders with a 25 percent fare increase in 2005. That caused ridership to drop, said David Peter Alan, chairman of the Lackawanna Coalition, a nonprofit commuter-advocacy organization. "When NJ Transit eliminated half of the weekend trains to and from Hoboken without notice in 2006, I predicted further service cuts. When management raised off-peak fares in 2005, I predicted they'd use the ensuing decline in ridership as an excuse to eliminate service," Alan said. "That was 20 months ago. You've removed our mobility." Some Coast Line riders have voiced concern to the Asbury Park Press that they've been told they'll lose their NJ Transit connection to Hoboken, meaning they'll have to make additional connections between the New York City subway and PATH trains to get to work. "These are off-peak and reverse-peak trains," Sarles said of the Coast Line changes. "We are trying to match capacity to demand." Alan told the board that NJ Transit violated state law by making service cuts without holding a public hearing first and called for the changes to be rolled back until such hearings are held for riders to comment. "I don't know what's worse, the severity of the cuts or that it was done in secret," Alan said. "It makes no sense making midday cuts when the price of gas is so high." Alan said these cuts affect riders who either don't have a car or can't drive for medical or other reasons and are dependent on NJ Transit. Some of them ride the train to and from work in the reverse direction of the rush-hour crowd, and now face a longer wait, he said. "We are making sure that service is maintained for transit-dependent riders," Sarles said. Sarles said increased ridership has helped NJ Transit keep up with rising prices of diesel fuel, but said it still has to manage its budget. |
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