New Jersey’s financially troubled transit agency has decided who should pay to close its looming budget deficit: bus and train riders.
The agency, New Jersey Transit, announced on Wednesday that it planned to raise fares by 15 percent on July 1 and, after that, by an additional 3 percent annually. The initial 15 percent increase would drive up the cost for some commuters to get to New York City and back by more than $6 a day.
The agency also said it was eliminating the FlexPass, a ticket option designed for people who work from home some days and do not need a more expensive monthly pass.
New Jersey Transit has scheduled 10 public hearings on the proposed increases that could result in changes to the proposal. The agency’s board will then have to vote on the final proposal. In 2015, the board approved a 9 percent fare increase as it was originally proposed.
Even though the agency has not raised fares in nine years, the size and timing of the proposed increases immediately drew a barrage of criticism from customers and public transit advocates.
“Small and predictable fare increases make sense to offset rising costs, but a large one-time increase like the one announced today will cause unnecessary pain for families already struggling with a skyrocketing cost of living,” said Zoe Baldwin, New Jersey director for the Regional Plan Association.
At the train station in Summit, N.J., on Wednesday, Modiha Bhatti said the proposed 15 percent increase would add $50 to $80 to the monthly commuting costs for her and her husband. But Ms. Bhatti, 42, a financial analyst, said the couple had no affordable alternative.
“Driving to the city is not an option — there’s no parking and it’s expensive,” said Ms. Bhatti, who lives in Chatham, N.J., and uses a FlexPass. “You’ve got to pay tolls and gas. There’s no better option for us than the train.”
As examples of the effect of the fare increase, the agency said a bus ticket from Toms River along the Jersey Shore to Manhattan would rise to $24.40, a $3.15 increase. A one-way train ticket from Princeton Junction, it said, would rise to $18.40, a $2.40 increase.
Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City who is running for governor in 2025, said the proposed fare increases were a short-term fix that shifted “the burden to working families without a game plan to solve the broader problem.”
He had called on Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a fellow Democrat, to use taxes on corporations to close the transit agency’s budget gap.
New Jersey Transit has faced a sustained drop in ridership since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020. The agency received $4.4 billion in federal aid that helped it avert reductions in service. But more than 80 percent of that money has been spent.
Last spring, the agency said it faced a deficit of more than $100 million in the next fiscal year and a much larger one in the following year. At the time, the state’s transportation commissioner said the agency would study how it could cut costs. In the meantime, the agency signed a lease for a new headquarters in Newark that would cost more than $500 million.
That move chafed commuters who complained that the agency’s service was not reliable enough and that some of its trains were well past their prime. Mr. Murphy, who made restoring New Jersey Transit’s service to what he called a “world-class” level, disputes those views.
Last week, he told a gathering of financial analysts in Manhattan that, from a customer’s point of view, the agency’s operational problems had essentially been fixed. He did not give any hint that a large fare increase was about to be proposed.
Transit advocates have called for years for a permanent solution to New Jersey Transit’s finances. It is one of the few transit agencies in the country that has no dedicated source of funding.
Every year, the state has to cobble together enough sources of money to balance the agency’s budget. That process has often involved shifting large sums from the agency’s capital budget, which is reserved for investments and equipment upgrades, to its budget for day-to-day operations.
“There should be a designated public money source to fix infrastructure,” said Sam McKenzie, a daily commuter at Penn Station in Newark. “They’re putting all the burden on the commuters.”
Mr. McKenzie, 37, said he would not give New Jersey Transit “great scores in terms of service.” On top of New York’s plan to charge congestion pricing fees to those who drive into Manhattan, he said a train fare increase “adds injury to insult.”
Anthony Smith, 55, who was waiting in Newark for a train home to Princeton Junction, said he paid $326 a month for his rail pass and definitely didn’t feel like he got his money’s worth.
“This is ridiculous,” Mr. Smith said. “I get no refund if there’s a delay or a cancellation. I get nothing in return. Not even an apology.”
Mark Bonamo contributed reporting from Newark and Tammy LaGorce contributed reporting from Summit, N.J. Tracey Tully also contribute reporting.
