Study proposes Dinky changes

The Dinky rail service, which runs between the University campus and the Princeton Junction train station, may undergo major renovations as part of a federal planning process.

The study looks into ways of integrating the Dinky, which carries up to 1,500 passengers daily, with the proposed Route 1 corridor Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT). The BRT — an improved bus transportation system that has already been instituted in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Ottawa, Canada — would make numerous stops between Trenton and central New Jersey.

According to the "Alternatives Analysis" study sponsored by Central New Jersey Transit, proposed options include upgrading or removing the Dinky while adding a BRT line, upgrading the service without adding the line, or leaving the Dinky alone. If the project is approved, the proposed changes are scheduled for 2020.

The study is the first formal step for New Jersey Transit in identifying transportation alternatives for drivers along the Route 1 corridor, with the ultimate aim of reducing traffic congestion in the area.

Alain Kornhauser GS '71, professor of operations research and financial engineering and director of the Program of Transportation, said he was not impressed with the analysis study. He questioned the study's conclusion that an added BRT line would encourage more passengers to use New Jersey Transit.

"Who really would want to take this bus rapid transit system?" Kornhauser asked. "Do they really think that people will drive their cars from eastern Pennsylvania and across the Delaware River, park their car in a lot, and then hop on the bus rapid transit to their job or Sam's Club or to a Chinese buffet?"

"I don't think so," he said. "I am not a fan of BRT."

The analysis study estimated the cost of upgrading the Dinky at $49 million, less than one-tenth the cost of other alternatives, which ranged from $583 million to remove the Dinky and add the BRT line to $654 million to upgrade the Dinky in addition to adding the BRT line. The cost of just adding the BRT line would be about $605 million.

The community has already shown concern about the possible effects of a Dinky upgrade or removal.

"While I don't have much of a personal attachment to it, I'm aware of its history and how it has become an institution here over 100 years," said Josh Hirshfeld '08, who occasionally rides the Dinky. "And because of that, I'd rather not see it be changed."

Officials for New Jersey Transit have made sure to involve local politicians in the planning process.

A spokesperson for New Jersey Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman of Princeton Borough said that all the city's assemblymen have been involved in the planning process from the beginning.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"They all think that the Dinky provides a viable service to Princeton and want it to remain as it is," she said.

She also warned against worrying too much about the possible changes.

"The whole Route 1 quarter study is just one of the things mentioned in the whole report," she said. "And anything that would be done would at least be a decade off — even 20 years."

Pam Hersh, director of Community Affairs for the University, said she understood passenger concerns.

"The transportation link between the campus and the train station at Princeton Junction is crucial to the campus and the town of Princeton, especially in an era of mass congestion on the roadways and skyrocketing gasoline prices," Hersh said in an email.

But she was not entirely opposed to the proposed changes.

"We all would like to see better service, and no one is talking about elimination of that transit link," Hersh said.

New Jersey Transit officials reminded commuters that no plans are definite.

"We're in the middle of the alternatives analysis, which is the first step of the process of getting funding from the federal government," New Jersey Transit spokesperson Dan Stessel said. "As part of the process, we must look at all the options, and that's why part of the analysis includes the Dinky."

"We've made no decisions; it's just part of the process so it can be a complete alternatives analysis study," he said. "The Dinky is not going away anytime soon, if ever."