New Jersey Transit approved a 9.6 percent overall hike in train, bus and light rail fare yesterday, intended to help alleviate a $60 million deficit in its 2008 operational budget, according to a press release.
The corporation's board of directors also voted to expand its discounted rail service, which they said they hope will encourage commuters to travel in the early morning when trains are less crowded.
For members of the University community, the announcement means they may be feeding more money into the ticket machines at the Dinky station, as rail prices will increase by 9.9 percent on average. A one-way, peak hour ticket on a weekday to New York-Penn Station, for example, will climb in price from $12 to around $13.20. The changes will take effect June 1.
Off-peak service on rail lines will be increased by a half hour on weekday mornings for 16 trains. The current 6:30 a.m. start time for peak service will be bumped to 7 a.m. and run until 9:30 a.m. The expanded off-peak hours may benefit early-morning University staff commuters.
Single fares for bus and light rail tickets will increase by eight percent, from $1.25 to $1.35. NJ Transit also will stop charging an access fee on child fares at the Newark Liberty International Airport Station, a measure that will allow a family of four to save $22.
Additionally, NJ Transit will renovate stations at Mount Arlington, Trenton and Newark Broad Street and add close to 100 multilevel train cars on its high-capacity lines. These steps will help to modernize the nation's third-largest transit system, which currently comprises 162 rail stations, 60 light rail stations and more than 18,000 bus stops.
The corporation's fiscal budget for next year records $1.587 billion in expenses and $1.527 billion in revenue. Increasing bus and rail fare should close the fiscal gap over 13 months.
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