Joint Statement on NJ Transit’s Capital Plan

The following statement can be attributed to Nat Bottigheimer, NJ Director, Regional Plan Association; Janna Chernetz, Deputy Director, Tri-State Transportation Campaign; Pete Kasabach, Executive Director, New Jersey Future; Doug O’Malley, State Director, Environment New Jersey; Amy Goldsmith, State Director, Clean Water Action; and John Reichman, Chair, Environment Committee, BlueWaveNJ.

We applaud NJ Transit’s leadership for publishing a comprehensive, readable, educational, and well-illustrated capital plan that sets forth the agency’s capital funding needs for the coming decade and beyond.

It is, however, the lack of resources available to NJ Transit to which we want to principally address our comments.  Today, we call on Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti and Governor Murphy to use their numerous authorities to reprogram New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) toll revenue from unnecessary highway expansion to fund NJ Transit’s capital plan, and to assure that NJT’s capital needs are part of a comprehensive transportation strategy for the entire state.

Since its inception, the agency has lacked a complete, public inventory of capital investments needed for safe, reliable, equitable, efficient, and customer-focused operations.

With the publication of the new, financially unconstrained capital plan, the public now has better information to understand what investments, among the many that are needed, NJ Transit is prioritizing to support equitable economic growth and to achieve the State’s ambitious goals for meeting environmental and climate challenges.

A capital plan that documents not just those needs that are obvious to the public — like buses and rail cars — but “back-of-the-house” needs like crew quarters, yards and garages, interlockings and business systems — serves as much an educational purpose as it does a financial planning purpose.

As a result, the public now has a much clearer picture of what the gap is between NJ Transit’s needs and what resources it has available — and a better understanding of all the things a transit system needs to function well and to meet public goals.

As a group, we recognize that the publication of a partially-funded capital plan for NJ Transit will initiate a dynamic capital programming process in which project descriptions and funding needs are refined, project construction and spending schedules are adjusted, new needs arise and old needs become moot.

While each of us will inevitably have different views about the specific projects that a fully funded transit capital program should contain, we unite in asking that NJ Transit immediately establish a recurring annual schedule, which, for the ensuing five-to-six year period, publicly identifies the capital projects proposed for funding and how each stage of each project (e.g., planning, design, land acquisition, construction) will be paid for. NJ Transit should also receive and fully consider broad public input on the capital spending proposed.

We also unite in asking that NJ Transit make explicitly clear what the role of the transit agency board of directors will be in adopting an updated capital program and longer-term capital plan each year.

And we equally unite in requesting that NJ Transit make explicitly clear the connection between the strategic plan objectives that each capital project advances and the prioritization that each capital plan project receives.

These procedural requests made, it is to the gap between the agency’s needs and the resources available — and to the broader transportation system context — that we address ourselves.

1. Use Newly-Increased NJTA Toll Revenues to Fund NJ Transit Capital Plan and not Unnecessary Highway Expansion

Many of us have previously noted the disparity between NJTA’s recently adopted $24 billion capital plan, which is fully funded, and NJT’s capital plan, which remains largely unfunded.

It is beyond doubt that the infrastructure needs of NJ Transit exceed, and are more pressing than, the needs of the State’s parkways and turnpikes. This is particularly so for planned road widenings in established cities, where road widening as a traffic management strategy has been demonstrated to be ineffective in study after study.

Further, expanding highways and starving public transportation is antithetical to meeting the Murphy Administration’s declared goals on climate, equitable economic growth, and public health needs, particularly for vulnerable communities whose well-being is compromised by neighboring highways, industry, and other sources of pollution.

The Administration should act decisively to support its declared goals with respect to climate, equity, and transit by dedicating new toll revenues recently raised to meet the unfunded needs of New Jersey’s bus, rail, and paratransit systems. If nothing else, this  would make up for previous raids on public transportation funds, most notably, the $1.8 billion that was designated for the ARC project and which was diverted by the Christie Administration for repairs to the Pulaski Skyway.

1. The State must Raise public revenue so capital dollars don’t need to be diverted to support operations.

A major factor preventing NJ Transit from capital planning has been the uncertainty year to year about what funds will be available for capital projects after capital funds have been diverted to make up for operating budget shortfalls and insufficient funding from the State’s general fund.

Raising revenues for the state budget from the sources available to it – corporate business income taxes, sales taxes, or more progressive income and estate taxes – could help maximize the availability of capital funds for needed capital projects.

In addition, looking ahead 2-4 years, the State should accelerate its work with the regional consortium to develop and implement the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative Policy as well as appropriate complementary policies and law to ensure that revenues from a carbon cap-and-invest program would be dedicated in significant measure to meeting the needs of New Jersey’s historically underserved black and brown communities through transit and other needed public systems and services.

NJ Transit already receives more of its operating revenues from passengers than almost any other transit agency in the United States. This is a major reason that pandemic-related ridership decreases have had such a devastating impact on NJ Transit’s budget, and is a powerful reason not to put the need for more transit operating revenue on the backs of transit riders through fare increases.

1. Assure that NJT’s capital needs are part of a comprehensive transportation strategy for the whole state via a Statewide Transportation Master Plan

NJDOT, NJTA, SJTA, DRPA, and Port Authority all must play a part in supporting NJ Transit’s strategic plan and its capital plan, with supportive capital projects and with supportive use of agency revenues. NJ Transit’s capital needs are also intimately linked to decisions that other agencies make about roadway management.

For example, if NJ DOT were to provide dedicated bus lanes on state roads, buses could travel faster and fewer buses might be needed in NJ Transit’s capital plan to meet a given level of transit demand. Alternatively, more buses might be needed as part of a strategy to eliminate the need for a future DOT or Turnpike Authority road widening.

For these reasons, we are calling for the NJDOT to lead the development of a Statewide Transportation Master Plan that is consistent with and cross references other agency/department master plans goals and that robustly addresses energy and climate goals, economic development, housing, public health, and equitable access and other goals critical to public well-being.

1. Partnership from NJDOT is needed to aggressively invest in walkable, bike-able communities around the State – and especially around bus and rail services.

   NJDOT also needs to aggressively invest in traffic management strategies that improve the speed, quality, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of transit through dedicated transit lanes, queue jumps, and other approaches to increasing transit speeds compared to private cars.

   This support from NJDOT is critically needed to improve the safety, reliability, and quality and equitable delivery of bus transit, particularly for the essential workers on whom so much of the service and health-care economy depends, and for whom transit is a critical lifeline to employment, education, and other mobility needs.

2. NJT must do its part to contribute to a balanced and flexible transportation system that is easily, safely and affordably accessible by all. Thus, every facet of the NJT 10-Year Strategic Plan and 5- year Capital Plan must be viewed with an equity lens.

   EO23 addresses this need specifically noting: “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people, including a racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group, should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies.”

   To that end, procedures should be implemented that ensure fair treatment, equitable funding and resource distribution, and meaningful involvement of all communities in all phases of NJT project development from selection, planning, and design to construction and long-term maintenance. The regular, annual capital program update process recommended earlier in this statement would make an ideal administrative procedure to adapt to meeting EO 23 compliance requirements.