New Jersey Transit Corporation

MAYER URGES NJ COMMUTERS TO VOICE CONCERNS AT RUTGERS-CAMDEN HEARING ON NJ TRANSIT FARE HIKES

(GLOUCESTER) - Assemblyman David R. Mayer today urged bus and rail riders in the greater Camden and Gloucester areas to let themselves be heard at a February 28 public hearing New Jersey Transit has scheduled at Rutgers-Camden to field commuter reaction to the agency's proposed 10 percent fare hike.

KARCHER URGES COMMUTERS TO LET THEIR VOICES BE HEARD

FREEHOLD - Senator Ellen Karcher today urged NJ Transit commuters to attend Statewide information sessions about a proposed rate hike to voice their opposition to any plans which place the burden of infrastructure upgrades on riders.

"New Jersey as a whole benefits from a well-maintained mass transit system," said Senator Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer. "Mass transit serves as an invaluable safety valve for roadway congestion, and serves to promote greener modes of travel. Drastic rate hikes, which make our trains and buses an unaffordable option for our State's commuters, should be avoided at all costs."

In the wake of Mayor Gilmore's State of the Township Address Hamilton GOP mayoral candidate John Bencivengo expressed his view that the speech was "all fluff and no stuff. The Mayor certainly talks the talk, but he never walks the walk," he continued.

"It's certainly amazing how the Mayor can stand before a group of people and continue to rewrite history," commented Bencivengo. "Just look at some of the claims he made and it's easy to see that they are based in fantasy."

Mayor Gilmore stated in his address that the Hamilton Police Department remains the "best equipped" officers anywhere in the country. "That's hogwash," Bencivengo said. "The police were in dire need of new cars this year and the Mayor purposefully left out any funding for such a purchase, as well as a quarter million dollars in essential overtime, in his budget. How does he expect Hamilton's officers to do their jobs when he doesn't give them the necessary tools," he added. "Thankfully, the Republican majority on the Council was able to find some money to purchase five new cars for our police department and add back the necessary overtime that Gilmore took away so that they can continue to keep Hamilton safe."

Bencivengo also took exception to the Mayor's claims that he presented the Council with a "lean" budget that even it was unable to find cuts in. "That's nonsense," he said. "The Mayor presented a budget that illegally included $5.7 million as revenue, when the money really belonged to our schools. Thankfully the Council found this 'error' before it cost Hamilton taxpayers down the road," added Bencivengo. "Although the Mayor claims that he presented a budget that contained no tax increase, his $5.7 million gimmick reflected an enormous tax increase. His budget wasn't lean, it was illegal," he continued.

The mayoral hopeful further expressed his disagreement with the Mayor's speech when the Mayor expressed his views on the transit development. "The Mayor commented that the transit development, like the Hamilton Marketplace, would be a great benefit for all of Hamilton. However, the two projects cannot be compared," stated Bencivengo. "The Hamilton Marketplace is successful because it is a purely commercial ratable. I, along with the Council majority I believe that the transit development could also be successful, but it needs to be commercial in nature," he added. "As of now, it is nothing more than a massive housing development that will stress our roads, schools, and our pocketbooks."

Bencivengo also took exception to the Mayor's call for the Council to sit down with NJ Transit to find "common ground" on the transit development. "Where has the Mayor been over the past year," Bencivengo asked. "Several times the Council has expressed its willingness to sit down and work out a compromise on the transit development and every time the Mayor has vetoed any such compromise effort. As Dave, Dennis, Tom, and Kelly have stated before, they are more than willing to sit down with NJ Transit and any other interested parties to work out a deal on the transit development, and they, along with myself, hope that the Mayor will finally come to the negotiating table as well. However, if anything is going to get done, the Mayor's current attitude of 'It's either my way or the highway' is going to have to change," Bencivengo concluded.

Republican mayoral candidate John Bencivengo today offered a plan to revive the Transit Village concept. “I am joining the Council in their efforts to save the transit village and recommend that they establish a open forum made up of representatives from various affected groups from Hamilton to meet and create a plan that can be presented to the people of Hamilton in a series of public meetings,� Bencivengo offered. “My business and government experience suggests that if this type of process had been done from the beginning, this project would be well on its way,� he continued. “The present mayor should have been more forthright in putting together an acceptable plan of action for the area around the train station. He should have allowed all of the interested parties to have a voice in the planning to reach a plan that would be workable for the entire area. Any final plan for the area should balance the needs of the private sector with the quality of life of our citizens. At a minimum, an economic impact study and a traffic study should be completed before allowing a developer to forge a plan and then impose it on the citizens of our great town,� Bencivengo added.

KARCHER OPPOSES PLANNED NJ TRANSIT FARE HIKE

TRENTON - Senator Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee, issued the following statement today on announced plans to increase NJ Transit fares on buses and trains by 10 percent, beginning June 1, to raise $60 million to cover the costs for new services:

"The planned fare hike on NJ Transit customers is the absolute last thing that should be considered, particularly at a time when New Jersey families are being squeezed by skyrocketing property taxes and face some of highest cost-of-living expenses in the nation. With the proven impact of greenhouse gas emissions on global warming, we should be doing all we can to draw riders to mass transit, not turn them away.

GOVERNOR CORZINE ANNOUNCES NATIONAL SEARCH FOR NJ TRANSIT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

TRENTON - Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced that he will conduct a national search for the next executive director of NJ Transit.

WISNIEWSKI ON NJ TRANSIT CHIEF RESIGNING

(SAYREVILLE) - Following the resignation announcement of New Jersey Transit's Executive Director, George Warrington, Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly Transportation and Public Works Committee, issued the following statement:

GOVERNOR CORZINE FILES NOMINATION

TRENTON – Governor Jon S. Corzine today submitted the following nomination to the State Senate. The nomination is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

SENATE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE TO QUESTION AMTRAK, NJ TRANSIT ON MAY POWER OUTAGE

TRENTON - The Senate Transportation Committee will hear testimony tomorrow from executives of Amtrak and NJ Transit on the power outage on the Northeast Corridor rail line on May 25 that left 15,000 NJ Transit passengers stranded for several hours.

"A service outage of this magnitude has fortunately been rare up to now," explained Senator Nicholas Sacco, D-Bergen and Hudson and Chair of the Committee. "We want to make sure that the events of May 25 are not indicative of more frequent outages in the future."

LITTELL TO NJ TRANSIT: GET MOVING ON LACKAWANNA CUT-OFF
Tells NJ Transit to Stop Ignoring Rural Communities on Transit Projects

Senate Republican Budget Officer Robert E. Littell (R-Sussex/Morris/Hunterdon) called upon the Corzine Administration to accelerate the reactivation of the “Lackawanna Cutoff) passenger rail line in northwestern New Jersey.