PATH also would extend peak service rail operations.
Advertisement
During yesterday’s Railroad Day on Capitol Hill, meetings between the freight industry and New Jersey’s congressional representatives tensely broached the subject of how a potential New Jersey Transit rail strike would impact more than just daily commutes.
“There is not one person in this entire coalition that wants to go on strike”, said Stephen Burkert, general chairman of SMART-Transportation Division Local 60.
NJ Transit estimates that a 65-minute commute from Hamilton, Mercer County, or Morristown to New York City would take well over two hours via bus and PATH train.
When creating the plan, NJ Transit focused on resources for its rail customers, which are New York-bound customers – and make up about 105,000 customers.
Union workers are seeking pay increases of 2.5-percent annually to go along with a 2.5-percent contribution to healthcare costs, as recommended by the President’s Emergency Board.
“This will not be a normal commute for anyone”, Dennis Martin, the agency’s interim executive director, said at a news conference at NJ Transit’s station in Secaucus. The parking spaces and buses will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, said Martin, who suggested that commuters who absolutely must get to Manhattan should get an early start. Buses from the Ramsey/Route 17 station will connect to ferry service in Weehawken.
NJT would not provide any rail service, instead offering limited peak hour-only bus service to NY or locations that provide connections to NY at park-ride lots.
Fares from regional park-rides are based on the existing fares from those locations.
NJ TRANSIT is the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 938,500 weekday trips on 257 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines and through Access Link paratransit service. In 2015, NJT had its highest annual ridership ever, with more than 135,000 customers using the rail lines daily for intra and interstate travel, NJT said.
“Our experience in transit strikes is that conditions change every day”, Schwartz said.
Advertisement
Freight companies use numerous same tracks as NJ Transit, and without the folks that work the signals and keep the tracks in good order, the network of trains that carry freight throughout the state-15 short lines and Class 1 railroads such as Conrail and CSX- would be stopped in their tracks.
