Despite a last-minute push from commuters, labor leaders and transit advocates, the board of NJ Transit voted unanimously Wednesday to raise fares.
The agency said the 9 percent increase was necessary to raise $56 million it needed to pay its expenses.
The vote came after over an hour of often bruising testimony from members of the public, some of whom had traveled from as far away as Philadelphia and Rockland County, N.Y., to attend the meeting.
Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, urged the board to reject the proposed fare hikes.
"Please do not be bobbleheads," he said. "Use your independent judgement and understand that if you vote for this ... you're going to create a downward spiral of fare hikes and cuts in services, which will lead to drops in ridership."
But board member Bruce Meisel said raising fares was the fiscally responsible choice.
"I'd like to be a hero and say 'I'm going to vote no on this,'" he said. "But I couldn't walk out of this room thinking that I did the right thing."
Board Chairman Jamie Fox, who is also the state's transportation commissioner, said he had heard from a lot of people who "don't want a fare increase, don't want service cutbacks, and don't want a transportation trust fund renewal increase. Well, the last time I looked, they weren't growing money on olive trees on [Interstate] 295."
NJ Transit Executive Director Veronique Hakim said the fare hikes came after the agency already took "a very sharp scalpel to both our budget and ourselves."
Meanwhile, NJ Transit's state subsidy has been steadily decreasing, even as ridership — and its expenses — are increasing. Jack May, the head of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, said he blamed Trenton, not the agency. "The fare increases and service cutbacks are the result of a budget cut, orchestrated by Gov. Christie and approved by a discouraged state legislature," he said.
But speaking from the campaign trail in Maryland, Gov. Chris Christie shot back, saying the state was doing enough.
"I'm proud of the fact that we haven't raised fairs in five years," he said. "We've managed it very, very fiscally responsibly, and you know, no one ever likes to see fares go up. But you know, in this world, increased service [and] increased wages all cost money and the state's putting a lot of money into New Jersey Transit and we'll continue to do so, but riders have to bear some of that responsibility as well."
The new fares, which will be accompanied by some service cuts, go into effect Oct. 1.
