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New Jersey Transit officials have approved a 15 percent fare hike for trains and buses, which will take effect in July. This will be the first fare increase in almost a decade. In addition to this, there will be a three percent fare increase annually starting next year.
The fare hike is a response to a budget deficit that NJ Transit is currently facing. The agency's ridership numbers are only about 80 percent of what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
For example, a one-way ticket from Princeton Junction to New York Penn Station will increase from $16 to $18.40. A round-trip ride from Hackensack to Manhattan will go from $14.50 to $16.67. The fare hike will also raise one-zone bus fares and trips on the River Line by 20 cents. Train rides from Philadelphia to Pennsauken will increase by 60 cents.
Despite the public's opposition to the fare hike, NJ Transit officials said they had no choice. They argued that the fare increase is necessary to prevent service cuts and job losses.
"This is not about just fares, it's about fundamental fairness," Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said to CBS News. "We cannot balance the books of New Jersey Transit on the backs of working-class families."
Christina Kata, an N.J. policy associate with the Regional Plan Association, also voiced her concerns to CBS News. "In regards to the fare hikes, increases of this magnitude should be the option of last resort," she said.
Eric Benson, of For the Many, N.J., warned that the fare increase could lead to a decrease in ridership. "The raising of fares can send mass transit into a death spiral, as rising fares decrease ridership, which decreases service," he said to CBS News. "This plan is not only unjust, it is bad transit policy."
Despite these concerns, the fare hike was approved in a 9-0 vote.