NJ Transit board approves double-digit fare hikes

NJ Transit riders will pay more to ride trains and buses starting July 1 after the agency’s board on Wednesday unanimously approved double-digit fare hikes, plus an annual 3% fare hike starting in July 2025.

The board’s unanimous vote to approve the fare increases, some as high as 15%, came after the agency heard from 25 commuters and transit advocates who urged them not to foist its budget woes onto NJ Transit riders.

“Your rate hike will have a devastating impact on urban areas and minority communities, as people are already struggling to make ends meet,” said Holly Cox of Montvale.

The fare hike plan was first proposed in January to close the $106.6 million budget gap the agency faces for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Revenue from the fare hikes is expected to top $106 million. Before the vote, NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett said that after internal budget cuts and no promise from state lawmakers that they would approve additional funding, the agency was left with two options: cutting service or raising fares.

Members of the board also defended the fare increases. Board member Shanti Narra, who said she rides a bus run by a company that is also expecting to raise prices, said casting a vote in support pained her “very, very much.”

“I know there are many, many of our residents who are going to be digging deep into pockets that are nearly empty. And this is so hard to do this,” she said.

NJ Transit faces a $766.8 million budget shortfall starting in July 2025, even considering the fare hikes. To help, Gov. Phil Murphy has proposed a budget that includes a so-called corporate transit tax — aimed at the state’s 600 most profitable businesses — that could bring in about $800 million annually, mostly for NJ Transit. But it’s unclear whether the new tax will remain in the spending plan after lawmakers amend it. Budget hearings are underway.

Members of the public on Wednesday blasted the NJ Transit board for failing to secure funding for the agency sooner rather than passing extra costs onto riders. Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 8th Congressional District’s House seat in June, called the increases a “backdoor tax on working families.”

“Whatever happened to standing up for people who need a helping hand? Isn’t that what our values are about? Isn’t that what New Jersey Transit should be about?” he said. “It’s not a business. It’s a public service.”

Several speakers asked the board if they were simply “rubber stamps” who approve Murphy’s proposals without question. Vice Chairwoman Kiabi Carson said that label implies the board hasn’t done their due diligence.

“This is not a ‘yes’ as a rubber stamp, it’s a ‘yes’ considering all the factors that we discussed,” she said.

And while many speakers urged the board to hold off on the vote until the governor signs the state budget — that deadline is June 30 — Carson said that would lead to “financial consequences.”

“All we can do as a board, and I feel as a board member, with the fiduciary duties that we have, is deal with the situation as it exists right now, as unpleasant and as gut-wrenching as it is for many of us,” she said.

The rates of the fare increases depend on the type of ticket. The price of a one-zone local bus ticket will increase from $1.60 to $1.80, and bus fare from Jersey City to Port Authority Bus Terminal will rise from $3.50 to $4. Fares on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail will increase from $2.25 to $2.55 and for the Newark Light Rail, from $1.60 to $1.80. A train ticket from Princeton Junction to New York Penn Station will spike from $16 to $18.40.

The measure approved Wednesday also eliminates the FlexPass discount and will limit the life of digital and paper tickets to 30 days from purchase.

In a statement, Sen. Tony Bucco (R-Morris) called the fare hikes an “affront” to commuters.

“From escalating gas taxes and increasing highway tolls, to raising taxes on employers and cutting funding to certain school districts, Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats have relentlessly betrayed their promise to make New Jersey more affordable – and if that wasn’t bad enough, now they’re price gouging public transit riders,” he said.

The last time NJ Transit riders saw a fare increase was in 2015, when prices rose about 9%.

An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of revenue NJ Transit will collect from the higher fares.