MTA services cuts to affect Pascack Valley line

[ThirdRail]

NJT operates the Pascack Valley Line in conjunction with Metro-North, so any funding problems for the MTA will affect NJT.


http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081121/BIZ/811210379/-1/NEWS

Changes to come with MTA fare increases
Some trains to be dropped
By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
November 21, 2008

So, you're going to pay more for your Metro-North ticket next year, but are you going to get less service?

Well, it depends.

As of now, Metro-North isn't planning to eliminate any trains on the Port Jervis Line, but it will add stops in New Jersey to the schedule of one weekday train — which will result in NJ Transit tossing a few bucks Metro-North's way. (And it isn't likely to be Train No. 50.)

The Pascack Valley Line, which only got weekend service last year, will lose one, maybe two, trains in both directions on Saturday and Sunday.

On its three east-of-Hudson lines, spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said there will be about a 1 percent reduction in service, mostly off-peak, and mostly trains only added in the past three years. The Hudson Line, popular with Orange County riders who use the Beacon station, will lose three off-peak weekday trains.

Then, the railroad will adjust the number of cars on all trains to get as close to its maximum load capacity — think occupancy — of 92 percent as possible. What this means is that trains will be more crowded — and you either sit in the middle seat or you stand.

jrife@th-record.com

Keeping track

Commuters who ride Metro-North Railroad are facing as much as a 23 percent increase in ticket prices next year, their fourth increase since 2003. Here's how the cost of a monthly ticket has changed on the Port Jervis and Hudson lines.

Salisbury Mills-Cornwall to Hoboken Terminal*

November 1995: $170

May 2003: $208

March 2005: $219

March 2008: $228

June 2009: $280**

Beacon to Grand Central Terminal

November 1995: $235

May 2003: $300

March 2005: $321

March 2008: $334

June 2009: $413**

*Does not include the cost of connecting NJ Transit or PATH services to Manhattan

**Assumes a maximum 23 percent increase that is still subject to public hearings, modification and adoption

[ThirdRail]

As of now, Metro-North isn't planning to eliminate any trains on the Port Jervis Line, but it will add stops in New Jersey to the schedule of one weekday train — which will result in NJ Transit tossing a few bucks Metro-North's way.

As promised, stops are added in NJ. It's a good thing Trainwreck doesn't appear to be active. She'd lose her mind! 

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090120/BIZ/90120034

Massive MTA fare hikes include longer commutes for Orange County
Some Port Jervis Line trains will make additional stops in New Jersey
By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
January 20, 2009

Commuters are already registering their disapproval of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed double-digit fare increase and service cuts in record numbers – and only one of seven public hearings has been held.

The first hearing, held last week in a hotel ballroom in Manhattan, attracted more than 400 people, more than the combined total of public and e-mail comments that the MTA received about the last fare increase a year ago.

Now, the hearings are moving to Queens, Long Island, Staten Island and Brooklyn. Hudson Valley commuters will have their turn on Jan. 28, in White Plains, and on Feb. 2, in West Nyack.

“They’re already set on the fare hike,” said Carmen O’Connor of Newburgh, recalling how underwhelmed the MTA was when she presented a petition signed by hundreds of Metro-North riders in 1995 – the last time a double-digit fare increase was levied. “I could take a million signatures and speak on television and it wouldn’t matter.”

O’Connor could see her monthly train ticket jump to $428 from $334 and her 30-day MetroCard to $103 from $81 – in the middle of a recession. Her trains on the Hudson Line would run less often and have more standees.

On the Port Jervis Line, the cuts in service will translate into a longer commute since new stops will be added in New Jersey on at least one, possibly two, morning and evening trains. NJ Transit will pay Metro-North for permitting the new stops – in effect, saving the MTA some money.

But the pay-more-get-less scenario will be similar for every person who uses the MTA’s commuter railroads, subways, buses, bridges and tunnels if the agency carries out the average 23 percent fare and toll increases and service cuts come June.

At the first hearing, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, the MTA’s chairman, assured commuters that the agency didn’t want to do any of these dire things but had no other way to cover the $1.2 billion hole in its 2009 budget of $11.4 billion.

Unless, of course, the state Legislature comes across with additional aid when it adopts New York’s 2009-10 budget in the spring. Lawmakers are expected to consider a wide variety of new sources of revenue for the cash-strapped agency, but a fare and toll increase, albeit a smaller one, is still likely.

[trainwreck]

Have a little pity on the NJ PVL commuters!!!  As you know from my whining, we don't even have an express train.  Can't say as I use the train on the weekend, so it doesn't really affect me.  It would be nice, as I've said before, if they get the NY express train to make a couple of stops in NJ on weekdays but it sounds like that will be on the Port Jervis line, not PVL. We are destined to make every stop possible on the way home & NJT seems to think this is the best thing for us, to get home later & later & they'll probably raise my fare for less service & they'll be more overcrowded trains & they'll be more unhappy commuters & they'll be more late trains.........  So much to look forward to in 2009.

[slavetothecommute]

At the first hearing, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, the MTA’s chairman, assured commuters that the agency didn’t want to do any of these dire things but had no other way to cover the $1.2 billion hole in its 2009 budget of $11.4 billion.

Wonder if someone asked him if the books they were citing were the actual books or the cooked books that got them into a world of bad PR a few years ago.

[ThirdRail]

She's baaaaaack! 

As promised, stops are added in NJ. It's a good thing Trainwreck doesn't appear to be active. She'd lose her mind! 

Have a little pity on the NJ PVL commuters!!!  As you know from my whining, we don't even have an express train.  Can't say as I use the train on the weekend, so it doesn't really affect me.  It would be nice, as I've said before, if they get the NY express train to make a couple of stops in NJ on weekdays but it sounds like that will be on the Port Jervis line, not PVL. We are destined to make every stop possible on the way home & NJT seems to think this is the best thing for us, to get home later & later & they'll probably raise my fare for less service & they'll be more overcrowded trains & they'll be more unhappy commuters & they'll be more late trains.........  So much to look forward to in 2009.

Hi Trainwreck! 

I just wanted you to know, all is not lost. They are hard at work making sure that 2009 is not a bad year for the PVL passengers. Look! They're taking action right now!! I'm sure the article below will lift your spirits as you commute!

http://www.northjersey.com/news/njpolitics/38846132.html

NJ Transit to rename North Hackensack stop
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
BY JOHN REITMEYER
NorthJersey.com
TRENTON BUREAU
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New Jersey Transit would change the name of the Pascack Valley Line stop in River Edge to "New Bridge Train Station" under legislation cleared by a state Senate committee on Monday.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Gerald Cardinale, R-Demarest, passed the Senate’s Transportation Committee by a 5-0 vote.

The name change is designed to better link the station with the location where George Washington rushed troops across the Hackensack River while retreating from the British during the Revolutionary War.

A visitor center and museum are in the works at a park commemorating the river crossing a block away from the train station, which is currently called "North Hackensack Train Station."

The station and a nearby post office took on the North Hackensack labels in 1905 after the previous name of Cherry Hill — established by donors who paid for the train station in 1870 — caused too much confusion with Cherryville, Hunterdon County.

The area had been known as New Bridge in the 1700s.

The name change would go into effect in April when New Jersey Transit is scheduled to publish a new set of train schedules, Weinberg said.

New Jersey Transit would change the name of the Pascack Valley Line stop in River Edge to "New Bridge Train Station" under legislation cleared by a state Senate committee on Monday.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Gerald Cardinale, R-Demarest, passed the Senate’s Transportation Committee by a 5-0 vote.

The name change is designed to better link the station with the location where George Washington rushed troops across the Hackensack River while retreating from the British during the Revolutionary War.

A visitor center and museum are in the works at a park commemorating the river crossing a block away from the train station, which is currently called "North Hackensack Train Station."

The station and a nearby post office took on the North Hackensack labels in 1905 after the previous name of Cherry Hill — established by donors who paid for the train station in 1870 — caused too much confusion with Cherryville, Hunterdon County.

The area had been known as New Bridge in the 1700s.

The name change would go into effect in April when New Jersey Transit is scheduled to publish a new set of train schedules, Weinberg said.

[trainwreck]

Damn, thought you were going to tell me some good news about my schedule, that maybe an express train was in my future!!!! 

[ThirdRail]

HAPPY NEW YEAR, TRAINWRECK!!! 

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100123/BIZ/1230325/-1/NEWS

Port train service cut planned
Metro-North could slash 2 weekday trains
By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
Posted: January 23, 2010 - 2:00 AM

NEW YORK — The Port Jervis Line, already service-poor, could lose two of its 26 weekday trains if Metro-North Railroad's proposed service cuts are implemented this summer.

The railroad plans to eliminate the 9:20 a.m. train from Port Jervis to Hoboken, N.J., as well as the 6:27 p.m. train from Hoboken.

At the same time, the departure of the next morning train, the 11:31 a.m., would be moved up and the departures of the next evening trains, the 7:02 p.m. and the 7:57 p.m., would be adjusted.

The cuts, released Friday, are part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plan to cover a $400 million shortfall in revenue through reductions in commuter rail, bus and subway service.

Public hearings on the plan, which would take effect this summer, will be held in March. Details are posted at www.mta.info.

"What," exclaimed Orange County Executive Edward Diana in a voice so loud that staff members ran to his office in alarm. "This is unbelievable, absolutely outrageous. I won't stand for it."

Only last month, Diana pressed the MTA's new chairman, Jay Walder, for better service on the Port Jervis Line and got his pledge to work toward narrowing the county's "value gap."

Gap between payments, services

Diana estimates the county pays the MTA roughly $108 million a year in special taxes and fees — including the new payroll tax — but only receives about $60 million in Metro-North services. The gap is Rockland County is greater.The two counties have the worst disparities of the 12 in the MTA's service territory.

Service cuts on the Port Jervis Line were originally going to take the form of additional stops in New Jersey — which would win Metro-North new fees from NJ Transit and reduce operating costs. NJ Transit operates Metro-North's trains in Orange and Rockland counties.

Marjorie Anders, a Metro-North spokeswoman, said the railroad's plan for its five lines was revised to reduce the negative impact on customers as much as possible.

Of the plan's $5.4 million in savings, only $500,000 will be realized in Orange and Rockland counties. The changes will affect about 685 of the 2,200 daily customers on the Port Jervis Line and about 65 of the 1,000 on the Pascack Valley Line.

Anders cautioned that Metro-North still has to negotiate the west-of-Hudson changes on both lines with NJ Transit, adding, "It's not a done deal."

judyrife@gmail.com

[mcmanimal]

"New Jersey Transit would change the name of the Pascack Valley Line stop in River Edge to "New Bridge Train Station" under legislation cleared by a state Senate committee on Monday.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Gerald Cardinale, R-Demarest, passed the Senate’s Transportation Committee by a 5-0 vote."

It nice to see our state legislature tackling the important issues!