Dear Editor:
Recently New Jersey Transit announced that it would cease operation of Routes 305 and 981 in Jersey City by the end of this month.
Route 305 is a shuttle serving Liberty State Park visitors from the Light Rail Station just outside the park’s confines. This bus service is the only mass transit option into the Park. Hundreds of seniors and a large number of families rely on the 305 in order to visit the park on weekends. It is now slated to cease operation June 1.
Route 981 serves commuters with stops at Port Liberte, the Daily News Plant, Sysco Foods, the Light Rail Station, the Jersey City Medical Center and Grove Street in Jersey City. This line would cease operation May 28th under New Jersey Transit’s current set of planned cuts.
Both routes are privately run services subsidized by New Jersey Transit. They are both “one-zone” routes and according to NJT, do not meet a threshold of acceptable financial loss. Thus the decision to hastily eliminate them—a decision that will have unfortunate consequences that we believe must be addressed.
After discussions about this matter with our Freeholders and the Hudson County Transportation Management Association (TMA), we believe that Route 305 can be reduced to a weekend, summer-only service and still effectively carry out its mission to deliver seniors and families to points of destination within Liberty State Park. This compromise is supported by The Friends of Liberty State Park.
Such a change would replace the current, limited seasonal schedule stretched over 12 months. The switch to simply offering the 305 as a weekend-only summer service would greatly reduce the cost of the route to New Jersey Transit. We estimate costs would fall $378,000 annually, down from the current $408,000 to about $30,000 annually. It might also be possible to use fewer vehicles, additionally reducing NJ transit’s costs.
Regarding Route 981, we simply seek more time, at least three months beyond the current shut down date, to allow the Hudson TMA an opportunity to seek out a private carrier willing to take the route without the subsidy. At the very least, this will give riders who depend on the 981 more time to figure out how they will get to work each day.
We face difficult economic times and service cuts are unfortunately part of what is necessary to deal with them. However New Jersey Transit’s decision to shutdown Routes 305 and 981will hurt seniors, families and workers. We are asking to keep little more than 7 percent of the current funding of the 305 subsidy and a brief delay in the removal of the subsidy for the 981. NJ Transit needs to realize it is a mistake to throw out the proverbial “baby with the bathwater” in their rush to meet service cut targets.
Sincerely,
Tom DeGise
Hudson County Executive