SECAUCUS AND BEYOND — NJ Transit’s Board of Directors planned to meet this morning in Secaucus to vote on the 2012 fiscal year budget, which at $1.9 billion is $85 million higher than last year’s, according to news reports.
The increase in the budget is partly due to increasing fuel costs. NJ Transit spokesman Paul Wycoff told the Hackensack Record, “Rising fuel prices this past year have hit us hard, just as they have every Jersey family. Buses and locomotives use a great deal of fuel — enough that every penny increase in fuel price raises NJ Transit’s costs by $360,000.”
The budget also includes spending on new buses, rail cars, dual-powerd locomotives, and improvements to the Ridgewood station. Also under consideration, stopping non-union employees from cashing out unused sick time.
The board will also review the first customer satisfaction survey, just released, which asked customers to rate the agency on a scale from zero to 10 for various categories including service schedule and fares. The overall results were mixed: for example, the agency scored a 7.0 for “payment options” and a 4.2 for “on-time performance.” The survey was conducted online among 19,000 customers.