HOBOKEN AND JERSEY CITY — Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken and Mayor Steven Fulop of Jersey City are unhappy with a potential plan to cut PATH service between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. that is being floated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and supported by both states’ governors.
Fulop said in published reports, ““I think that all too often politicians assume the public is stupid, and this is an example of that.” Fulop’s administration is already suing the Port Authority for $400 million for other matters.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer of Hoboken sent out this notice on Sunday in response to a recommendation from the Port Authority the day before:
“On Saturday, December 27, 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie issued a joint press release “accept[ing] the comprehensive and wholesale changes recommended by the Bi-State Special Panel on the Future of the Port Authority,” a panel commissioned by the two governors. The report includes a recommendation to “Implement PATH service changes” including eliminating overnight service.
“I will vigorously oppose any efforts to cut PATH service,” said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. “This irresponsible proposal is a classic example of being penny wise and dollar foolish. Shutting down overnight PATH service will cost the State of New Jersey many times the supposed savings in lost economic activity, sales tax and business tax revenues. Cities like Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark are growing because residents and businesses want good access to transportation options like the PATH. It is incomprehensible that any New Jersey official would be willing to even consider this proposal that would only hurt the State’s economy.”
“We should be investing to expand, not limit our regional transit system,” added Mayor Zimmer. “I applaud the report recommendations to build a new Port Authority Bus Terminal and pursue additional trans-Hudson tunnel capacity and hope the recommendation to undermine the PATH system is quickly scrapped.”
The report can be viewed at: https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/SpecialPanelReporttotheGovernors2014-12-26FINAL.pdf”