IF all goes as planned, the metro New York region will spend literally tens of billion of dollars over the next decade or two to boost mass transit. Should commuters rejoice?
Not if the new services are run as badly as current ones are.
The list of planned big-ticket projects is breathtaking:
* A commuter-train tunnel to Jersey ($7 billion).
* A PATH station at Ground Zero ($2 billion).
* A rail link from Downtown to JFK and Long Island ($6 billion).
* An LIRR terminal at Grand Central ($6 billion).
* A subway line on Second Avenue ($16 billion).
* An extension of the #7 line in Manhattan ($2 billion).
* A “transit hub” at Fulton Street ($800 million).
* A NJ Transit station in the Farley Post Office ($1 billion).
And on and on . . .
Meanwhile, it’s full steam ahead for the MTA’s $21 billion four-year plan for construction projects. Jersey’s bolstering mass transit, too – with projects like the $1 billion commuter-rail transfer station in Secaucus and the $1 billion Hudson-Bergen Light Rail project, plus a light-rail spur linking two major stations in Newark.
On Wednesday, NJ Transit announced the addition of 234 double-decker train cars, starting in December, to ease the seating crunch.
Where are all those commuters going?
Nowhere fast.
This I can tell you first-hand; I’m one of them.
The region may need new stations, tracks, tunnels and train cars.
But it also needs better management. Now.
Having taken a NJ Transit train out of South Orange almost every morning for the past year, I can recall it showing up on time exactly . . . twice (including once when I was late).
Breakdowns and delays are the rule. And that’s not the half of it.
On NJ Transit, you can expect broken equipment; no seats (even as empty cars are kept closed); dirty, smelly interiors, and false “information.”
Even new cars on the Midtown Direct line have been plagued with problems (particularly the automatic station announcer).
And buses (easily $20 a day, with parking and subway connections) are so much worse that Jerseyans are flocking to rail service. So many, in fact, that they’ve been forced to wait forever for parking spots: Indeed, up to seven years.
Then there’s the lack of trains: If you miss the 8:02 p.m. to South Orange, you’ll wait 37 minutes for the next outbounder – and roughly an hour for every one thereafter. Trains on some other lines run even less often.
And don’t blame limited tracks across the Hudson; officials manage to squeeze in more trains per hour at other times during the day. Nor is there insufficient demand – otherwise, why build a new tunnel?
Parking may be the biggest challenge. Commuters get up at dawn for spots. At my station, where spaces go for $840 a year, you’re (theoretically) guaranteed parking – but only until 9:30 a.m.
Figures cited in The New York Times recently paint the problem starkly: Only 55,000 parking spots are available for 125,000 daily riders. In Westchester, 75,000 riders fight over 26,000 spots. On Long Island, most lots are full.
NJ Transit says it’s adding 25,000 to 45,000 spaces over the next 10 years. But that won’t keep pace with the ridership growth now, let alone once a new tunnel is built and trains are added.
Don’t get me wrong: Most of the above projects are vital to New York’s economic – and social – future (though, why the Port Authority needs to spend $2 billion on a Ground Zero PATH station remains a mystery).
Mass transit makes it possible for companies to draw on a workforce that can live outside the city, where housing is more affordable and schools are better.
If commuting reaches a saturation point, the city’s growth potential suddenly becomes hamstrung. Already, suburban businesses are stealing not only local workers, but many from the city as well, as evidenced by soaring numbers of reverse commuters.
Transit officials and political leaders shouldn’t give up on these projects.
Still, wouldn’t it be nice if they could make the system work right first?