The New Jersey Transit Board of Directors has approved a 9% fare increase as part of its fiscal 2016 operating budget adopted on July 15.
The fare adjustment, which goes into effect on Oct. 1, was instituted to help plug a $56 million budget gap, according to NJ Transit officials. The agency, which last raised fares in 2010, approved a $2.2 billion operating budget and $2.1 billion capital program.
"NJ Transit is moving forward with a balanced budget that reflects a laser-like look at individual business lines in order to maximize efficiencies and maintain a safe transportation system," said NJ Transit Executive Director Veronique "Ronnie" Hakim in a statement. "As transit professionals, we owed our customers and stakeholders a good-faith effort to present them a solid plan that had the least impact on our riders. After much hard work, I am confident we delivered on that."
The NJ Transit's capital budget invests $913 million in major capital projects to help advance the train line's resiliency to extreme weather events. The capital program also includes $61 million as part of the NJ Transit's 10-year $1 billion Northeast Corridor investment program, which includes rail station improvements and platform construction. Roughly 42% of the capital budget is derived from the Federal Transit Administration Sandy Resiliency Funds with 22% coming from the state's Transportation Trust Fund.
NJ Transit is the largest statewide public transportation system in the nation. The authority links to rail and bus stops throughout New Jersey as well as New York City and Philadelphia.
