NJ-ARP Annual Report 2000-2001 September 29, 2001 Contents: Message from the President Cape May Report Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Bergen County Developments Lackawanna Cut-Off Monmouth - Ocean - Middlesex Montclair Connection / Boonton Line Electrification Newark Airport Station Newark City Subway Raritan Valley Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit System Sussex County Area Web Site Miscellaneous Activities When I was selected as President of NJ-ARP last year, I set three goals. First, I wanted our organization to reach 400 members. Second, I wanted to continue our aggressive advocacy on many fronts and third, I wanted us to make a greater outreach to inner cities. I am pleased to advise that, for the most part, we made our objectives and even exceeded them in some cases. Our membership is now at an all time high numbering 385 members, 33 greater than last year at this time. This is despite increasing our dues and introducing a Patron category at $100. While we fell short of the 400 number I had set as our goal, I am pleased that we made significant progress in expanding our outreach. I am even more pleased that 12 of you decided to support us at the Patron level. We thank you for doing so. Much of this increase has come from our active participation at festivals such as Hoboken Transit Festival, Milltown Day, Howell Community Day, etc. We have addressed groups such as the Monroe Kiwanis Club, the Camden Empowerment Association and are 1 of 16 NJ-ARP Annual Report 2000-2001 scheduled to speak before the combined Chambers of Commerce of Dover, Mount Olive, and other Northwestern New Jersey communities who seek rail as an alternative. We have lobbied members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate in Washington in addition to actively supporting the efforts of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) in advocating for passage of the High Speed Rail Investment Act. For an organization that is strictly made up of volunteers, most of whom work full-time jobs, these accomplishments are remarkable. My second goal of continuing our aggressive advocacy was exceeded during the year. Our efforts on the MOM project continued undaunted under the leadership of Dan Kerwin. We have succeeded in apparently driving into temporary silence the Concerned Citizens Against the MOM line. We note that their website is no longer active. MOM is now in the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) stage which will take approximately 18 months to complete. We will seek to have representation on the EIS committee and will continue to push this project forward. I am convinced it will become a reality. We have been huge supporters of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLRT) when it has been assailed in the press as "not carrying its anticipated load" and "losing money". We believe otherwise. We see it as a necessary transit option that grows by the day and will continue to grow as the line is extended both north and south. Its positive redundancy is now being proven with the loss of the PATH Downtown New York service as a result of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center of September 11th. PATH passengers disembarking at the Pavonia/Newport Station are able to transfer to HBLRT and get to Exchange Place. Progress also continues strong and steady at the Secaucus Transfer, which will come on line in 2002 providing many options to passengers to switch to trains on the NEC. The Montclair Connection has had significant progress with catenary strung over almost all of the Boonton Line between Walnut Street Station and Great Notch Yard, a distance of almost 4 miles. In addition, a new station for Montclair State University has been approved by the NJ Transit Board of Directors, which will allow for a significant enhancement of the connection. On the Port Authority front, we opposed the proposed PATH fare increase to $2.00 per ride and through organized lobbying and testimony at every fare hearing, were successful in having the increase rolled back to $1.50. I was proud at how many members of our organization came out to the hearings. Your voice made a big difference. On the other Port Authority matter, we were not as successful. I refer to the fare structure for the very soon to be opened Newark Airport Station. We lobbied the Port Authority, including meeting with officials of the Port Authority to express our concerns on the fare structure, pedestrian and bus access to the station and the lack of development to allow Newark to continue its renaissance. Despite repeated inquiries and back channel efforts, we could not get the Port Authority to tell us what the fare structure should be. When finally announced in mid-August, we took our case to the press with no success. The press did not see this as a story since they felt that a premium price for this service was not a bad thing. We saw it, and still see it, differently. In our recent meetings with the candidates for Governor, we have stressed that it will be in their power to get the Port Authority to roll back its abusement park fare for their "Six Flags over Newark Airport" Disney monorail. We also need to actively lobby the legislature for a new law that states that no new service can be introduced without public fare hearings. 2 of 16 NJ-ARP Annual Report 2000-2001 In the Southern portion of our state, Carol Ann Thomas continues to do a wonderful job for us on the Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit project (SNJLRT). The recovery, inspection and righting of the Rancocas Creek Bridge has been completed and work continues with track realignment outside Camden. Despite opposition -- some from rail groups -- saying this has been a "colossal" waste of funds and will not have the ridership needed, we have begged to differ. We believe this will prove to be a boon to the entire corridor and will help relieve Trenton of traffic congestion once an extension is approved to the Statehouse. It will help revitalize Camden and it will allow individuals currently on public assistance because they do not own a car and cannot get to work to seek work and ride LRT to their job. This is a win-win all the way around. Also in South Jersey, Paul Mulligan, our Cape May Liaison, continues to do yeoman's work with Tony Macrie on the Cape May Seashore Lines. People have discovered this "little" railroad with so much potential and ridership hit new levels this year. In Northern New Jersey, we actively advocated for and testified at the hearings on Bergen County Light Rail options. Many of our members expressed their support for one, two or all three of the options proposed for the County; Northern Branch, the West Shore Branch and the Cross County corridor. We believe all of them will be viable in one form or another and help relieve Bergen County of vehicular traffic congestion. We are disappointed that more progress wasn't made in completing the sidings for the Pascack Valley Line; however, we will continue to lobby NJ Transit to see if the schedule can't be speeded up considering how many other projects are going on at the same time. We thank Orrin Getz for his continuing role here. One of the major projects we were able to influence was the repair work begun on the Bergen Tunnels. We proposed numerous alternatives to schedules to allow the least number of people to be inconvenienced and suggested ways to get the word out to passengers. We believe this was handled well and I am pleased to report that it continues to go smoothly. In the Northwest part of the state, we are now gearing up to aggressively push the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Renewed interest has been spurred in this project as people sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic each day on Routes 80 and 46. There is a better way and the Chambers of Commerce in the area have reached out to us to help them and help them we will. Incredibly, some transit advocates are actually opposed to the Cut-Off citing that it will exacerbate suburban sprawl. We will show them the errors of their way. The Cut-Off is a project whose day has come. My third goal was to have more outreach to inner cities and minority communities, usually not as well served by rail. I can advise you that we have started that effort by presentations to Team Newark, the Camden Empowerment Association, and the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy. I am now representing NJ-ARP on the Bergen Arches Committee of the Conservancy. We will strive to do better in this area next year. I want to specially acknowledge one individual who works behind the scenes but whose work you may see everyday. That person is Bob Scheurle. He is our webmaster and it is he who keeps our website humming. The website now averages over 26,000 hits per month. Each of our Hotlines is viewed an average of 275 times. Our mailing list of people who want to be notified of a new Hotline has more than doubled to 120. From all of NJ-ARP, thank you for this most important project coordination. 3 of 16 NJ-ARP Annual Report 2000-2001 I also want to acknowledge Bill Wright and Art Reuben (posthumously) for having been inducted into the NJ Transit Hall of Fame recently. It is quite an honor bestowed on them and it reflects on the great credibility NJ-ARP has earned and achieved.