Billion-dollar system debuts tomorrow
It was New Year's Eve 1948 when John V. Hughes, then only 10 years old, boarded the Jackson Avenue trolley on its last ride.
Hughes' father, Jim, was a motorman for Public Service Coordinated Transport, which ran the trolley and buses and would later evolve into NJ Transit. John McKenna, a friend of the elder Hughes, was retiring after the trolley's last run that night, so young John went along for the ride.
"Looking back, it was a historical ride for me," said Hughes, today an Occupational Health and Safety specialist for PSE&G. "It was something my father shared with me and I have an opportunity now to share with my son."
Hughes, his wife Joan, and their 22-year-old sone, Sean, are scheduled to take a ride tomorrow on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System, a modern version of the old streetcars and trolleys, when the $1.1 billion system debuts.
The invitation came after Hughes and some co-workers encountered a light rail train zipping by during a drive through Jersey City two months ago. He looked down the street and saw the catenary wires over the system's rails. Nostalgia set in and he recalled aloud his childhood amazement "at being able to ride the trolley's and get anywhere."
"You didn't really need a car in those days," Hughes said.
That's the hope driving light rail projects throughout the state, including the HBLRT. In the most densely populated state in the nation, getting automobile-dependent commuters to hop on a new mode of transportation could help relieve congestion. And in Hudson, it may help reduce air pollution caused by an estimated 66,000 cars that pass through Hudson River crossings daily.
NJ Transit officials have said all along commuters will relish the idea of ditching their cars at a park-and-ride lot just before traffic bottlenecks at the Holland Tunnel and Routes 1&9 hopping on the light rail to Exchange Place or the PATH.
But even NJ Transit numbers show that only about 17 percent of HBLRT's riders will come from outside the county. Nearly 60 percent of the system's patrons will be from Jersey City and Bayonne.
The HBLRT is the first light rail project to run in the state, but NJ Transit officials hope funding and public support will be enough to construct systems from Camden to Trenton and Union County.
Once the entire line is completed, it will have drawn $2 billion in state and federal funds and stretch 20.5 miles from Bayonne to Ridgefield, with connections to the NY Waterway ferries in Weehawken and Hoboken, numerous bus routes, PATH trains and multiple park and rides along the way.
Officials have proudly noted the system is right on schedule, so far.
But tomorrow it's the 7.5 miles of rail between 12 stations from 34th Street in Bayonne to Exchange Place and West Side Avenue in Jersey City that will bring Gov. Christie Whitman and other state dignataries to celebrate the start of a system 10 years in the making.
The system has been credited for spurring development along Jersey City's waterfront by state and county officials alike, but exactly how much of that commercial and residential development is due to the light rail, a strong economy and the bull market is unclear.
NJ Transit estimates the HBLRT will increase housing values within a 10-minute walk from Bayonne stations by a collective $19.8 million, a total of $129.3 million for all points south of Exchange Place, and $39.3 million increase in value along West Side branch stations.
"Real estate value will continue to go up in Bayonne. It's already increased over 20 percent in the last two years," Bayonne Mayor and state Assemblyman Joseph Doria said. "As a result, more people are staying in Bayonne. There are under 100 homes on the multiple listings for Bayonne."
Despite rave reviews from public officials, residents of Jersey City's Paulus Hook neighborhood have been complaining that the trains, and the development of condominiums and office towers, are ruining their quaint neighborhood.
Residents have complained repeatedly that some light rail train operators routinely blow the train's horns and ring the trolley-light bells as they speed down the street.
"And to make it worse they announce the stop on the speakers letting everyone in the neighborhood know it's arriving at the Essex Street Station," Said Dorcey Winant, an Essex Street resident and part of the Paulus Hook opposition.
Others have criticized the $1.50 fare and $2.00 park-and-ride fee, but NJ Transit Executive Jeffrey Warsh has said the monthly packages make it enough of a bargain for commuters to save money and time.
Critics have also pointed out changes in commuter trends within the state, with more people commuting from suburb to suburb.
But one transportation expert who was part of the HBLRT design team from 1988 to 1994 said the system is just what the area needs.
"It's a fantastic transportation plan. The northern branch (into Bergen County) will bring the most advantages, since the communities along eastern Bergen County are heavily populated with very weak public transportation," said Martin Robins, who is now director of Transportation Policy Institute at the Alan M. Vorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University.
The real concern, Robins warns, is a lack of funding.
Although the plans are now being analyzed for the second phase scheduled to open in 2005, which will extend from Hoboken to Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen and south to East 22nd Street in Bayonne, funding for the project is still not secure.
The price tag for that extension is estimated at around $1.5 billion.
"We don't have the funding for that yet," said Ken Miller, a spokesman for NJ Transit. "We're building along as we get money, but we are currently in final negotiations with the federal transit administration to secure funds for the second phase."
Robins believes funding for the North Bergen extension will be easier to get than the money for the extension into Ridgefield. But for those involved in the project for the past decade, like County Executive Robert Janiszewski, tomorrow's ceremonial running is a milestone.
"After more than a decade of planning and development, the day we have all been waiting for is finally here. Officials on the federal, state and local level came together to bring this, the largest public works project in the state's history, to northern New Jersey," Janiszewski stated in a release yesterday. "I am positive that based on the impact the HBLRT will have on the county, it will serve as a catalyst for other large transportation projects in the state."
