Passenger Trains > NJ: rail and bus farebox recovery

Larry Higgs of NJ.com has an article about farebox recovery (% of operating costs covered by revenue collected) on NJ Transit rail and bus lines.

The  NJT  NEC line carried 33 million people and covered 88% of its operating expense.  Among light rail operations, the Jersey City line covered 33%

NJT bus operations also run on a zone basis. Some long, heavily used routes are just a single zone (historical legacy), while other short routes are interstate and thus have nuch higher rates. In recent years the rail network has tried to move to a consistent rate per miles traveled. The old rates were a legacy of the different rail companies and their different fare structures.


Breaking even


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/15 06:00 by Lackawanna484.

I have a pdf doucment from State DOT that says ALL NJT services lose money except for an extra-fare Great Adventure bus and another local bus in Jersey City.

Urban and suburban transit is not self-supporting anywhere in North America nor most of the rest of the world.  Intercity carriers such as Greyhound and Megabus and a few others manage to eke out minimal profitability, but fare competition makes even these margins thin at best. 

There are so many Federal regulations regarding bus construction, emissions, accessibility and reporting that a big chunk of change is spent at most transit agencies just to do paperwork.  A simple RFP for city buses can easily fill two 4" binders with specifications and diagrams.  In the world of urban bus service, 30%-40% fare recovery is spectacular.  Some Canadian systems exceed that due to high ridership and higher fares.  In the US, we seem to think everyone should ride for damn near nothing, so fare recovery is far less, ranging as low as 12% or less in some cities.  And I hate to say it, but every city that has added light rail or a "modern" streetcar operation in the past 30-40 years has had to reduce bus services to help pay for the unholy cost of operating and maintaining the rail operation. 

If NJT manages to get 88% fare recovery on NEC operations, I applaud them.  Sure, their fares are high, but it means that riders are paying a larger share of the cost of running the service.  Matter of fact, if NJT and SEPTA actually owned the NEC between Penn Station and Wilmington (the edges of their service areas), considerable Federal capital grant dollars would be available for upgrading track and catenary structures and they would be able to soak Amtrak for usage fees the way Amtrak soaks them to operate under an obsolete and ill-maintained catenary structure that Amtrak cannot afford to upgrade since our elected leaders think it is already "profitable."

It is kind of a catch-22 for commuter and intercity rail, isn't it?

timecruncher

NJT and SEPTA do note need a 130 or 160MPH railroad.
Amtrak does, and would not get it if the commuters were the owners, as now goes on in Connecticut.

routes to outlying areas outside the rail routes end points should have the buses feeding the light and regional rail lines and not competing between the 2 modes ... the idea of rail is to lessen hwy traffic gridlock ... light and regional rail should also be on non duplicate routes unless there's an overwhelming patronage to one or the other where one mode supplements the other to avoid over crowding and delays ...

case in point in Septas Broad St Line whereas it parallels the Jenkintown line ... both have very strong patronage and one is not taking away patronage from the other ...

i have always and still am against the honor pay system ... setup.a system like PATCO'turnstyle pay and collect all fares ... don't give people a way not to pay ... thats just ludicrous

Just to note that almost every NJ Transit rail station has a bus stop / transit center nearby.  That's exceptionally helpful when tunnel problems or catenary problems shut down one mode of travel.  Even the little loved Boonton Line has Lakeland and NJ Transit bus alternatives.  So do most of the Gladstone Line stations.

In Bergen County, bus seems to be the preferred alternative for many midtown NY commuters. Wretched as it is.

I would note the continuos apples and oranges of road and transit.  The article is about transit operating farebox recovery of operating expenses.  It would seem obvious that if you don't recover your operating expenses, you cover nothing in capital costs.  Then the article talks about studies about road construction subsidies, which are capital.  It does not delve into the specifics however of which roads are subsidized.  Roads go practically everywhere.  What is the subsidy of NJ roads?  What is the subsidy of roads that are comparable to tansit routes.  And then the little kicker, unless you take toll roads.  Best I heard many of the toll bridges in the east are cash cows.

Then if you want to get into costs, if you drive, you buy a car, pay sales tax, buy plates and sticker, maintain your car, buy fuel and pay taxes.  If you take the bus you pay $1.50??

Bob

In California, state law requires that publicly funded transit systems recover at least 15% of their "costs" from the farebox.  Some cities have had to engage in some mystery accounting to comply with that mandate, such as charging the salaries of some transit employees to other departments to avaoid the loss of state and/or federal funds.
In a case I was involved in, it was clear that it would be less expensive to give every bus rider a free dial-a-ride pass than to operate the bus system.  The bus operation cost over 1.2 million a year to run and took in less than $110,000 on fares, or 9.16% of expenses.  When it was suggested that fares should be increased, the howls of outrage were deafening!.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

robj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> (snip)
>
> Then if you want to get into costs, if you drive,
> you buy a car, pay sales tax, buy plates and
> sticker, maintain your car, buy fuel and pay
> taxes.  If you take the bus you pay $1.50??
>
> Bob

That circles back into capacity constraints, however.  Here in the NJ/NY area, it will cost  you $14 to use the tunnels or bridge into Manhattan, and many dollars more for parking. $35 to $40 is a good daily parking rate. So, your $7 bus fare plus $2 parking is a relative bargain. Same thing for your $12 rail ticket one way compared to the bus compared to the private vehicle.  Although some folks car pool with their chauffeurs, which is nice.