Passenger Trains > NJ hey Murph, ride the bus / train

Transit activists in NJ have renewed their call for the Governor to actually ride an NJT bus or train.

Neither this gov nor any others in recent memory have actually been on a bus or train as far as I know. Exception for the boozy ride to Washington, of course.

They (both R and D) prefer a motorcade and helicopters

https://www.nj.com/news/2023/02/advocates-invite-gov-murphy-to-ride-a-nj-transit-bus-and-experience-what-riders-face.html

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Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Transit activists in NJ have renewed their call
> for the Governor to actually ride an NJT bus or
> train.

Great idea!
>
> Neither this gov nor any others in recent memory
> have actually been on a bus or train as far as I
> know. Exception for the boozy ride to Washington,
> of course.
>
> They (both R and D) prefer a motorcade and
> helicopters
>
That's a shame and it seems to be true for other states' governors.  The one exception of which I am aware is Michael Dukakis who, apparently, was a regular on MBTA's Green Line.

Bloomberg, not a Governor, but as mayor of a city of 8 million, commuted on the Lexington Avenue subway (with a bodyguard).

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NJ Transit, always  focused on the important stuff, intends to move its HQ from a 1990s office building east of Newark Penn station to a newer office building west of the same train station.  No word on improving its broken down fleet of buses and trains, or accelerating work on the NEC turn back project in North Brunswick  however.

https://www.nj.com/news/2023/02/nj-transit-plans-to-move-into-new-headquarters-but-will-remain-in-newark.html

Nothing can be too good for Prince Corbett. 

They are currently designing a billion dollars worth of electric bus garages so there is that.

Also the article asks to stop using gimmicks to fully fund operations and mentions the governor fully funding the pension system payment for 2022.   That was done with COVID relief funds and will not happen again.    

On the plus side, work has actively begun again on the reconstruction of the first 7 miles of the Lackawanna Cutoff to Andover.  Trees have been cleared in the last two weeks as work is about to begin on rehabbing the Roseville Tunnel.

Of course one wonders who will ride these 7 miles of track - the new Andover station is slated to have a grand total of 65 parking spots!

As they are set to abandon the Princeton Branch. Andover's gain / Princeton's loss - that is not a fair trade. I am not impressed. 

Don't know if they still exist, but at the NJ Transit HQ building
parking garage, there were(are?) "Reserved" parking spaces
for the Governor, DOT Secretary and Executive Director. For real!

Yea, could you imagine Christine Whitman riding the Trenton Local?

CPMorris Wrote:
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> Don't know if they still exist, but at the NJ
> Transit HQ building
> parking garage, there were(are?) "Reserved"
> parking spaces
> for the Governor, DOT Secretary and Executive
> Director. For real!
>
> Yea, could you imagine Christine Whitman riding
> the Trenton Local?

How about parking spaces for the Governor's entourage?  Three SUVs and an escort police vehicle seem to be the minimum.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> They (both R and D) prefer a motorcade and
> helicopters

The article makes no references to the corrupt behavior of politicians, so I'll treat this as your commentary, and stay off topic - there are many aspiring Brezhnevs in this country, enjoying their Zil Limousine motorcades. :-)

On topic, I don't think Governor Murphy using public transit will make any difference, especially based on his background. As usual, a "leader" out of touch, giving lip service to make sure he doesn't lose "support."
 

RuleG Wrote:
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> That's a shame and it seems to be true for other
> states' governors.  The one exception of which I
> am aware is Michael Dukakis who, apparently, was a
> regular on MBTA's Green Line.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4331429,4331939#4331939

Conversation from 2017, where former Governor Dukakis even made a difference to a small city transit center thousands of miles from where he governed. While Dukakis and Murphy are both Harvard graduates, that's where the similarities end, in my opinion.

Quick solution would for Murphy to delegate (hire a transportation expert) to his administration, someone of Dukakis caliber. Mere arguing about funding doesn't solve anything. 

The legislature turned down Murphy's rec of a veteran transit activist for a Board seat two years ago.

She knew more about transit than she should. We discussed it here but she wasn't connected.

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Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The legislature turned down Murphy's rec of a
> veteran transit activist for a Board seat two
> years ago.
>
> She knew more about transit than she should. We
> discussed it here but she wasn't connected.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,5021439

Seems there are others more qualified than Janna Chernitz in the discussion on this topic 2 years ago. The layers of "being connected" is  deep, if you consider her to "know more about transit than she should." (Media endorsement is one of those "layers")

Politics as usual.

She wasn't sponsored.

We don't talk to nobody that nobody sent.

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