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7/22/2022
New Jersey Transit this week adopted its fiscal-year 2023 operating budget of $2.75 billion and updated capital plan of $2.64 billion.
The budget includes no fare increases. Twenty-six percent of revenue will come from passenger fares. The remaining 74% will come from $721 million in dedicated funding from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, as well as federal COVID-19 relief funds and a combination of commercial revenue and state and federal resources, NJ Transit officials said in a press release.
About 61% of the operating budget is dedicated to costs associated with labor and fringe benefits. Other significant expenses include purchased transportation, materials, fuel and power, utilities and outside services. The budget also allows for the expansion of personnel in key areas within rail, light rail, police operations, administrative support and bus.
Much of the budget is dedicated to improving the rider experience, NJ Transit officials said, by investing in additional operational staff and more police hirings to increase visibility. It also includes funding for more light-rail vehicle maintenance.
Meanwhile, the FY23 Five-Year Capital Plan update, which includes more than $1 billion in funding above last year's update of $1.59 billion, prioritizes investments in infrastructure maintenance to improve the overall state-of-good-repair as well as reliability, safety and resiliency. The plan is an "unconstrained vision of projects" for new opportunities critical to the transit agency, NJ Transit officials said.
The capital plan contains two sets of projects, the first of which is already funded by existing and/or expected resources, and the second of which identifies proposed projects for which funding has yet to be secured.
Nearly $814 million of the capital plan update will go toward the Debt Defeasance and Prevention Fund to be invested in upgrades at major terminals and public facilities, as well as rail station modernization projects. Such projects and their funding amounts include $191 million for Newark Penn Station, $176 million for Hoboken Terminal, $250 million for Walter Rand Transportation Center, $49 million for New Brunswick Station, $48 million for Bloomfield Station, $33 million for Brick Church Station and $27 million for Roselle Park Station.
The budget also directs $40 million to the Northern Maintenance of Way Facility in Clifton.
Also included in the capital update is $191 million the agency received from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) for projects including a state-of-good-repair program and the midlife overhaul of the River Line fleet. Additionally, $40 million in the update will fund customer-facing technology upgrades, including rail and light-rail fare-gate replacement and modernization.
The $1 billion additional funding in the capital update will come from multiple new sources, including $814 million from the New Jersey Debt Defeasance and Prevention Fund, $191 million from the IIJA and $40 million from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund.
The base plan for capital investments is supported by $760 million from the state's Transportation Trust Fund, $600 million from the Federal Transit Administration, $100 million from the FTA Capital Investment Grants program and $75 million from Federal Highway Administration.