New Study Shows Economic, Environment, Social Benefitsto New Jersey From Transit Investments

      Analyzing FY 2005 data, the report found direct state operating and capital support for NJ TRANSIT totaled $702.5 million, averaging $2.88 per trip, or less than a gallon of gas per passenger each year. The study compares New Jersey’s experience with public transit against other states and draws upon recent research and government data to quantify benefits to the state’s economy and quality of life that can be attributed to transit service.

Following years of disinvestment in transportation, New Jersey’s standing among the states in per capita income eroded through the 1970s; after the creation of the Transportation Trust Fund in 1984 and renewed investment, the state’s per capita income by 2003 was 28 percent higher than the rest of the nation, according to a study by economists at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. New Jerseyans captured three of every four new jobs created in Manhattan during the 1980s and 1990s, they found.

The study shows that keeping New Jersey moving is crucial in a state with extraordinary population density. Averaging 1,175 residents per square mile, New Jersey’s population density ranks first in the nation and exceeds even that of India and Japan. Bergen County alone is larger than six other states, and seven counties in northern New Jersey are each more populous than Wyoming.

While other metropolitan areas around the nation experience the worst traffic congestion, New Jersey as a state has the highest daily volume on its highways, just beating out California. Without high levels of commuters carried aboard transit service, particularly to employment centers in northern New Jersey and Manhattan, this would have become even more severe.

      The report also cites several significant benefits to New Jersey from increased transit usage:

 •     The Texas Transportation Institute calculated that, without public transit, the New York metropolitan area (including northern New Jersey) would have lost 216 million hours of person time and $4.1 billion in wasted time and fuel during 2005 due to increased traffic congestion; the comparable numbers for the Philadelphia metropolitan area, which incorporates southern New Jersey, were 19 million person hours of time and $359.7 million in wasted time and fuel.

•     NJ TRANSIT calculated on the basis of 2006 data that the vehicle travel eliminated by virtue of transit service reduced CO2 emissions by an estimated 1.16 million tons. A 2006 VTC study calculated that commuting by car to Parsippany-Troy Hills required 57 percent more energy than a similar commute by transit to Newark.

•     Utilizing a model developed by The Center for Neighborhood Technology and applied to 2005 data, the report concluded that the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by a commuter riding NJ TRANSIT rail were less than half than if they were driving a Honda Accord and less than a third if they were driving a GMC Envoy.

•     The Hudson Bergen Light Rail line accounted for $6 billion in new residential construction, according to a VTC study; an earlier VTC analysis of the state’s Transit Village program, which targets state resources to redevelopment around transit stations, identified $522 million in new development between 1999 and 2004.

•     In a survey of New Jersey’s disabled population, VTC found that 69 percent relied on NJ TRANSIT’s Access Link service at least once a week to commute.

The report concludes that decades of investment have allowed the state to emerge as a national leader in transit usage. In 2006, national public transit ridership broke the 10 billion plateau for the first time since 1957; in New Jersey, the growth in both bus and rail ridership has outpaced the national average. The results are even more pronounced for light rail ridership, which grew nearly 32 percent nationally between 1999 and 2005, but by 214 percent in New Jersey.

The report is available on line at: http://policy.rutgers.edu/vtc/documents/traveltrends_fall2007.pdf