the staff of the Ridgewood blog
New Brunswick NJ, as NJ Transit debates how to avert its budget shortfall, a majority of New Jerseyans oppose cutting transit services or raising fares to stabilize funding and close the fiscal gap, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
Fifty-four percent strongly oppose and another 24 percent somewhat oppose cutting services; 19 percent (6 percent strongly, 13 percent somewhat) support it. Likewise, 39 percent strongly oppose and another 28 percent somewhat oppose raising fares; 30 percent support it (10 percent strongly, 20 percent somewhat).
New Jerseyans are much more supportive of increasing direct state aid, however: 34 percent strongly support this option to fund NJ Transit and 32 percent somewhat support it. Nearly three in 10 New Jerseyans either somewhat (14 percent) or strongly (15 percent) oppose this measure.
“Like with many issues, New Jerseyans do not want to see their own lives impacted through mass transit service cuts or fare hikes – especially if they themselves ride the rails or buses,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “With ridership not yet back at pre-pandemic levels and with riders accustomed to no fare increases in the last eight years, most New Jerseyans place the onus on the state government to keep NJ Transit afloat.”
While a majority of every demographic group opposes cutting services and raising fares, some groups are less resistant to these measures than others. Republicans (45 percent strongly, 21 percent somewhat) and individuals who report never using public transportation (49 percent strongly, 22 percent somewhat) are less opposed to cutting services compared with their counterparts. Men (45 percent) and white residents (48 percent) are less likely than their counterparts to strongly oppose this measure.
Men (31 percent strongly, 30 percent somewhat) and individuals in households making $100,000 or more annually (35 percent strongly, 27 percent somewhat) are less likely than their counterparts to oppose raising transit fares. White residents (33 percent) are less likely to strongly oppose this measure compared with nonwhite residents (45 percent).
More than half of nearly every group strongly support increasing direct state aid to stabilize NJ TRANSIT’s budget: Republicans are the only group who do not reach a majority in favor of it. About two-thirds of riders and nonriders alike support increasing state aid to some degree.
“Unsurprisingly, Democrats and Republicans are divided on what would be considered a budget issue,” said Jessica Roman, a research associate at ECPIP. “While Republicans are the most opposed and most divided of any demographic group, Democrats are the most supportive of increasing direct state aid to stabilize NJ Transit’s budget.”
New Jerseyans’ ratings of public transportation in the Garden State are mixed: 5 percent rate the state’s mass transit system as “excellent,” 35 percent “good,” 31 percent “only fair,” 14 percent “poor,” and 16 percent are unsure. A plurality of those who use public transportation in the state at least a few times a year – 48 percent – rate it as “good,” with another 30 percent rating it as “only fair.”
Nearly half (47 percent) of New Jerseyans say they never use public transportation.
Results are from a statewide poll of 1,002 adults contacted by live interviewers on landlines and cellphones from April 27 to May 5. The full sample has a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points.