Port Authority Bus Terminal, beset by delays and decrepitude, set for $260M overhaul
AUGUST 2, 2014, 11:28 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2014, 10:32 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Richard Simon keeps a tally of every injustice inflicted upon him by the Port Authority Bus Terminal. At 5:02 p.m., Bus 77 left for Toms River. Simon recorded its departure on a small notepad using a scratchy blue pen.
Further insults occurred at 5:03, when buses departed for Freehold and Morristown and another for Toms River, leaving Simon behind on the platform waiting for his own bus, the 196, scheduled to depart at 5 p.m. for West Milford. After a lull, four buses left at 5:11, which Simon found especially galling.
“It just kills me,” said Simon, 66, shaking with anger. “They’re charging us top-dollar fares and giving us Third World service.”
Simon isn’t the only person who’s angry. Conditions at the Port Authority Bus Terminal are worse than ever, said Mark Schaff, the man in charge of the facility. Long lines are growing longer. Critical pathways for buses and pedestrians are clogged, deteriorated and dangerous. The heating and cooling systems are inadequate, the bathrooms are horrors, and the ceiling leaks rain and melted snow onto commuters’ heads.
After decades of deferred overhauls, however, a rare alignment of commuter outrage and shifting politics may force the building’s owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to make repairs. The agency plans to spend up to $260 million on maintenance in the coming years, a small down payment on what commuters, some elected officials and the agency’s leaders agree is truly needed: an all-new terminal that could cost more than $1 billion.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/port-authority-bus-terminal-beset-by-delays-and-decrepitude-set-for-260m-overhaul-1.1061356#sthash.KaEPhc74.dpuf
