Progress at the PA NYNJ

Kudos to Port Authority commissioners who, at Gov. Christie’s urging, committed to buy and revive Greenville Yard in Jersey City as a barge-to-rail (Conrail, that is) trash transfer station, for $118 million. The barges across NY Harbor will remove up to 360,000 diesel-fueled polluting trash truck trips from the region’s highways annually. Combustion of diesel fuel from trucks emits exhaust that contains tiny particles of soot, commonly called PM 2.5, which is very dangerous to breathe.  Thanks too, to Gov. Christie for appointing former NJ state senator Bill Baroni to his new post as deputy executive director. Today, Baroni unveiled a long-hoped for unified fare card (actually a “PayPass” Mastercard (debit or credit)) good on PATH trains, NJTransit trains and MTA subways.  Tri-State Transportation Campaign sought this type of fare card in its first Citizens Action Plan in 1994, when it also pulled together one of the first-ever meetings of the directors of the MTA and NJTransit. From 1993 to 1998, I often used all three transit systems in my daily commute, all of which required different fare media.