“As much as we want to better facilitate the travel to New York City, we also want to look at ways where Jersey City itself is the destination,” Patel said. Part of the project’s goal will also be to find ways to potentially refine the balance between the regional and local needs of Jersey City’s transportation system, including its roads. “If we have the bus and the light rail and the PATH system and the ferries, there should really be something as simple as an integrated payment system,” she said. The study, Patel said, hopes to find ways to integrate current transit systems.
(Joe Shine l For The Jersey Journal) Joe Shine | For The Jersey Journal Here, Mayors Ravi Bhalla, left, of Hoboken and Steve Fulop of Jersey City depart from City Hall in Jersey City. Mayors Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken and Steve Fulop of Jersey City launched their cities’ joint bike share program Wednesday, May 12, 2021, with a ride from Jersey City City Hall to Pier A Park on the Hoboken waterfront on Citi Bikes on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. “But it’s a significant investment for the city and so, we’re continuing to look for ways to close the gap and expand mobility options for people who don’t have them.” Via, the city’s rideshare system launched in 2020 and expanded in 2021 due to high demand, was a “gamechanger” for helping people in transit deserts, Patel said. “It’s tough, because when you compare Jersey City to other towns in New Jersey we actually have a lot of transit options, the issue is just the quality of the service that’s available,” Patel said.
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There’s also a concentration of signs marking an area in need of more transit near McGinley Square.Ī particular focus of the project is how to help people who live in “transit deserts,” or areas without reliable access to public transportation. In it, residents can place traffic cone icons on a map of the city where they observe transportation issues the city is already covered in cones, particularly near the off-ramp of the Pulaski Skyway, the meeting of Palisade Avenue and Route 139, and the block formed by Palisade Avenue, Paterson Plank Road and Congress Street.
The online mapping activity appears to have received healthy engagement so far. “We’re going to make it as easy as possible to engage at whatever level (residents) feel comfortable with,” Patel said. The project will also include demonstrations by vendors of different transportation products, wo will be invited to offer their products in a limited, controlled environment so residents can decide if they think they’re a good fit for their neighborhood. Over the winter and spring there will be more outreach efforts, Patel said, including possibly town halls and booths at public events like farmers’ markets.
There’s already a survey and a mapping activity online where commuters are asked to participate.
The means by which they’re doing this is the JC on the Move study, a multi-year project to take in feedback from residents and produce a final plan next year to be approved by the Jersey City Planning Board. But, Patel said, it’s hard to change the workings of systems like the PATH and the bus because of the number of agencies and funding sources involved, so they’re looking into alternatives. Some 47% of residents use public transit to get to work in Jersey City, one of the highest rates in the nation. “We have the opportunity to step back and try to map out how transportation is going to develop in the next decade or two, which is what makes this more distinct than ones that we’ve done in the past,” she said. The next step, currently underway, is “a scan,” Patel said, for alternate transit options to fill in the gaps between new ideas like the ride-share Via and the well-established options like the light rail. Over the past five or so years, said Deputy City Manager Barkha Patel, the city has come up with plans covering most existing major forms of transit: walking, biking, cars, as well as the ambitious zero-fatal-crashes plan called Vision Zero.
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