By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Yes, the feds are “probing” Chris Christie’s use of $25 million in Sandy relief package funds for last summer’s “Stronger than the Storm” post-Sandy marketing campaign.
I explained yesterday why the routine audit’s announcement on the heels of Bridgegate blowing-up couldn’t be explained as any other than transparently political.
Can I suggest the next target for scrutiny if we’re going to go down this road?
NJ Transit recently spent $40 million on a new “Pennsauken Transit Center,” most of which can from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. And what kind of return are we getting for our dollars?
Stupefying details from the AC Press:
NJ Transit, the state bus and train operator, hopes to eliminate such complaints with its plan to generate more ridership on New Jersey’s most sparsely used rail line. Key to boosting ridership on the Atlantic City line – now used by about 2,800 passengers per day – is a new $40 million transfer station in Pennsauken, Camden County, that will let commuters switch to the River Line that runs between Camden and Trenton.
The new connection gives riders the option of traveling by rail between Atlantic City and Trenton with relative ease. NJ Transit predicts the Pennsauken station will generate an extra 530 passengers each weekday for the Atlantic City line within two years.
40 million greenbacks for 530 riders.
That’s $75,471 per anticipated commuter, Save Jerseyans.
We could purchase a 2014 Cadillac CTS 3.6 Twin Turbo RWD 2SK for EACH and EVERY new passenger who NJ Transit thinks they’re attracting with this $40 million monstrosity funded by our tax dollars.
What were you saying about a stinking little 2-million dollar over-payment for Sandy spots, Congressman Pallone? Uh-huh. I thought so.
The same math holds true for virtually every mass transit proposal in the country, including those supported and encouraged by some of our state's GOP House Members. The bottom line is almost all government spending goes to places it would never go if the marketplace made these decisions. That's why government makes these decisions, because it is run by people who do not trust the marketplace.
The $75,471 per passenger is based on the numbers in the projections. I am almost certain that the real increase in passengers is closer to 0 than 530. If they had told New Jersey legislators publicly that it would cost $20 million per year to subsidize the AC Rail Line and the line would have only 2,800 passengers after 25 years, the rail line would never have gotten built. I believe that the original projections were closer to 15,000 passengers per day. They pulled the same trick when they proposed the terminal and it got through again.