Bill Text: NJ A4184 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires construction of bus rapid transit system.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-18 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee [A4184 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A4184-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT D. CLIFTON
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Requires construction of bus rapid transit system.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning bus transportation and supplementing Title 27 of the Revised Statues.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Transportation shall annually include in the list of proposed projects submitted to the Legislature pursuant to section 22 of P.L.1984, c.73 (C.27:1B-22) annual funding for such projects as are necessary to complete a bus rapid transit system in accordance with section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The Legislature shall annually appropriate from the revenues and other funds of the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority such sums as are necessary to effectuate this completion.
b. The New Jersey Transit Corporation shall proceed expeditiously to complete the bus rapid transit system. To insure adherence to this requirement, the corporation shall provide a schedule for this completion, as well as periodic progress reports on the status of the various projects comprising the bus rapid transit system, including but not limited to project descriptions, the construction status of each project, additional work required, related time schedules to complete each project, the amounts and sources of funds appropriated to date and the estimated additional amounts and sources of funds needed to complete each project, and any modification to the original scope of a project. This information shall be provided on a dedicated webpage on the corporation's website, and through a report to the Legislature, provided pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), with the schedule to be provided 60 days after the effective date of this act and the progress reports at six month intervals thereafter.
2. a. The New Jersey Transit Corporation shall prioritize the construction and development of a bus rapid transit system in the State.
b. The bus rapid transit system required to be prioritized pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be developed through a collaborative solicitation process in which the corporation allows interested counties and municipalities to express interest in hosting the new bus rapid transit system. The corporation shall then work with each county or municipality to develop a uniform proposal that identifies the service area and stations of the potential system, potential development opportunities resulting from the creation of the system, as well as preliminary ridership, property value, employment, and population change impacts in the service area of the proposed system. The corporation shall advance a bus rapid transit system proposal after taking into account the expected impacts of the proposed system, capital construction cost, net operating cost, and technical feasibility when evaluating various proposals.
c. The bus rapid transit system required to be prioritized pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall include at least six of the following features to be considered a bus rapid transit system for the purposes of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
(1) Operate primarily along a dedicated right-of-way;
(2) Operate along a roadway alignment that does not interact with curbside parking spaces, mixed traffic turn lanes, or bicycle lanes;
(3) Off-board fare collection.
(4) Traffic signal prioritization;
(5) Turns across the bus lane are prohibited;
(6) Platform level boarding;
(7) Express and local service along routes; and
(8) Branding as a separate transit mode from motorbus regular route service.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) to develop a bus rapid transit system. The system is to be developed collaboratively with counties and municipalities through a process that allows counties and municipalities to develop proposals for the new bus rapid transit system. NJ Transit is to work with the counties and municipalities to develop the system proposals and choose from among the proposals based upon the expected economic and ridership impacts of the proposed system, capital construction cost, net operating cost, and technical feasibility.
When developing the bus rapid transit system, the system is required to contain at least six of the following eight features:
(1) Operate primarily along a dedicated right-of-way;
(2) Operate along a roadway alignment that does not interact with curbside parking spaces, mixed traffic turn lanes, or bicycle lanes;
(3) Off-board fare collection;
(4) Traffic signal prioritization;
(5) Turns across the bus lane are prohibited;
(6) Platform level boarding;
(7) Express and local service along routes; and
(8) Branding as a separate transit mode from motorbus regular route service.
Finally, the bill requires
that the bus rapid transit system be
included in the annual capital program and that NJ Transit provide regular updates on its progress in developing and constructing the bus rapid transit system on NJ Transit's website.
