"When the Legislature approved a plan to renew the transportation trust fund last year, it asked voters to dedicate all of the gasoline tax and part of the sales tax for transportation projects ... voters said yes.

"Now, the state Department of Transportation is reneging on the deal and the promise that the state would repair within five years half of all New Jersey bridges with structure problems..."

"The trust fund was hotly debated. Those concerned with the deterioration of the state's roads and bridges reluctantly supported the bill after being assured such work would be a priority. Now the state's transportation commissioner says the compromise 'fix-it-first' agreement is 'not feasible.'

"This is betrayal of voters' trust. If the bridge repair schedule wasn't worth the paper it was printed on, the ballot question deserved to be defeated."

"Facing annual budget gaps of up to $406 million over the next three years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority may soon be pressured to hike subway fares. That should be avoided. The agency must find a way to keep its finances on track.

"The first remedy to cover the reported shortfall is for the state to make its transit aid formula fair and equitable. The current system has been long out of whack, leaving it ripe for repair.

"While the city system moves 83% of mass transit riders in the state, it gets only 64% of Albany transit aid. That's unacceptable.

"No matter how you look at it, city riders get a raw deal. While straphangers pay nearly two-thirds of the cost of their service, LIRR commuters, for example, pay less than half.

"Add to this the unfair distribution of the $800 million surplus from the MTA's bridge and tunnel tolls. This money is split about 50-50 between the TA and the commuter railroads. Yet the TA carries many more people, and the bulk of the tolls are paid by New York City residents. Why should the city subsidize the wealthier suburbs? Answer: It shouldn't. Toll receipts must be divided fairly.

"...if deficit estimates of $318 million in 2003 and $406 million in 2004 pan out, the state has a responsibility to help find the money to avoid a subway fare increase."

"It's folly for political candidates to talk of tearing down the toll plazas on the Garden State Parkway and giving everybody a free ride...

"The candidates are holding out false hopes. No matter how the numbers are crunched, they won't add up to anything that makes practical sense.

"...Without tolls [the state] would have to shell out $56 million for annual payments on a Parkway debt that exceeds $600 million. (The debt would have to be refinanced; it couldn't just be shifted to state government.) The road also has some $200 million in E-ZPass obligations to be dealt with. It has major construction needs, such as rebuilding the Raritan River bridge. Police patrols on the Parkway cost $23 million a year. Routine repairs add another $25 million; snowplowing, weed cutting and other seasonal requirements amount to millions of dollars more. Simply demolishing the toll booths could cost $50 million. 

"...The Legislature has demonstrated time and again that it doesn't have the stomach to enact even a modest gasoline tax increase to meet compelling highway, bridge and mass transit needs. Why would it want to try to find money to replace a system that's self-funding? 

"...motorists dislike the Parkway's pay-by-the-trip arrangement, but probably less for the out-of-pocket expenses it imposes than for the awful traffic jams it generates at the toll plazas at rush hour. The potential solution to that problem is an expanded use of E-ZPass, which allows subscribers to roll through the toll lanes without stopping. Where possible, lanes should be upgraded to enable E-ZPass traffic to clear them at highway speeds."