But media attention of the issue has been conflicting. According to a positive article in the Trenton Times, while addressing the Assembly Budget Committee a few weeks ago, Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere highlighted the encouraging increases.  "We’ve had more riders than any of us anticipated," said Lettiere.

   Since its inception, the River Line has been condemned by critics as a boondoggle of the Whitman Administration, and that the limited ridership would not justify the enormous capital investment, entirely funded by the state. Originally, the project was supposed to be $603 million, but later costs skyrocketed to 1.1 billion. When the project started in 2000, observers speculated that the state paid for the entire project for two reasons: First, the 4,150 person projected daily ridership was unlikely to be enough to pass federal cost-efficiency standards (capital and operations cost per ridership mile). Second, NJ Transit was vying for TEA-21 'New Starts' money for high-ridership projects like the second and third sections of the $1.1 billion Hudson-Bergen light rail, expected when finished to draw 48,000 passengers per day.

Upon taking office, Governor McGreevey was especially critical of the construction and went so far as to order a criminal investigation of the project. Despite critics’ initial denunciations,  the River Line’s true test will come in whether or not it will be the economic development engine that it was predicted to be.  In the project’s conception, it was designed to spur economic development in towns along the Delaware River.  NJ Transit spokespeople have stressed that the benefit’s of the River Line will be seen in long term economic development, traffic reduction, and preserving the New Jersey environment.