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Who pays a higher fare? It's not the rider of this Long Island Rail Road train, even though LIRR fare increased on Monday. A commuter group's analysis said NJ Transit has the highest rail fares. (Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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NJ Transit train commuters pay the highest fares of the nation's 10 biggest commuter railroads, including those run by New York's MTA, which just hiked fares on Monday, according to a commuter group and an NJ Advance Media analysis.

The study by the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers contends NJ Transit has the highest fares in four of six categories. That is primarily based on a comparison of monthly fares, which is the type of ticket most commonly used by commuters.

NJ Transit commuters who travel 48 miles between New York and Princeton Junction, pay $414 for a monthly pass, higher than the $377 monthly fare that a Long Island Rail Road rider pays to travel 49 miles between New York and Smithtown. Metro North commuters would pay $407 a month for a 52-mile trip between New York and Brewster, Conn., the study found

NJ Advance Media did a similar comparison of fares for Virginia Railway Express and southern California's Metrolink system, which are among the 10 largest commuter railroads, but weren't included in the NJ-ARP study.

That check found in most cases, NJ Transit monthly tickets cost more for similar distances traveled. A 47-mile trip between Los Angeles and Moorland cost a Metrolink rider $321.50, according to that railroad's website. A 51-mile trip on VRE between Washington D.C. and Leeland Road station in Virginia cost $287 for a monthly ticket.

The NJ-ARP study said that commuters traveling similar distances on railroads serving California, and suburban Chicago, Washington DC and Philadelphia, pay substantially less, said the analysis by Joe Versaggi, an NJ-ARP director. The news comes as NJ Transit riders are facing the possibility of a fare increase this year.

"NJ Transit's fares have historically been high in relation to other transit systems," said Len Resto, NJ-ARP president, who said the group done similar fare comparisons in the past. "It's not a huge surprise that, with the MTA fare increases, the gap has narrowed, but they're still up there."

NJ Transit officials were critical of the analysis because it doesn't give the full picture of a statewide agency with a complicated fare structure.

"Unless you examine our entire system and fare structure, this analysis is flawed and misleading," said Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

How much less does the association contend commuters on other transit systems pay for routes similar to the $414 monthly fare from Princeton Junction to New York?

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority charges commuters $330 for a monthly pass for the 50-mile trip between between Boston and Fitchberg, the analysis said. And METRA commuters pay $250 a month for a 49-mile ride between Chicago and Fox Lake.

Caltrain riders are charged $232 a month to ride 49 miles between San Francisco and San Jose.

Maryland riders pay $200 a month for the 49-mile trip between Brunswick, Maryland and Washington D.C.

A 51-mile ride between New York and Fairfield, Connecticut on commuter service operated for that state by Metro North comes with a monthly tab of $362. Metro North's website said a discounted price of $354 is charged if a monthly pass is bought online.

"The New Haven Line Connecticut riders always feel that they are being gouged by Metro-North because of their zip code and those of us in NJ are starting to feel the same way," said Michael Phelan, of the Delayed on NJ Transit commuter group. "In reality, it's been a lean six years or so economically, and few who ride trains and buses have the luxury of dishing over more cash."

The analysis compares the fares charged to the nearest station for distances of 48-50 miles, 37-40 miles, 27-25 miles and 15-20 miles. In four of six different distances cases, NJ Transit fares were higher than the MTA, SEPTA, Boston's "T", California's Caltrain, Maryland's MARC and Chicago's METRA systems.

The analysis also provided some examples where NJ Transit had a cheaper fare for a similar trip. The LIRR charges $311 for a monthly ticket to make the 38-mile run between Smithtown and Jamaica. NJ Transit charges $299 a month for the 39-mile trip between Princeton Junction and Newark.

Phelan, who's group hears the complaints of transit commuters in real time on social media, questioned what riders are getting for their money.

"As exemplified by the plastic tarps hanging from Port Authority Bus Terminal's ceilings, the unusable escalators at Secaucus and the horror that is Penn Station at the P.M. rush hour, NJ Transit is once again being given far fewer resources than it needs to function in order to safely and efficiently transport one of the most important workforces on the planet," he said. "Rather than prepare for the future or even keep up, New Jersey will fall behind and continue to embarrass itself."

NJ Transit commuters could face another fare increase this year, which would be the first since fares increased by 25 percent five years ago. NJ Transit officials said they were striving to keep a potential fare increase to less than 25 percent and had $40 million in cuts.

"They have to start looking at ways to reduce costs, nothing should be off the table, they should look at over time, they should look at staffing, especially staff with six digit salaries," Resto said. "There are tickets not being collected on all trains. They have to close that loophole."

Resto cited beneficial examples which could account for higher fares, where NJ Transit has new railcars, such as the multi-levels and newer buses, than other systems have. He also said that as a state wide system, NJ Transit has more geography to cover which increases costs, compared to other commuter lines which are more regional.

NJ Transit should be more transparent about explaining those costs to commuters, he said. Resto gave examples of where the agency could trim costs, such as the recent hiring of former governor's spokesman Michael Drewniak to a $147,400 job as NJ Transit's director of policy and planning. He cited recent press accounts that the agency has 1,000 employees earning $100,000 and higher salaries.

"They should go to zero based budgeting, where you justify everything you have before turning to fares as a way to close the gap," Resto said.



Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.