Two Transit Bills Get N.J. Approval

Trenton, Feb. 17 — State Highway Commissioner Dwight R. G. Palmer announced yesterday that he was already laying the groundwork for what he called the first step toward solution of the transit problem.

He said he had found a co-operative attitude in meetings with chief executives of railroads, bus lines, the Port of New York Authority, and State Public Utility Commission in seeking short range relief which could become part of a more comprehensive program later.

A bill enacted yesterday would create a Division of Railroad Transportation in the Highway Department, headed by a transit czar.

Palmer said he plans to devote a substantial portion of his time, at the request of Governor Robert B. Meyner, to work for speedy and what he termed down-to-earth action in the transit crisis.

Trenton, Feb. 17 — Bills providing a dual approach to the State's transit ills have been switched to the Governor's desk after chugging through final passage in the Legislature yesterday and increasing protests that the wrong engineer is at the throttle.

In growing numbers, members of both parties joined Hudson County Democrats in demands that the Port of New York Authority be forced to participate in the transit solution. But theirs was still a minority voice.

CALLED FUTILE

The Senate passed the Assembly bill calling for creation of a bi-State transit district, 12-1. Most of those abstaining labeled the move futile in the light of the do-it-yourself attitude expressed last week at the transit conference held by the Governors of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

The Assembly voted 53-3 to pass the Senate bill setting up a State division of railroad transportation headed by a rail czar to co-ordinate existing facilities. It shifted the czar from the Department of Conservation and Economic Development to the Highway Department, an amendment which won unanimous agreement in the Senate.

Senator Robert C. Crane (R., Union) only member of the upper house to vote against the bi-state district bill, maintained that the Port Authority is already charged with responsibility in the field of rapid transit. He read from early reports backing this position.

DEFICITS FEARED

Crane urged support for a bill by Assemblyman William V. Musto (D., Hudson) which would dump the problem in the Port Authority's lap.

Several of those who abstained agreed with Crane. Senator Anthony J. Grossi (D., Passaic) expressed fear that the district, if ever created, would result in a regional tax to make up operational deficits. He called the Port Authority a chameleon constantly changing its position in efforts to get out from under the transit problem.

Senator Wayne Dumont Jr. (R., Warren) said creation of a new authority is the wrong approach. "We should have the Port Authority assume responsibility in an area in which they rightly belong," he said.

GOVERNORS CRITICIZED

Senator Walter H. Jones (R., Bergen) said he was literally shocked by the attitude of Governors Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York and Abraham A. Ribicoff of Connecticut in, he said, washing their hands of commuter problems and with that of New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner in going along with that thinking. He described February 10 — the day of the Governors' conference — as a black day for New Jersey commuters and for the growth of regional concepts.

The transit problems of the Metropolitan Area are so interdependent that it is impossible for one State to solve them on its own, Jones maintained.

Even the bill's sponsors agreed that the district might never get off the ground. The measure will not become law unless New York enacts identical legislation.

In the Assembly Republicans seized the opportunity to remind the Democratic leadership that it had an opportunity to pass a transit-district bill last year and didn't. The Republican Senate and the New York Legislature had passed the bill, sponsored by Jones.

But Assemblyman J. Edward Crabiel (D., Middlesex), sponsor of the current bill, angrily retorted that the Jones bill was loaded against New Jersey and that the Assembly had blocked what he called New York's ulterior motives.

Assemblyman Pierce Deamer (R., Bergen) countered: "Any informed person is by this time aware that this house missed the boat last year and failed completely in its duty to the citizens of the State."

PRESSURE CHARGED

Musto made a futile attempt to release from committee his bill to dump the transit problem in the Port Authority's lap, but was told it needed more study.

He expressed dismay at the influence he alleged was exerted on lawmakers by the Port Authority in preventing a vote on the measure.

Deamer said he was equally dismayed by the same problem last year on the Jones district bill.

Assembly Republican leader Alfred N. Beadleston of Monmouth said the Port Authority would be forced out of business by transit's inevitable deficits.

He said: "The public today is a motoring public. People want more roads. The public, not the Port Authority, demanded better transportation for autos."

WHERE IS THE MONEY?

Crabiel expressed hope that the transit czar, to be named by Meyner, would be able to get the railroads together and find some way to keep commuter trains running.

But Senate President Wesley L. Lance (R., Hunterdon) said the real problem relates to who is going to pay the deficit involved. He said it would have to be made up from one or more of five sources: higher fares, a cut in municipal taxes on railroad property, appropriations from the State Treasury, regional taxation on the counties directly benefited, and limited financial participation by the Port Authority.

He challenged his fellow Senators to tell him where else the funds could be found. The challenge was not accepted.

Rockefeller Sets Up Transportation Unit

Albany, N. Y., Feb. 17 (AP) — Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller was expected to win final approval today of his plea for an agency to battle transportation problems.

The Senate approved last night, 56-1, and sent to the Assembly a bill to set up an office of transportation in Rockefeller's executive department. An Assembly vote is likely today.

The Governor said in a special message that the new office would go to work at once to solve the commuter problem.

Rockefeller said the agency would work closely with the transportation industry, communities, neighboring States, and the federal government.

He met with the Governors of New Jersey and Connecticut February 10 to receive recommendations for immediate action to solve the commuter crisis, he said, adding:

"In response to our invitation, representatives of the railroads, labor, communities, and the Port of New York Authority presented their views on possible solution."

New Bill Needed on Transit Plan

New York Measure On Agency Differs From Jersey's

Bergen Evening Record

March 27, 1959

Trenton, Mar. 27 — The State Legislature will have to draft and adopt a new transit-district bill if New Jersey and New York are to join in a bi-State attack on the rail-commuter crisis.

The transit-agency bill enacted during the closing hours of the New York lawmakers' session early yesterday calls for the transit czars of the two States to work together, and with railroads, bus firms, and governmental units, to make the fullest possible use of existing facilities. The New Jersey bill, passed last month, calls for five members from each State.

Senate President Wesley L. Lance (R., Hunterdon) has predicted that there will be little difficulty in passing a supplemental measure to make the Jersey law conform to New York's.