We Must Keep Riding!

Assemblyman Alfred N. Beadleston's statement before the Eatontown Rotary Club that "New Jersey must keep riding," is one which all commuters know and believe, but one of which those who operate our railroads must be convinced.

We agree with Beadleston that the solution to the rail problem isn't going to be cheap, easy or quick, but it is a solution that must be found if we here in Monmouth County are to keep our commuter population.

Without rail service many Shore communities will suffer losses population-wise they can ill afford, for when people who work out of the state, or in the distant portions of our own state, lose their means of transportation, they must inevitably move. This will bring about a loss in taxes these homeowners are now paying to the communities in which they live, and result in slowly deteriorating municipalities.

At the same time, loss of rail service will discourage industry from being established in this area since not only employees, but shipping must depend on convenient transit facilities.

Railroads must be improved, not done away with. And in order to do this they must have help, not only from the federal and state governments, but from the persons in the areas that benefit from the trains.

...The Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission was provided with funds to study the transit problem, and based on this study, the Commission recommended a loop system of rail mass transportation, including Hudson & Manhattan Railroad improvements.

The Bill, known as Senate Bill No. 50, passed the Senate on June 16, 1958, and came before the General Assembly on Nov. 10, where it was defeated. According to Beadleston, the bill was defeated by propaganda circulated throughout the state which quoted how much each municipality would have to pay for the proposed system.

These figures were never included in Senate Bill No. 50. We feel that if the bill had passed, then the various federal, state and county agencies, together with Port Authority and Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission, had sat down and figured the costs together, the railroads would not be in the position they find themselves today.

We would suggest that if another bill or bills designed to solve the transportation problem is proposed, all of the municipalities, authorities, and state, federal and county agencies involved along with the railroads meet, map out a program, complete with costs and place it before the public so that it can be properly informed.