ASSEMBLY, No. 1948

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED MAY 6, 1996

By Assemblyman WISNIEWSKI

An Act concerning the restoration and expansion of ferry service, and making an appropriation.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. a. The Department of Transportation, hereinafter "the department," in conjunction with the New Jersey Transit Corporation, hereinafter "the corporation," shall prepare an inventory of abandoned terminals and facilities previously used for ferry service, and terminals and facilities which currently provide ferry service, and shall identify additional terminals, facilities, or locations which have a potential to provide ferry service.

    b. Upon completion of the required ferry service inventory, the department, in conjunction with the corporation, shall assess the merits of restoring, expanding, or establishing ferry service at terminals, facilities, or locations identified in the inventory. The criteria to be employed in making an assessment for ferry service shall include, but not be limited to: (1) the impact of connecting major urban areas with ferry service; (2) the impact on the immediate waterfront areas; (3) the capital and operating costs associated with establishing each new ferry service; (4) the estimated number of passengers that would use each new ferry service; (5) the fares that are likely to be charged, and the percent of the operating costs for each new service that would be recovered from fares; and (6) the impact on bus and rail services that would compete with or be complementary to the ferry service.

    c. Based on the assessment required by subsection b. of this section, the department shall develop a coordinated plan for ferry service and submit a priority list, based on the plan, of ferry services that are recommended to be established to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the General Assembly, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, and the chairman of the Assembly Transportation and Communications Committee within one year of the effective date of this act.

    2. There is appropriated the sum of $50,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Transportation to carry out the provisions of this act.

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

    This bill requires the Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the New Jersey Transit Corporation, to prepare an inventory of abandoned terminals and facilities previously used for ferry service, and terminals and facilities which currently provide ferry service, and to identify additional terminals, facilities, or locations which have a potential to provide ferry service. Following the inventory, the department and corporation would assess the merits of restoring, expanding, or establishing ferry service at the terminals, facilities, or locations identified in the inventory.

    Based on this assessment of merit, the department would be required to develop a coordinated plan for ferry service and submit a priority list, based on the plan, of ferry services recommended to be established to the Governor, the presiding officer of each house of the Legislature and to the chairmen of the respective Senate and Assembly committees on transportation.

    An appropriation of $50,000 is provided to carry out the provisions of this bill.

Requires inventory and plan for establishing ferry services at suitable locations; appropriates $50,000.