Open your hearts and open your data.

NJT and the Port Authority need to cough up some actually useful post-congestion pricing travel data so the public has a full picture of the new toll’s impact on the region, advocates on both sides of the Hudson River said on Thursday.

In a pair of letters sent to the leadership of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and NJ Transit, the so-called “Sunshine Coalition” of more than 30 organizations from both the Garden State and Empire State asked agencies under control or partial control of Gridlock Gov. Phil Murphy for data on travel patterns since the toll launched in January, including:

• Daily and weekly ridership data from every NJ Transit train, bus, and para-transit line — including crossings into the congestion relief zone, ideally broken out by hour.
• Daily and weekly vehicle use on the mainline of the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, broken down by type of vehicle, exit and time of day. 
• Daily and weekly revenue data for the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, broken down by toll plaza and exits.
• All available vehicular-caused air pollution data statewide, broken out by county.
• Daily and weekly ridership data on PATH trains, buses and para-transit for 2023, 2024 and 2025, separated out by line and by time of day.
• On-time performance for PATH trains and buses and customer journey and travel times for 2023, 2024 and 2025. 
• Daily and weekly vehicle crossing data, broken down by type of transportation and hour, from every Port Authority bridge and tunnel for 2023, 2024 and 2025. This data should include crossings into the Manhattan congestion relief zone.

The data is more necessary than ever as officials seek to evaluate the impact of congestion pricing on travel times and travel patterns in the New York City region. The MTA, which operates congestion pricing, has filled much of that picture on its own — the data under New Jersey’s control is the missing link.

“We’ve been hearing a lot from commuters traveling from New Jersey into Manhattan about their commutes, but we don’t have the full picture because we don’t have all the data,” said Tri-State Transportation Campaign Director of Climate and Equity Policy Jaqi Cohen.

“We have a lot of data from the MTA, and we know that [the Port Authority and NJ Transit] are collecting this data,” Cohen said. “Obviously, it’s early in the program, but we still think that having that data can better inform transportation decisions that are made across the state.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy opposed congestion pricing at every step of the way until its launch in January. Murphy lawsuit to stop the program on environmental impact grounds failed. Since its launch, he has sided with President Trump’s extra-legal effort to kill the toll.

Despite that, several New Jersey groups were among the 30 signatories on the letter calling for transparency — including New Jersey Policy Perspective, Make the Road NJ, NJ Sierra Club, New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition, Environmental New Jersey, League of Women Voters NJ and more.

Other signatories included Reinvent Albany, Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Regional Plan Association.

NJ Transit and the Port Authority do publish some user data, but it’s not shared in a way that anyone would call “open data” or classify as “ongoing” or “timely,” as the letters demand.

The Port Authority, a bi-state agency jointly run by New York and New Jersey, publishes average PATH train ridership by hour for every month, but on a delay in PDF form. Port bridge and tunnel crossing volumes are also eventually published, but also only in PDF form and on a delay.

The agency says this is in order to better reconcile the data. Advocates say that the agency needs to speed up the process.

“I think it’s a matter of priorities.The MTA has actually been releasing the crossing data for a long time, this isn’t some new effort,” said Reinvent Albany Senior Policy Advisory Rachael Fauss. “It’s just a matter of publishing it. Whatever reconciling needs to be done shouldn’t take months.”

NJ Transit fares even worse. The agency buries its ridership and revenue figures in a single annual report, while its “Performance by the Numbers” page only shares on-time performance by mode rather than route.

The MTA, in contrast, has been pumping out extraordinarily specific open data sets since congestion pricing began, including an interactive website that shows how many vehicles enter the tolling zone, broken down by type of vehicle, entry location and time of day. The MTA also publishes many more open data streams — including one that lists bridge and tunnel traffic broken down by crossing, time of day and vehicle type.

It wasn’t always that way at the MTA, however. The authority yielded to public pressure to allow for a more thorough look at what was going on, Cohen said.

“The MTA didn’t always release this data, there was a lot of advocacy around getting them to be more transparent in their operations, and they were pushed in the right direction,” she said. “I think that the agencies on the other side of the river need to be pushed in the right direction as well.”

More transparency at the agencies would also prevent concern-trolling stunts like Murphy’s recent letter to the Port Authority demanding the agency — which, recall, he half-controls — provide data to show that congestion pricing was hurting the agency.

“Murphy asked for all that data and it was ridiculous, because you control the Port Authority. So it’s just the basic principle that the MTA has daily ridership and bridge crossing data. Why doesn’t the Port Authority,” said Fauss.

Port Authority spokesman Seth Stein said the agency is reviewing the letter. Reps for NJ Transit did not return a request for comment.

The new sinkhole on Rt. 80 in Wharton, N.J. is creating even more concern for local residents and businesses there. 

The small town has been coping with a big traffic problem. The new sinkhole opening up Wednesday was unwelcome, to say the least. 

At the Townsquare Diner on Rt. 15, owners say business is down 40%.

“There’s a lot of traffic out there. But they’re not stopping because they’re late going to work in the morning,” owner Costa Sedereas said. 

Wharton Mayor Bill Chegwidden is working on ideas to help struggling businesses like the diner. 

“Actually we’re going to have a restaurant walk a couple times. So you’ll walk to a restaurant, you know the locals, to come out and support them. Because these are our backbones. We’re a lot of mom and pop shops around here,” Chegwidden said. 

“It’s very defeating””

The repairs to I-80 were supposed to take a little over two months, but that timeline was prior to the new 15-foot by 15-foot sinkhole opening up on Wednesday. It’s not clear what the updated timeline for repairs is now. New Jersey Department of Transportation officials say repair crews are working 24 hours a day. 

“It’s very defeating, you know?” Wharton resident Lenny Antonaccio said. “It’s a good thing people are considerate to each other. Because it makes it move a little bit better.” 

“It is so bad. So it’s bumper to bumper outside my house. My grandchildren cannot get on the school bus. They’re late every single day to school. It’s just unbearable,” Jefferson Township resident Sharon Bock said. 

“I mean traffic moves, very slowly. Some of the lights now are taking longer than normal,” Dover resident Rick Rivera said. 

What’s causing the sinkholes?

The sinkholes are being blamed on old, abandoned mineshafts all over the area. 

Near the worksite to repair the sinkholes, residents of the Avalon apartment building have expressed concern about cracks they’ve noticed there. Inspectors have deemed the building safe, saying they are not related to the sinkholes or the repair work, but residents are still concerned. 

“Of course. Sleepless nights. I had another one last night. Especially with both sides of 80 being closed now, it’s scary,” resident Michael Rizzo said.

3-minute read

• New Jersey residents are facing appointment backlogs to obtain a Real ID ahead of the May 7th deadline.
• The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has implemented initiatives like “Real ID Thursdays” to increase appointment availability, but demand remains high.
• Residents are encouraged to check the MVC website for required documents and available appointments.
• A Real ID is not mandatory, but a standard driver’s license will not be accepted for domestic flights after the deadline.
• Passports remain a valid alternative for domestic air travel and accessing federal facilities.

With the federal Real ID program launching in less than two months, New Jersey residents looking to upgrade their licenses may be running into some problems.

Despite launching a “Real ID Thursday” initiative to make more appointments available, the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission currently has no appointments available for residents in any county north of Monmouth County before Real ID takes effect on May 7.

That includes appointments at physical agency locations as well as MVC’s mobile unit.

The only appointments for any kind of upgrade available at agency locations as of Thursday — about 50 slots — were at the mobile unit site in Lawrenceville or at locations in the southern half of the state — for those who have licenses expiring within the next three months and are trying to upgrade.

Agency spokesperson Bill Connolly said the “demand for Real ID now is extraordinarily high ahead of the start of federal enforcement in May.”

“The MVC has repeatedly added and reallocated appointments to better meet that demand over the past several months,” he said, noting that “Real ID Thursdays” added more than 43,000 appointments and more mobile unit appointments will be available as the agency coordinates with local hosts. The opportunity to book these additional appointments started last week.

Connolly also said about 3,000 new appointments for Real ID upgrades are added each business day at 7 a.m. and that “appointments are regularly added as customers cancel or modify their appointments.”

“While the MVC is processing record numbers of in-person transactions, especially Real IDs, we will continue to evaluate our operations and look to offer additional opportunities for our customers to get a Real ID,” he said.

The next appointment at each of the 28 licensing centers for those looking to upgrade and have a license or identification card expiring in the next three months as of Wednesday evening were:

• Lawrenceville: May 13, 2:20 p.m.
• Bayonne: May 14, 2:20 p.m.
• Camden: April 16, 11:20 a.m.
• Egg Harbor Township: April 30, 11:40 a.m.
• Delanco: April 22, 9:40 a.m.
• Eatontown: May 6, 12:40 p.m.
• Edison: May 7, 1:40 p.m.
• Elizabeth: May 20, 8 a.m.
• Flemington: April 28, 8:40 a.m.
• Freehold: May 2, 11:20 a.m.
• Lodi: May 28, 10:40 a.m.
• Manahawkin: April 28, 11 a.m.
• Newark: May 30, Noon
• Newton: May 13, 10:20 a.m.
• North Bergen: May 20, 12:40 p.m.
• Oakland: May 27, 11:20 a.m.
• Paterson: May 7, 12:20 p.m.
• Rahway: May 7, 10:40 a.m.
• Randolph: May 14, 2 p.m.
• North Cape May: April 8, 2:40 p.m.
• Runnemede: May 2, 1 p.m.
• Salem: April 9, 8:40 a.m.
• South Plainfield: May 5, 10:20 a.m.
• Toms River: April 29, 12:20 p.m.
• Vineland: April 9, 8:20 a.m.
• Washington: April 30, 1 p.m.
• Wayne : May 19, 11:20 p.m.
• West Deptford: April 15, 1:40 p.m.

Real ID: What to know

According to the TSA, as of January 2024, only about 56% of the licenses and government issued identification cards in use around the country comply with Real ID. In 34 states that number is less than 60% and in 22 states is less than 40%.

In order to get a Real ID, residents should check REALID.nj.gov to make sure they bring all the required documents — two proofs of residential address, one verifiable Social Security number and identity documents that add up to six Real ID Points — to their appointment.

The state started issuing the Real ID in September 2019. The deadline was initially October 2020 but was pushed back to October 2021 due to the pandemic. The federal government opted to push it back again to May 2023, as new COVID-19 variants continued to wreak havoc on motor vehicle agencies throughout the country. In 2022, officials delayed it a third time, to May 2025.

After the deadline, standard driver’s licenses or non-driver identification cards can no longer be used to fly within the U.S. A passport is also a valid form of identification for domestic travel.

No one is required to get Real ID. A standard driver’s license or non-driver identification card can still be used to drive in New Jersey, but it will no longer be a valid form of federal identification. Passports can be used as identification when flying domestically.

The REAL ID Act, which was enacted following the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation, established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards for the purpose of boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft, accessing certain federal facilities and entering nuclear power plants.

Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@northjersey.com