Governor Chris Christie’s proposal to cut funds for NJ Transit may mean cuts in service, longer waits for trains and buses, and higher fares.

Waits for buses and trains could range from an additional five to 20 minutes due to the transportation cuts, according to MSNBC.

Students who take public transportation reported that they already wait an average of 15 minutes, according to a poll conducted by the Student Voice in March. Most students who took the survey said that they take the light rail, which is run by New Jersey Transit.

Math teacher Abdul Rennane said waiting 20 minutes is too much.

“I can not wait, I have to use my credit and buy a car,” he said.

Direct weekend light rail service on the Tonnelle Avenue and Hoboken Branch has been eliminated.

“I’m going to have a lot of trouble because I work in Hoboken during weekends,” junior Christian Castillo said.

Christie said that we cannot afford to subsidize New Jersey Transit in the current economic environment and the budget cuts will save the state money.

N.J. Transit’s board of directors decided to decrease the percentage of increase on transportation fare hikes.  The board decided to lower the increase to ten percent  rather than having it increase 25 percent because about 52 percent of N.J. Transit customers use the local bus and light rail.

Though interstate buses and commuter buses fares have increased 25 percent.

New Jersey Transit also plans to reduce operating cost internally, by eliminating more than 200 jobs, cutting executive salaries and 401k contributions, declaring a hiring freeze, and reducing parts, fuels, utilities and other contracts. New Jersey Transit is looking at saving about $30 million through internal budget cuts to help with the $300 million budget deficit. According to several articles including an article in the North Jersey site.

“Our intent here is not to dismantle a public transit system,” NJ Transit Commisioner James Weinstein Weinstein said in an interview with the Star-Ledger. “Our intent here is to keep it viable, to keep it strong, to not leave our customers high and dry. I think we’ve found some examples of where that’s the unintended consequence of what we’re proposing. We’ll make some adjustments.”