1. The first priority should be to quickly restore lost transportation infrastructure.
The PATH train line that circled under the World Trade Center was the busiest Trans-Hudson rail crossing of the PATH system, carrying some 120,000 passengers per day before the attack. Removing the rubble and restoring the existing five track loop terminal as soon as possible would be the most expeditious way to restart service on this vital link. Other plans, like linking the PATH tunnels to the Lexington Avenue local tracks at Brooklyn Bridge, or extending them further east to a new stub terminal at Broadway and Fulton Street, are likely to take much longer and would sacrifice the 40-train per hour capacity of the existing layout. The opportunity does exist for considering new, more direct escalator and elevator access links to the west, and to the #1 Cortlandt Street subway station, as detailed plans for rebuilding the mezzanine and concourse are developed.

To assure the rapid restoration of Downtown PATH service, the two Governors should consider asking the Port Authority of NY&NJ to establish a public tracking system, comparable to MTA's Capital Program Review Board. Then, the Port Authority's plans and progress can be monitored by Lower Manhattan business interests and elected officials who have a financial and/or political stake in the restoration.

MTA's plans for restoring service on both the #1 line and N/R line should be similarly tracked. Urgent, but reasonable targets for restoring service should be publicly discussed as more information becomes available. Decisions about other, non-essential work that may be desirable, such as reconstructing the #1 South Ferry loop, should be made transparent and advanced only with appropriate discussion. Both subway links affect Staten Island ferry riders and are urgently needed. The #1 line provides an important distribution link to the western half of the Financial District for Midtown and Upper West Side subway riders. This link will become increasingly important as damaged office buildings near the World Trade Center site are expeditiously restored.

2. Increase service and reduce fares to offset the inconvenience of the lost links.
Many PATH riders in New Jersey, particularly those originating in Hudson County, must now use the uptown line that ends at 33rd St., and pay an additional fare to transfer to the subways to reach destinations in Lower Manhattan. New York City residents whose jobs have been relocated to new work sites in Jersey City must now pay PATH fares in addition to the subway fare. In both cases riders are inconvenienced by much longer commutes. The financial district is now spread among multiple locations on both sides of the Hudson and in Downtown Brooklyn, requiring complex transfers and multiple fares. To make up for this inconvenience, the Governors of NY and NJ must direct the Port Authority to move quickly to convert its turnstiles to the MTA MetroCard system. Where stations are co-terminus, subway station control areas can be adjusted to permit free transfers. At the 9th St. PATH station, a free walking transfer to the nearby West 4th St. and Sheridan Square subway stations can be put into place. With four million subway riders and two million bus riders already using MetroCards, a separate, incompatible fare collection system for 200,000 PATH riders is no longer sustainable or acceptable.

For many New Jersey commuters heading to the financial district, the rail tunnels leading to Penn Station provide an attractive alternative. But more rail service on these lines is urgently needed. At present Amtrak and NJ Transit operate 18 trains into Penn Station in the morning peak hour. Until NJ Transit's plan for a new high capacity signal system in the Hudson River tunnels is put into place, perhaps only four to six additional trains can be added. Each new train will be welcome. Locomotives and rail cars should be shifted from other routes during this emergency period.

Off-peak and weekend service to Penn Station should also be increased, to encourage discretionary travel, particularly while added security measures make auto travel to Manhattan difficult. NJ Transit's plan to run half-hourly service on its Trenton and Long Branch lines to serve its soon-to-be-opened Newark Airport train station should be implemented immediately. Hourly Morristown Line service to Penn Station should be doubled, perhaps by diverting some lightly-used trains from Hoboken.

To encourage travelers to use public transit, and especially to gain the most effective use of service increases at Penn Station, a regional fare structure is essential. With more than 80% of the region's transit riders already using the MetroCard, starting with this media would be the most practical and expeditious way to achieve full regional integration of fares. Already, a limited joint fare arrangement is available between MTA's commuter rail lines and NYC Transit subways and buses. Discounts for these joint fares should be made more substantial and extended to NJ Transit riders as well. Fare integration will result in some loss in passenger revenue, although MTA's experience with bus/subway fare integration showed that much of this loss was offset by increased ridership.

Much has already been done adding new bus and ferry services to augment existing rail service. While additional enforcement of parking restrictions at bus stops and on bus lanes is important, new bus services that add to the traffic load on Manhattan streets should be advanced with caution. Where possible, transit riders should be encouraged to use off-street subways and commuter rail lines. Rail service should be beefed up, especially off-peak and weekends, to offset the loss of roadway capacity resulting from new security measures. More express bus service on city streets will only diminish the attractiveness of the walking environment in the most crowded parts of Manhattan.

Clearly a new revenue stream is needed, not only to underwrite new service initiatives and to expedite system fare integration, but also to make up for the substantial revenue shortfalls brought on by the attack. Just as the investor-owned airline and insurance companies are to be protected from catastrophic losses, transit riders who have endured great inconvenience since the attack should not be penalized with higher fares. Federal emergency funds should not only be directed toward rebuilding lost infrastructure, they should offset some of the financial loss to transit riders. Even as our elected officials in Washington work to accomplish this, city and state leaders should consider establishing a new revenue stream by authorizing E-ZPass non-stop tolling of the four "free" East River Bridges.

3. A comprehensive bi-state or tri-state planning effort for visioning new transportation improvements to restore the economic vitality of the Lower Manhattan Financial District is needed.
Federal assistance for new transportation investments, under current law, comes through the established Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) planning process. Last year ESTA recognized the shortcomings of this process in this region and attempted to advance reforms. Clearly, with as many as 40% of the workers lost in the World Trade Center coming from New Jersey, a bi-state approach is needed. With many of the displaced jobs relocating to Connecticut, a three-state approach is needed. At present, some 10 separate MPOs cover the area that encompasses the 20 million person Tri-State economic region. ESTA should encourage Federal legislators to specify that a new coordinating mechanism among these MPOs be established to assure effective use of Federal funds for new transportation initiatives targeted to Lower Manhattan.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), the Downstate NY MPO once located on the 82nd floor of Tower One at the Trade Center, suffered devastating losses. A key part of the recovery effort should be to rebuild this agency's resources and to re-constitute it to act as a coordinating body to house the Federally-funded three-state rebuilding effort. The 25 to 30 members of Congress that represent this region, and the six U.S. Senators, might each appoint a leading citizen to an Economic Recovery Advisory Council to begin this process. This could occur immediately, without new Federal legislation.

It is important to separate the rebuilding effort for lost buildings and transportation infrastructure from efforts to launch new transportation initiatives. Existing private owners can repair damaged structures using insurance coverage. The leaseholder of the WTC complex, Larry Silverstein, operating under established city codes and procedures, has expressed an interest in doing the same. The MTA and the PANYNJ can move quickly, also using insurance coverage to the maximum extent available, to restore service on the PATH line and the two subways. Consideration of new rail links is much more complex, and should be done outside of the critical path for repair.