Opinion ID: 1951332
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Port Authority Involvement in the Area of Mass Transit; Reports, Studies and Legislation Concerning Mass Transit

Text: The continuance of its role in mass transportation has been reaffirmed by the Port Authority from time to time. The obligation to provide for passenger service within the Compact's injunction to the Post Authority has not only been acknowledged by those whose occupations and interests are related to the transportation field, [10] but by ranking members of the Port Authority staff as well. For example, the following colloquy between Assemblyman J. Edward Crabiel and the Port Authority's then Executive Director Austin J. Tobin occurred at a 1958 legislative hearing: ASSEMBLYMAN CRABIEL: Mr. Tobin, just to clear my mind on certain key points  I have been reading your report and listening to your talk  there is no question that, as far as the compact between the two states is concerned, the Legislatures could direct the Port Authority to do rapid transit and that that would be within their compact. MR. TOBIN: Yes sir. There's no question about it. [ Hearings on Assembly Bills No. 16 and 115 and Senate Bill No. 50, supra footnote 10, Nov. 24, 1958, at 44] (emphasis supplied). The manifestations of this responsibility have been insignificant such as the separate sections which the Authority devoted to Suburban Transit in its earlier Annual Reports (a practice by the way, which has been resumed since the Port Authority's acquisition of the H & M railroad in 1962). See T.W. Kheel & R.J. Kheel, The Port Authority 1962 Covenant  Bar to Mass Transportation, 27 Rutgers L. Rev. 1, 5 (1973); The Port of New York Authority, Annual Report for 1923, Commuter Passenger Traffic, 35-36 (Jan. 19, 1924); Annual Report for 1924, Congestion of Passenger-Traffic, 23-24 (Jan. 24, 1925); Annual Report for 1929, Suburban Transit, 27-28 (Dec. 31, 1930). More indicative, however, of the Port Authority's role in rapid transit operations have been the infrequent reports which it has issued on this subject. [11] The representativeness of at least 14 of these reports cannot be premised on any successful projects which they have stimulated or realized. As frankly admitted by Edward J. O'Mara, a chairman of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission (a Port Authority-funded investigative agency which itself produced an unsuccessful series of legislative proposals): For at least 35 years, there has been a growing public awareness of the importance of mass transportation in the metropolitan region in the State of New Jersey. At least 14 more or less extensive studies have been made of the problem by various committees and commissions. Nothing has ever come of them, and in the meantime the problem has been becoming progressively more acute. [ Assembly Hearings, Nov. 24, 1958, at 70A] See also 2 d Hearing before N.J. Sen. Comm'n (Created under Sen. Res. No. 7 (1960) and Reconstituted under Sen. Res. No. 7 (1961)) to Study the Financial Structure and Operations of The Port of New York Authority, Jan. 27, 1961 (2d day), at 64-66 (Statement of Austin J. Tobin, Executive Director, Port of New York Authority). In this respect, these studies provide a broad overview of the historic approach of the Port Authority to the problems of urban mass transit. This background is particularly important because what the Court is truly asked to consider is the manner in which the Port Authority has dealt with the problems of mass transit in the Port District, and the attitudinal reluctance which has characterized its efforts in this area of transportation. These studies, in conjunction with the annual reports which are issued by the Port Authority, possess several characteristics worth noting. First, virtually none of the studies resulted from the Port Authority's own initiative. Most of the studies were the product of either legislative or other governmental requests for pertinent information and proposals. See footnote 11, supra. While the failure to take affirmative administrative or investigatory action may not necessarily be indicative of an agency's abdication of responsibility in the case of the Port Authority, the failing is particularly suspect. This is because the duties expressly imposed on the Port Authority by the 1921 Compact were those to make plans for the development of said district, supplementary to or amendatory of any plan theretofore adopted; [12] and to suggest to the state legislatures recommended means to improve Port commerce. [13] Second, none of these studies contains an expressed commitment (much less a recommendation of such a commitment) by the Port Authority to undertake the construction or implementation of a mass transit system. Instead, most of them recommend the assumption of these obligations by other governmental or quasi-governmental bodies and agencies. See The Port of New York Authority, Suburban Transit for Northern New Jersey, 10 (1937); The Port of New York Authority, Annual Report for 1958, 38-42. In conjunction with this, it should be noted that the Authority was one of the staunchest supporters of two New Jersey legislative proposals, S-50 and A-115, which were introduced and discussed in 1958. See Assembly Hearings, supra, Nov. 24, 1958, at 44, 49 (Statements of Austin J. Tobin, Executive Director, Port of New York Authority). Not surprisingly both of these measures presented plans for the establishment of an independent agency to handle matters relating to mass transportation. Conversely, the Port Authority was strongly opposed to a companion proposal, A-16, which would have authorized the agency itself to develop, improve and coordinate the rapid transit facilities in the Port District. Assembly Hearings, supra, Nov. 24, 1958, at 18-19 (Statements of Austin J. Tobin, Executive Director, Port of New York Authority). [14] Finally, as previously noted, there has been a startling absence of tangible progress resulting from, or attributable to these investigatory efforts. This is true even though the Port Authority has recognized the commuter problems which beset the New York metropolitan area. As early as 1925, in its Annual Report, the Authority observed: While hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in urban rapid transit during the past decade, no commensurate amounts have been expended on suburban rapid transit, and the commuter has reached the limit of his endurance where the trunk lines leading into New York City are incapable of handling both suburban and through traffic. The passenger service of every railroad in the Port District is taxed to its limit by the requirements of this service. There is barely room during the rush hours for the trains carrying freight because of the commuter service, while passengers and freight must both necessarily move during these hours. [The Port of New York Authority, Annual Report for 1924, 23 (Jan. 24, 1925)] See also The Port of New York Authority, Annual Report for 1927, 10, 53 (Jan. 20, 1928). Over the years, this recognition has increased with the realization of the expanding dimensions of commuter congestion and the inability of private transit facilities to cope with the problem. The Port of New York and New Jersey, 1972 Annual Report, 10-15 (1972); 1973 Annual Report, 10-15 (1973); 1974 Annual Report, 4-6 (1974). The Port Authority's ineffectual investigative efforts cannot be attributed to a theoretical lack of jurisdiction in mass transit operations. Such jurisdiction was given to the agency in the Compact of 1921. Nor is the lack of success due to the financial inability of the Port Authority to assume additional obligations. As the trial court found, the Authority is not only financially sound, but has suffered no detrimental effects from the repeal of the protective 1962 Covenant: Suffice it to say that between 1962 and 1974 the security afforded bondholders had been substantially augmented by a vast increase in Authority revenues and reserves, and the Authority's financial ability to absorb greater deficits, from whatever source and without any significant impairment of bondholder security, was correspondingly increased. [134 N.J. Super. at 194-95] Rather, the limited effectiveness of these studies is merely symptomatic of an underlying limitation which the Port Authority has imposed on its own involvement in mass transportation. This limitation, which is derived from a narrow construction of its statutory powers, precludes an undertaking by the Authority unless the relevant project will be financially self-supporting, or will only generate deficits within conservatively defined limits. While the definition of the limitation is presented in purely financial terms, its effect has been to severely restrict the scope of activities in which the agency may engage. Because the majority of mass transportation facilities are closely associated with high deficits, the practical operation of the Port Authority's self-imposed restriction has prevented the Authority from fulfilling its rapid transit obligations.