Good morning. My name is Neile Weissman, thank you for the opportunity to speak on encouraging bike tourism out of New York City by extending New Jersey Transit’s (“NJT”) excellent bikes-on-trains program to weekend-holiday service to High Bridge and Hackettstown and an earlier outbound to Port Jervis.
Relevant to the subject, please know that I am a past-President of the New York Cycle Club and have organized some two thousand group rides and club weekends that leverage capacity on NJT, Metro North and Long Island Railroad.
Below are two examples of routes that rely on NJT to transport cyclists to the start and end points—a prerequisite if one is to attract New York City-based recreational cyclists who don’t own cars. [According to the NYC Department of Transportation, 762,000 city residents ride a bike regularly.]
Routes
The first is a 50 mile loop out of Annandale through Hunterdon County comprising the scenic, low-traffic country roads and mom-and-pop food stops that recreational cyclists crave.
Start: 8:43 AM, Annadale NJ
Finish: 5:15 PM, Annadale NJ
County: Hunterdon
The second is a 63 mile ride starting from Middletown, NY, spanning Sussex, Morris and Warren Counties to finish in Hackettstown. The last fifteen miles comprising the unpaved Sussex Branch Trail—exactly the terrain to draw the growing cohort of “gravel “cyclists.
Start: 10:19 AM, Middletown, NY
Finish: 7:06 PM, Hackettstown, NJ
Counties: Sussex, Morris, Warren
Notes
Unfortunately, these routes are only possible on weekdays—there is no weekend-holiday service to High Bridge or Hackettstown. And outbound service to Port Jervis Line departs an hour later than weekdays—significantly cutting into the distance cyclists can cover.
If the rural counties of Northwest New Jersey are seeking to attract recreational cyclists from New York City, NJT should offer cyclists outbound service arriving at High Bridge-Hackettstown at ~9AM—plus a ~8PM return on weekends and holidays from April to October.
Also, earlier first-train weekend departures on the Port Jervis line—effectively extending the current weekday schedule.
This is not about “If you build it, they will come.” Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex and Warren counties already have what it takes to attract recreational cyclists from NYC. It’s about providing them the means to get there.