> Our train system is good for US standards, but if we connected cities instead of making everyone go to Secaucus or Newark people would actually have a reason to use it.

Oh, I agree here. You need three things to get people to use public transportation:

1. Clean & Safe.
2. Reliable.
3. Cost effective.

• Clean & Safe (ok, technically two words) - but someone should be able to take a train (or a bus) and it shouldn't feel like you are taking a cattle car. You make the ride a pleasant experience and people will associate that with taking a train. Example? Take a train in France. They are really much nicer than what we have at NJ transit. It's not first class, but taking a train in France is a pleasant experience.

• Reliable, you need the train (or bus) to operate in such a way that you can calculate the timetables and it's faster or equal than driving to work. People would give up their cars if they knew they could drive to a train station or a bus depot, park their car, and get on a high-speed mass transit solution that is faster (or equal to) driving to work.

• Cost effective, this is my biggest pet peeve. You really need to design tolls to discourage people from driving from NJ into NYC. Congestion pricing needs to be embraced. Far too many people choose to drive to work because the first two things I pointed out discourage them from driving into work. Some people work 'off hours' and can quickly drive into Manhattan, pay a toll and find street parking.

One key I didn't point out was with the turnpike extension, they hopefully add a 3rd lane to design high speed bus lines during rush hour (like they have at the Lincoln Tunnel near Weehawken). Also, if they can figure out a way to bypass traffic at the Jersey City/Hoboken area - maybe create a 2nd level that goes over the lights and directly to the tunnels?