Welcome to Jersey City: Parking rates may go up for out-of-towners

JERSEY CITY — The state's second-largest city is taking quick steps to raise parking fees for out-of-towners under a law signed recently by Gov. Phil Murphy.

The City Council will consider a measure to increase parking fees by 3.5 percent in the next few weeks, Mayor Steven Fulop said Monday.

Murphy, a Democrat, signed the law allowing cities over 100,000 to use the tax to pay specifically for mass transit improvements. Jersey City, Newark, Elizabeth, Edison, Paterson and Woodbridge qualify under the most recent census statistics.

The bill drew strong opposition from Republicans and passed with a small majority in both the state Assembly and Senate.

The fee would be added to parking rates at municipal and private lots and parking garages. Jersey City residents would be exempt if they show proof of residence.

Fulop said the city likely will provide residents with a sticker to put on their car. Visitors and commuters who park in the city and take trains or ferries into New York would pay the fee.

The new fee will raise about $1 million per year, Fulop said, which would allow the city to borrow money to help build a new light rail station between Jersey City and Hoboken in an area currently bypassed by trains. The light rail system, operated by New Jersey Transit, runs through Bayonne and Jersey City and along the Hudson River north of the Lincoln Tunnel and connects to cross-Hudson trains and ferries.

“We know NJ Transit doesn’t have money for this,” Fulop said. “The burden is going to be on local municipalities and we feel this is the way we're going to get there.”

A new station in Jersey City would be among several additions considered by NJ Transit, including an extension north to Englewood and a new station in Hoboken north of downtown.

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