University behind bus transit system

Anne Waldron Neumann, Princeton
As last Thursday night’s Planning Board meeting proved, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) requires a dedicated right-of-way — that is, a lane all its own — in order to be truly rapid. A “priority” roadway, an ordinary street whose stoplights turn green as the bus approaches, isn’t enough. The lights must also turn green for cars just ahead of the bus. And “cut-outs” — short curb lanes into which the bus pulls when letting off or picking up passengers — actually give priority to cars. The bus pulls aside to let cars pass and waits until they do before pulling out.
   So who in their right minds would rush to replace the Dinky with Bus Rapid Transit minus the rapid? Princeton University would. With the Dinky gone, visitors to the university’s planned arts center could drive to its parking garage across what are now the Dinky tracks. What was remarkable about Thursday night’s meeting was that several hundred Princetonians understood, despite Vice President Robert Durkee’s disclaimers, that Princeton University expects us to yield to its convenience.
   Wiser heads than mine can explain why the Dinky is the issue that made the university’s arrogance visible. Why wasn’t it the higher property taxes we pay because the university’s token donation is so miserly?
   Compare Princeton University with Yale. If Princeton weren’t tax exempt, it would have paid borough and township some $40 million more in property taxes in 2009. Yale, which would have paid New Haven $60 million in 2009, recently raised its PILOT to New Haven from $5 million to $7.5 million. Add to this the subsidy Connecticut pays its municipalities to compensate them for any untaxed nonprofits they host: in 2009, Connecticut added $34 million to Yale’s PILOT.
   Princeton, in contrast, with its massive planned expansion, and its $1.1 million PILOT to the borough and, currently, nothing to the township, looks both pinchpenny and avaricious next to Yale. Yes, let’s keep the Dinky till we find something better than BRT minus the R. But let’s also tell the university that we expect more money.
Anne Waldron Neumann
Princeton 