In an attempt to create weekend service from Montclair to Newark, Hoboken and New York, Montclair Mayor Jerry Fried will speak to the board of directors of New Jersey Transit today in Newark.

Fried, who will be armed with a passionate request for for Saturday and Sunday train service not only for Montclair but also for many New Jersey towns, will not be alone.

He will speak with the backing of a distinguished, long list of local officials and numerous residents, all asking New Jersey Transit for the same thing - to offer weekend service.

And though this is certainly not a new question, since the request has been made for 12 years, Fried has the fresh and strong support of many Essex County leaders.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, U.S. senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, Congressional representative Donald Payne, State Senator Nia Gill, Assembly Representative Sheila Oliver, Montclair State University President Susan Cole, and Glen Ridge Mayor Peter Hughes, Little Falls Mayor Mike DeFrancisci, along with township business improvement district director Tom Lonergan have all offered their support to Fried as he speaks before members of New Jersey Transit.

And this list keeps growing. By Wednesday, it is expected that even more government leaders will add their support to this cause.

Fried, in a letter to Executive Director of New Jersey Transit Richard R. Sarles, wrote, “As mayor of Montclair, a public transportation advocate and organizer of other elected officials who feel as I do, I am writing to encourage you to institute weekend service on the Montclair-Boonton line.”

In a seemingly never ending discussion of a dozen years between local towns and New Jersey Transit, with so much public support, and a new idea, there may be a light at the end of this tunnel.

Fried noted in his letter that along with numerous local and state leaders, “we’re advocating for hourly diesel service between Montclair State University and Broad Street, Newark. This short trip could easily link up with service to New York Penn Station and Hoboken and would be of tremendous economic benefit for workers and other residents along the line.”

Oliver agreed, and in her letter to Sarles, focused on the overwhelming amount of phone calls she receives about this issue about the problem of not having weekend service.

“I am besieged by correspondences and calls from constituents urging me, as their legislative representative, to strongly urge NJ Transit to institute a limited form of weekend service on the Boonton line a soon as possible.”

And, not one to mince words, Oliver added, “For the residents and businesses in the district, particularly the town of Montclair and the borough of Glen Ridge, this has been an issue which has languished for well over a decade.”

DiVincenzo wrote that the lack of the weekend service from Montclair “puts Montclair, and its commuters, in a negative position, from the lack of ability to get full use of their commuter tickets, to limiting drive-free access to cultural events in Newark, New York or our surrounding communities.”

Currently, New Jersey Transit has only one 2-rail tunnel connecting NJ and NYC. Complicating the fact that this is the only tunnel available for trains is that New Jersey Transit also has to share this tunnel with Amtrak.

The new tunnel, which costs approximately $8.7 billion dollars and is 8.8 miles long, will take another 8 years to complete.

Since the new tunnel won’t be ready for use until 2017, the idea of using the diesel service from MSU on an hourly basis seems like a sound one to all concerned.

And, as Fried notes, it will certainly help local communities become more earth friendly, since using mass transportation is better than thousands of individuals driving their cars into the city or to Newark or Hoboken.

“Towns like our s along the Montclair-Boonton line will be crucially important in changing the culture of suburbia from dependence on the automobile to a more sustainable lifestyle that combines mass transit with an emphasis on pedestrian friendliness,” wrote Fried.

Thejerseytomatopress.com will be sure to bring you updates, after this meeting.