Facing a $300 million budget gap, NJ Transit will shed 200 jobs, implement an emergency spending freeze, reduce executive salaries by 5 percent and cut contributions to employee 401K accounts by a third. But the reductions, which will save more than $30 million, still won’t be enough to stave off service cuts and fare hikes for the nearly 900,000 daily bus and train riders, NJ Transit executive director James Weinstein said in a statement today. “Unfortunately, fare and service changes will have to be a part of NJ Transit’s overall response to this financial crisis,” said Weinstein, hired just over a month ago. “I know this will be painful for our customers. I welcome their suggestions and ideas as well as those of the public.”

NJ Transit will hold a series of public meetings around the state from March 25-27. The times are to be determined, but locations are to include Newark, Camden, Manalapan, Atlantic City, New York City, Secaucus, Trenton, Paterson and Hackensack.

Weinstein told unions last month that the fare hikes could be in the 20 percent to 30 percent range, and later said the increases could be implemented as soon as May.

The 200 layoffs represent 2 percent of the 10,000 person workforce at NJ Transit, the nation’s third-largest public transit system. It is the deepest one-year workforce reduction in the agency’s 30-year history.

The jobs that will be cut will be union and non-union. Affected workers haven’t been told yet that they will lose their jobs.

The types of jobs have not been identified publicly, but NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett said today that “all of these (reductions) are being made with an eye on not compromising safety.”

The emergency spending freeze allows NJ Transit to halt spending that is not directly tied to operations or deemed critical for safety. Agency officials say they also have identified cost savings in parts, fuel, utilities, and contracts that will be renegotiated.

NJ Transit last year began implementing hiring and salary freezes, as well as unpaid furloughs for administrative employees. Star Ledger