South Orange Jitney Pass

Can someone explain why I need to visit an office to obtain a jitney pass?  They do not accept applications via mail.

My experience with South Orange's civic technology is that it's much less up-to-date than you would expect and it's pretty outdated compared to Maplewood.

But my question about the SO jitney is, why has the cost doubled? 

I only just started using the jitney, and the pass was $1 each way, or $150 per year. Yesterday I got a flyer announcing the cost is literally doubling start of 2016: $2 each way, $300/yr.

Was this price hike expected? Is Maplewood's also going up? It's a really unpleasant surprise for me, since I'm already facing increased commuting costs with my new NYC office.

I'd heard about the rate hike several months ago, I can't remember where.

There was a presentation by the SOPA on June 11, 2015. The presentation does mention that online jitney pass renewals are on the agenda. 

The jitney fee has been the same since 2002, when jitney service started. Until 2011, grant money had been used to help offset the costs of jitney service. After 2011, there was no more grant money and the jitneys have been operating at a loss. 

http://southorange.org/parking/SOPADeckFINAL.pdf 

http://southorange.no-ip.org/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=138093&dbid=0

$2/trip may be double what it was but it's still a fair price.

Student_Council said:

$2/trip may be double what it was but it's still a fair price.

I don't disagree. It was just an unexpected surprise for me.