The End of the Line for DeCamp's New York Commuter Service

Friday April 7, 2023 is now a historic date in New Jersey Bus History.  A company that started over 150 years ago as a stagecoach operator, DeCamp has terminated its commuter bus routes travelling between New York City and Essex County.  DeCamp has cited Covid-19 and tele-commuting as reasons it is shutting down service, losing a good portion of its pre-pandemic ridership that never returned.  

NJTransit has implemented "emergency" replacement rush hour bus service for portions, but not all, of the terminated DeCamp routes starting Monday April 10: 

A new NJT 191D provides rush hour service for DeCamp's Route 66 riders in West Orange and Montclair.

NJT 192D provides rush hour service along portions of DeCamp's former route 33 in Bloomfield.

NJT 195D provides rush hour service for DeCamp's route 33 riders in West Caldwell, Caldwell and Verona. 

NJT 199D covers portions of the former DeCamp route 44 in Newark, Belleville, North Arlington and Lyndhurst.

BoxCar is also starting a new "Essex Express" on Monday April 10 providing rush hour service along a new route that combines portions of the former Decamp 33 and 66 lines.  This service avoids the port authority bus terminal and travels to the east side of Manhattan.  

NJT's fares are lower than DeCamp's and both NJT and BoxCar should provide better service than DeCamp.  

It remains to be seen if off-peak and weekend bus service will ever be restored along this territory.

New DeCamp Bus Increased Weekday and Weekend Service

 

Good news.  @DeCampBusLines has recently increased weekday service on its 32, 33, 44 and 66 lines.  It has also brought back weekend service on its 33 and 66 lines just in time for the holidays.  The 33 and 66 now run every 90 minutes both Saturday and Sunday.  If you have weekend plans in the city, don't drive and take the bus!  Schedules are available at the DeCamp website.

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New Jersey Bus Service Update

 As New York and New Jersey begins to reopen, private New Jersey carriers are slowly coming back with service restored to many lines.  As of today, DeCamp has returned for the second time since it suspended service completely last summer.  It began running limited rush hour service on its 33, 44 and 66 lines.  Timetables available  at Decamp.com.  Other NJ private carriers such as Lakeland, Short Line, Community, Suburban have been  operating rush hour service only to and from New York on most of their routes for the past year, with little or no off-peak or weekend service as of now.  Rockland Coaches is only running a few rush hour runs, and its 14 and 21 lines still remain completely suspended.  NJ Transit has been running its regular bus and rail schedules with just some minor adjustments.  

In other news, Academy has lost all of its contract work with NJ Transit, with Coach USA about to take over the 2, 10, 22, 23, 88 and 119 routes.  Details here.   Academy was hit with a whistleblower lawsuit alleging many missed trips and doctoring missed trip reporting over many years.  NJ Transit has subsequently removed Academy from all of NJT's contract operations.  

And finally, some good NJBus news.  There has been movement in replacing the crumbling Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown.  The Port Authority has released new designs and is holding virtual scoping meetings on June 23 and June 24th and is accepting public comments through July 19th.

We hope everyone has stayed safe and is doing well and looking forward to better days ahead.

Coronavirus Service Restoration

Several private NJ carriers are slowly bringing back service.  As always, please check with the carrier to see if they are operating and in what capacity.

Lakeland Bus has been operating 6 round trips between Dover and NYC since May 18th.  Schedule available here.

DeCamp is operating a limited schedule as of June 8 on its 33, 44 and 66 routes.

TransBridge is operating a reduced schedule to New York as of June 8.  Schedule available here.

Academy has been operating a modified schedule on some of its routes.  Schedule available here.

Shortline, Suburban, Community Coach, and Rockland Coaches  are operating limited rush hour service as of June 15.  Details here.

NJ Transit has been operating a modified weekday schedule throughout.  Details and links to individual schedules available here.

We will update this post as we get information on any other carriers.  Stay safe everyone!

Coronavirus Service Cuts - April 3 Update

A few more private bus carriers are completely suspending operations due to the Coronavirus.  NJT Bus continues to run, with decreased service.  They are also cross honoring with NJT rail, which is also running a decreased schedule.

Lakeland bus suspended operations effective April 2.  Details here.

Shortline bus will be suspending operations starting April 4.  Details here.

Suburban Transit, Rockland Coaches and Community Coach will also be suspending operations effective April 4. Details here.

Other carriers that have already suspended service include DeCamp and TransBridge lines.



Stay safe everyone.

Coronavirus Service Cuts - March 30, 2020 Update

NJ Transit has implemented a reduced schedule on most of its bus routes.  Some of its routes aren't operating at all, while many are running on a Saturday schedule.  More information is available here.  NJT is also requiring passengers to enter through the rear door for its urban bus routes and is not allowing passengers to sit in the first three rows to protect its drivers.

Some other updates:

Rockland Coaches is operating on a Sunday schedule, Monday through Friday only, with some additional 11X service.  They aren't operating any weekend service.  Details here.

ShortLine is operating every two hours on a combined Orange and Bergen County service.  Schedule available here.  Other ShortLine routes have been greatly reduced, details here.

Stay safe everyone!