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.
