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 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!

Coronavirus Service Cuts - March 24, 2019 Update

Here are some updates on service cutbacks due to the Coronavirus.  This information is subject to change on a daily or even hourly basis, so please check with your carrier if you need to travel.  Stay safe everyone!

NJ Transit is still operating a regular weekday bus schedule but there are reports they will be cutting bus service soon.

DeCamp will suspend all of its bus service effective Wednesday March 25.  Check their website and twitter feed for more information.

TransBridge has already suspended all operations.  Details on their website.

CoachUSA - for more updates on Rockland Coaches, ONEbus, ShortLine, Suburban Transit, and Community Coach, please check the CoachUSA service update website here.

Lakeland bus has cancelled Route 78 service and all weekend service.  Details here.

Saddle River Tours 11C and 20/84 Official Service Termination Notice effective January 25, 2020

The Port Authority has officially given notice that the last day of service on Saddle River Tours'  Routes 11C and 20/84 into and out of the George Washington Bridge Bus Station will be Friday January 24th.  Service on these lines has been sporadic at best over the last couple of years with numerous cancellations and entire days without service.  The Port Authority is advising riders to use Rockland Coaches 11A and 20T lines as alternatives.  Rockland Coaches has likewise been plagued with delays and cancellations so we are advocating for NJT to take over these routes, or incorporate them into their existing network.  We are reaching out to local government officials and NJ Transit and encourage all riders to do the same.  

Unfortunately, the 11A and 20T do not go to the George Washington Bridge so riders will have to transfer in Englewood or at Route 4 to a NJT bus or Jitney to go over the bridge, or to use the New York City MTA to reach their destination.   Other alternate routes for northern riders include the NJT 165 and Rockland Coaches 14, 46 and 47 to midtown as well as the Pascack Valley rail line.  For riders of the southern portions, alternates include the NJT 186 and 178 to the GWB, the NJT 167 to midtown.

Here is the Official Notice from the Port Authority:

The Port Authority of NY and NJ has decided to terminate the operating agreement with Saddle River Tours to operate at the Port Authority's George Washington Bridge Bus Station (GWBBS) starting on January 25, 2020. Saddle River Tours has an ongoing pattern of prolonged financial delinquencies, non-responsive communication, and recent abandonment of service to commuters.

Saddle River Tours’ Route 11C has 8-weekday arrivals, 7-weekday departures, and limited weekend service; the route begins in Spring Valley, New York and makes several stops in Rockland County, New York and Bergen County, New Jersey. Route 20/84 has 3-weekday arrivals and departures and no weekend service; it begins in Tappan, New York and makes several stops in Bergen County, New Jersey. These two routes combined serve approximately 200 customers each weekday.

Customers affected by the Saddle River Tours termination have the option to take the Rockland Coach bus service, offering service similar to that of Saddle River, with the exception of an end destination of the Midtown Manhattan Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT) rather than the GWBBS.

-Route 11C passengers may take Rockland Coach bus 11A into the Port Authority Bus Terminal (8th Ave & 42)

-Route 20/84 passengers may take Rockland Coach bus 20T into the Port Authority Bus Terminal (8th Ave & 42)

The Port Authority has been in contact with Rockland Coach and has been assured that the Rockland Coach routes have capacity to service Saddle River Tours commuters. For additional information regarding alternative services, please contact Rockland Coach at (201) 263-1254 or visit the website, https://www.coachusa.com/contact.

Rockland Coaches New Weekend Express Route From Rockland and Northern NJ -- Beginning December 2

Rockland Coaches has announced a new weekend express bus serving Spring Valley, NY, the Exit 14 Park and Ride and the Montvale NJ Park and Ride off the Garden State Parkway beginning December 2.  They are offering express bus service to the Port Authority every 90 minutes from these park and rides with the last trip leaving New York at 11:30PM.  Seems like a good idea considering the only other options from Rockland County and Northern Bergen County are either local buses that can take as much as 90 minutes to get into New York or the slow Pascack Valley line train, other than a couple of express runs to Pearl River on weekends.  We wish them luck and hope the service is successful.  More details are available on the Coach USA/Rockland website here and the schedule is available here.

Saddle River Tours Wins Local Bergen Bus Routes Contract - Until It Doesn't

The Record is reporting that NJ Transit retracted a winning bid by Saddle River Tours for a seven year contract to operate eight Bergen County local bus routes. Coach USA's Community Coach lines has been operating the 751,752,753,755,756,762,772, and 780 routes under contract for the past seven years.  These routes carried almost a million passengers in 2016 according to NJT.  Saddle River actually submitted a lower bid than the incumbent Community Coach, and thought it had won the contract back in September.  However, it was recently notified that the bid was retracted on a technicality - because Community didn't have an opportunity to make the required oral presentation for the bid.  Community is maintaining the contract for another year - at a contract rate that is $720,000 MORE than Saddle River Tours' bid for the year.  That is an additional $720,000 that will be paid by New Jersey taxpayers at a time when transit funding is scarce.

In 2014, Saddle River took over Coach USA's 11C and 20/84 routes that run through Bergen County to the George Washington Bridge when Rockland Coaches abandoned them.  They were the only company to step in to provide the GWB service with the hope of expanding operations in Bergen and other counties.

NJT Board minutes call the contracting process a "competitive procurement process."  We don't see it.   The losing bid came in $720,000 lower than the winning bid for this year.  How is that competitive?  Coach USA likewise has a history of cutting bus service in Bergen County, yet is mysteriously awarded another year on the Bergen contract despite being outbid by Saddle River. We call shenanigans on the NJT Board.

We hope SRT can either successfully mount a legal challenge, or win the contract when it is up for bid in 2018.  This will be a lot tougher now that Coach USA knows its bidding strategy.  

Rockland Coaches Route 20 Re-Route In Pearl River -- Effective February 6, 2017

For our Rockland County Readers, Rockland Coaches has announced that its' Route 20 bus line will be permanently routed in Pearl River, NY effective February 6, 2017.

Route 20 Advisory:
Attention all route 20 customers:
The following serves as NOTICE OF CHANGE to Bus Route #20
...

As of February 6, 2017, the #20 Bus Route will no longer service the following locations:
o Orangeburg Road
o Sickletown Road
o Convent Road west of 3rd Avenue
This bus route will instead continue on Old Middletown Road to Gilbert & Veterans Memorial Highway, and will also now include the Blue Hill Plaza on Veterans Memorial Highway.
Normal service will continue through Rockland Psychiatric Center and East of 3rd Avenue on Convent Road.

George Washington Bridge Bus Station Renovation Won't Be Complete Until Next Spring -- Hopefully

To no surprise to the thousands of bus commuters who use the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, the renovations that were scheduled be completed by the end of the year will not be completed.  The project that started over two years ago has been plagued by numerous delays. The Record is reporting that the projected completion date has now been pushed back to April 2017.

Passengers not only have had to brave the elements from the wind and cold, they also have endured trekking up a long staircase to reach the buses.

NJBUS Pic of the Week

Rockland Coaches Route 14K at GWBBS in 2014

Port Authority Bus Terminal Gates Shuffling -- Effective September 8, 2015

Get ready for some commuter confusion at the Port Authority beginning in September.  As we previously reported, officials at the Port Authority Bus Terminal will be reassigning gates for many NJ Transit and private bus lines effective September 8, 2015.  Affected gates are on the third and fourth floors of the terminal.  Affected NJT lines include routes 107, 108, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 122, 124, 129, 139, 144, 151, 153, 155, 157, 160, 161, 163, 164, 165, 168, 190, 194, 195, 197, 198, 199, 321.  Some gate changes are only for late night departures depending on the line.  Full details regarding the new NJT gate assignments can be found here.

Lakeland Bus Lines that previously departed from gates 401-405 will now depart from Gates 206-207.  More info can be found here

DeCamp Bus Lines will be moving to the lower level of the South Wing using Gates 12-20.  An alert on their website currently breaks out the new route assignments.

Community Coach will be assigned to Gates 412-413 for its Route 77 line.

Rockland Coaches:

Route 45 will be reassigned to Gates 410-411.
Routes 46, 47 will be reassigned to Gate 411.
Routes 9 and 49 will still depart from Gate 208 until 10PM.  Later trips will depart from Gate 410.  Routes 11A, 14E, 20, 21T will still depart from Gate 220 until 10PM.  Later trips depart from Gate 411.

Shortline buses will be assigned to Gates 401-409.

The new gate assignments will supposedly allow buses to move more effectively within the building which could alleviate delays.  Only time will tell.  In the short run, we think there is going to be a lot of confused commuters and platform crowding as commuters try to find their buses on September 8th.  Hopefully officials will do a better job at communicating these changes to the public than they have in the past.

More details can be found on the Port Authority website.

Rockland Coaches Fare Increase Effective May 1, 2015

Bus riders of private bus lines in Northern New Jersey and Rockland County are also facing fare increases.  Rockland Coaches is quietly raising fares for the second consecutive year on May 1.  The new fares are posted on their website and can be found here. 

NJT recently announced a potential 9% fare increase for this fall.

UPDATED BUS SERVICE INFORMATION JANUARY 27

New Jersey was not hit as hard as originally forecast from the storm.  Some operators restored service by this afternoon.  This is the latest information we have.   

NJ Transit restored  bus service by 11AM today.

Rockland Coaches  suspended service today.

Shortline Bus  suspended service today.

DeCamp Bus Lines was operating as of 10AM today.

Lakeland Bus was running some service as of this afternoon.

Suburban Transit appears to be suspended for today.

Ameribus/Saddle River Tours  suspended service on the 11C and 20/84 routes and its AC runs today.

IT APPEARS THAT ALL SERVICE WILL BE RESTORED BY THE JAN 28 MORNING RUSH.  PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR CARRIER TO CONFIRM THEIR OPERATING STATUS.

BUS SERVICE ALERT: NJ Bus Service Suspended For Blizzard January 26-27

BUS SERVICE CANCELLATIONS DUE TO BLIZZARD JANUARY 26-27

NJ Transit has suspended all transit operations this evening with the impending blizzard.  The last buses departed at 8 PM.  There will be no service on Tuesday January 27. 

Rockland Coaches has also suspended service as of 9PM this evening.  They will not operate on Tuesday January 27.

Shortline Bus has suspended service and will not operate Tuesday January 27th.

DeCamp Bus Lines will be suspending operations as of 8.15PM this evening.

Lakeland Bus is suspending service as of 8PM this evening.

Suburban Transit is suspending service as of 9PM this evening.

Ameribus/Saddle River Tours has suspended service on the 11C and 20/84 routes and its AC runs on Tuesday January 27th.

We hope all commuters get home safely during the storm.  It looks like everything will be shut down in NJ on Tuesday.  Please check with your carriers for resumption of service.

George Washington Bridge Bus Station Renovations Update

Major renovations continue at the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.  Only one platform is in use for all departures.  Rockland Coaches' 9A  and Saddle River Tours/Ameribus Routes 11C and 20/84 depart from the front of the terminal at "Zone A."  The jitneys depart from the middle zones and NJT routes depart from the rear zones.  Please see our previous post for additional information regarding the construction.


  


Passengers must climb the temporary staircase for all departing buses and jitneys.

Temporary Waiting Room on Ft. Washington Ave.

Rockland Coaches 9A waiting for departure to New City at the front of terminal by "Zone A." 

Ameribus/Saddle River Tours Route 11C to Spring Valley loading from Zone A.

NJT buses depart from the rear of the platform.

Five Routes Picked For Bergen Bus Rapid Transit

As we reported previously, Bergen County is studying the possibility of creating a Bus Rapid Transit system.  Officials have decided on five potential routes:

• Paterson to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal
• Montvale Park and Ride to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
• Garden State Plaza to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, via River Road
• Bergen Community College to the Secaucus Junction train station
• Englewood Hospital to the Secaucus Junction train station

A map of these proposed routes can be found here.

Although we applaud the idea for innovative new transit services, the Paterson to the GWB route is duplicative of the current NJT 171 as well as numerous jitneys servicing the corridor.  The Montvale route is duplicative of the Rockland Coaches Route 45 bus.  We don't see how these routes will provide a "Rapid" commute to New York without substantial improvements to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and express bus lanes to the GWB. 

The one interesting route is the proposed Garden State Plaza to the Port Authority via River Road.  This route would avoid the overcrowded XBL at the Lincoln Tunnel and could be a viable travel alternative if River Road can somehow be configured to truly create bus rapid transit.

Vintage Timetable of the Week - Rockland Coaches 10-14K (1981)

To commemorate the final passing of Rockland Coaches 14K line, here is a vintage timetable from 1981 showing combined service with the 10 route.  The 10 was discontinued in the 1980s.  The 14K had full time service to the George Washington Bridge until it was cut back to a couple of rush hour runs in the late 2000s.  Rockland Coaches eliminated the 14K in May 2014.  It still runs the 14E express service to the Port Authority at rush hour.

Saddle River Tours Taking Over the 11C and 20/84 Routes Effective May 5th

Saddle River Tours is taking over the soon to be discontinued Rockland Coaches 11C and 20/84 Routes beginning Monday May 5th with their new Ameribus Service.  They have cut one run on the 20/84 in each direction.  They have also cut several more 11C runs with the last bus leaving the GWB at 6:45 on weekdays.   The weekday 8:45PM trip to Spring Valley has been eliminated from the new weekday schedule, but it will continue to run on weekends.  They are also providing very limited weekend service on the 11C with only 3-4 buses in each direction. 

We wish them luck but this will not help increase ridership or alleviate the crowding at the PABT and Lincoln Tunnel.  To increase GWB ridership, innovative new services need to be introduced including exclusive bus lanes over the bridge, more convenient service, introduction of express runs, and service to midtown via the east side.  

Continued Confusion Surrounding Rockland Coaches Impending GWB Bus Cuts

With less than a week to go, the Journal News is reporting on the confusion surrounding the company's elimination of its 11C, 14K and 20/84 Routes to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal.  Many riders believe that the Rockland Route 20 to the Port Authority Bus Terminal is also being cut, which isn't the case.  The article notes that these routes only make up 5% of Rockland's revenue and account for 8% of its total passengers.  This is hardly surprising considering the company previously substantially cut back service on these routes.

There is also confusion regarding who will operate the 11C and 20/84 starting May 5th.  It has been announced that GWB service on the 14K, down to only 3 daily runs, will be discontinued.   Riders of the 11C and 20/84 still don't know who will operate the routes starting on May 5th, but there is continued speculation that NJ Transit may take over the routes in some form. 

NJT to take over Rockland Coaches 11C and 20/84 Routes?

There is a possibility that NJ Transit may be taking over Rockland Coaches 11C and 20/84 routes.  We previously reported that TransportAzumah announced that it will begin operating the route from the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal to Spring Valley, NY effective May 5, 2014 replacing the  discontinued Rockland Coaches 11C. 

Transport Azumah has also announced it will revive the Route 303 line from the GWB to Newark Airport starting May 5, 2014.  The express route will run daily between 5:15AM and 11PM.  NJT ran a similar route 303 in the 1980s.