A blog dedicated to discussing today's transportation issues around Northern New Jersey and to the history of New Jersey bus transportation. Feel free to comment here or you can e-mail us at njbus86@yahoo.com. You can now follow us on twitter for even faster updates and news @NjbusB
Monday, May 15, 2017
George Washington Bridge Bus Station Reopens On Tuesday May 16 -- Updated
Good news for riders who use the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. The long delayed renovation project at the Station is almost completed and reopened for bus passengers on Tuesday May 16. The construction lasted two years longer than anticipated due to problems with the contractors and developers. NJ Transit has also announced that cash fares will no longer be accepted for its routes that service the terminal in order to speed boarding and departures. Riders will have to purchase tickets from either the windows, the ticket machines or use the NJT Mobile App. There was plenty of TV coverage today about the re-opening including from WNBC-TV, and NY1. We will have additional reports in the near future.
The new gate assignments for GWBBS routes are:
NJT Route Gate
171 12
175 13
178 17
181 14
182 18
186 15
188 11
Coach USA/Rockland
9A Gate 5
Ameribus/Saddle River Tours
11C Gate 4
20/84 Gate 4
Express/Spanish Transportation Jitneys
Gates 20 and 21
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Monday, February 27, 2017
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 However, it was recently notified that the bid was retracted on a technicality - because Community didn't have an opportunity to make the required oral presentation for the bid.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.
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.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
New MCI Buses Rolling in New Jersey
Here is a brand new bus on DeCamp's Route 66 line heading to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at the Lincoln Tunnel Exclusive Bus Lane. NJT has ordered in excess of 1200 of the new cruisers to replace its aging fleet and recently began delivering the new MCI buses to many of the private NJ bus companies. Suburban, Community Coach, and Saddle River Tours are some of the other private companies who have begun operating the new cruisers. More on the story can be read here.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
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
...
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
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.
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.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
NJ Gas Tax Likely Increasing 23 Cents A Gallon In October
Governor Christie and Democratic Officials have come to an agreement to end the transportation funding crises by agreeing to a hike to the state's gasoline tax by 23 cents a gallon. The agreement ends a stalemate since the summer that put a halt to virtually all state transportation projects when Governor Christie pulled the plug on all projects until a deal could be reached. In addition to the gas tax hike, the NJ estate tax would be phased out by 2018. NJ State sales tax would also be lowered to 6.625% by 2018. It remains to be seen whether the gas tax increase and offsetting estate and sales tax decreases will be enough to fund the transportation fund, which has been virtually depleted under Governor Christie's watch. Click here for more on the story.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Port Authority Bus Terminal Gate Reshuffling - Part 2
For the second time in less than a year, certain buses at the Port Authority will be re-assigned to different gates. Last September, several private bus lines including Coach USA, Decamp and Lakeland had their departure gates changed with the hope of improving on-time performance at the over-crowded and out-dated terminal. The last re-shuffle lead to a slight improvement of on-time performance, but the terminal is still in dire need of being replaced with a modern and larger terminal. This time, certain NJT lines are being re-assigned on September 3, 2016 as follows:
Bus Route 122
6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Bus Route 122
6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- Old gate: 315
- New gate: 313
Bus Route 127
10:01 p.m. to 1 a.m.- Old gate: 230
- New gate: 312
Bus Route 139E
3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.- Old gate: 316
- New gate: 315
Bus Route 144
3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.- Old gate: 313
- New gate: 77
Bus Route 155
3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.- Old gate: 213
- New gate: 74
Bus Route 157
3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.- Old gate: 210
- New gate: 76
Bus Route 163P
3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.- Old gate: 224
- New gate: 78
Bus Route 165T
6 a.m. to 3:29 p.m.- Old gate: 213 / 310
- New gate: 310
Bus Route 168T
6 a.m. to 10 p.m.- Old gate: 213
- New gate (6 a.m. to 3:29 p.m., 7:31 p.m. to 10 p.m.): 312
- New gate (3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.): 75
Bus Route 194E&T
6 a.m. to 10 p.m.- Old gate: 233
- New gate: 231
Bus Route 320
6 a.m. to 10 p.m.- Old gate: 231
- New gate: 213
Bus Route 324
6 a.m. to 10 p.m.- Old gate: 233
- New gate: 231
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