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NJ Transit takes over 20 North Jersey bus routes as Coach abandons them
By
Louis C. Hochman
Published Aug 9, 2024
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By
Louis C. Hochman
Published Aug 9, 2024
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NJ Transit says it and a private carrier will pick up the 20 North Jersey bus routes Coach USA will abandon this month amid its bankruptcy filing.
The move preserves routes in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties. Coach has said it will continue to run other routes, including all of its lines in and out of Manhattan.
Coach's last day serving the 20 North Jersey routes will be Friday, Aug. 16. The next day, Academy Bus will pick up the routes in Bergen and Passaic, and NJ Transit will pick up the Hudson County lines.
NJ Transit says riders won't see any difference in the buses' schedules, fares, routes and stops — or even their appearances.
The public transportation system has repeatedly taken over routes for struggling private carriers whose ridership plummeted in the pandemic and never recovered. Last year, it took over routes for New Jersey's oldest bus service, DeCamp — which began its life as a covered wagon service in the 1870s — as well as for A&C in Jersey City and for Coach in and around Newark.
On WNYC's "Ask Governor Murphy" call-in show last fall, the governor said longer-term solutions for commuters could involve asking “in what parts of society are we better off with a public good operator?” He said NJ Transit could manage losses private operators couldn't.
A recent fare hike and an infusion of cash from a new corporate tax approved in the recent state budget allowed NJ Transit to narrowly avoid its own fiscal cliff.
Timetables for the Coach routes being absorbed by NJ Transit and Academy Bus are available here.
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Louis C. Hochman
After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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