BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – Riders on CoachUSA’s No. 24, 31 and 44 bus routes will have to come up with permanent transportation alternatives as of 12:01 a.m. Oct. 8.
Whether or how New Jersey Transit will take up the slack has not been announced through its Sept. 14 monthly board of directors meeting into press time. Gov. Phil Murphy, at his monthly “Ask the Governor” radio program Sept. 13, hinted at immediate and longer-range remedies to prevent local “transit deserts.”
“The near-term involves some kind of revenue from the state Economic Development Authority,” said Murphy (D-Rumson) to program host Nancy Solomon at Newark’s WBGO-FM’s studio. “The intermediate to long term solution will likely involve NJTransit in some way.”
The short-term answer may involve the state subsidizing part or all three of the 24, 31 and 44 routes. The longer term answer may follow the path of NJTransit running “emergency service” routes like it has had with four of Decamp’s former bus routes into New York City since April 7.
CoachUSA announced at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 that all three of its Orange-Newark-Elizabeth Bus routes – serving Newark, East Orange, South Orange, Orange and Elizabeth – will make their last runs Oct. 7.
CoachUSA officials, from their Paramus garage office, cited recent and long-standing conditions for ending the three bus routes. They made their announcement on a Friday night – when most commuting riders have gone home.
“Routes managed by operators such as ONE Bus, Decamp and A&C Corp. are legacy lines that in most cases were created long before New Jersey Transit was created,” said CoachUSA Vice President of Public Affairs Dan Rodriguez. “As years progressed and costs went up, (it) became increasingly difficult to make it financially viable and fully operational. We’ve attempted every course of action to have prevented this, but, without government assistance, there’s no alternative.”
CoachUSA, which bought ONE Bus in the 1990s, is a private bus company operating in 31 North American and European metropolitan areas. ONE Bus was formed in the 1980s and had its headquarters garage along Frelinghuysen Avenue here.
Rodriguez told a reporter Sept. 14 that ridership on the three ONE routes had fallen to two million yearly riders – half of what it was pre-COVID pandemic.
CoachUSA/ONE and Decamp had complained that they, as private companies, were denied operating subsidies from state or federal COVID relief funds. The lack of such funds prompted the Montclair-based Decamp to retreat from resuming its commuter bus runs fir three months in 2021.
Decamp, citing ridership returning to only 20 percent of 2019 levels, ended 153 years’ commuter service April 7. NJTransit has been running mostly weekday rush hour on four Decamp routes to and from NYC’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Coach and ONE, like other public and private carriers, receive buses from NJTransit/NJDOT on a $1 per bus lease.
“We attempted to run interrupted service on those lines,” added Coach VP of the East Newel Scoon, “but, with decrease in ridership, driver shortage, inflationary pressure on all expenses and our strong desire to provide the most affordable mode of transportation, it simply became untenable to continue.”
The discontinuance announcement was put out to media outlets and, as of Noon Sept. 9, not posted on CoachUSA.com. with later posting on its buses. Finding schedule and other 24/31/44 information on its website, since before July 17, have been scarce.
July 17 was when CoachUSA stopped running all buses on its three routes on Sundays and Labor Day and only between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. the other days of the week.
CoachUSA, through its ONE division, have reduced the No. 44 runs to hourly intervals since Feb. 6, 2017. It cut the No. 31’s runs to the Livingston Mall, RWJBarnabas Health’s Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center and Maplewood Loop by 65 percent March 6, 2017 and entirely lopped them off Jan. 1, 2018.
“We’ve been disturbed about the demise of Decamp and CoachUSA ending Sunday and evening service on the 24, 31 and 44 routes – and now it’s even worse,” said Lackawanna Coalition advocacy group president Salley Gellert the NJTransit Board of Directors meeting. “Certain neighborhoods will be isolated; other inconvenienced. Now A&C will end its bus routes. NJTransit hasn’t done what its needed to ensure that everyone served by these routes will find equivalent alternatives.”
Gellert, of the Millburn-based group of Morris & Essex and Montclair-Boonton line riders, urged the statewide public carrier some shared service suggestions.
“NJTransit should partner with Jersey City and other interested parties,” added Gellert. “Old noncompete clauses no longer apply when a private carrier completely abandons a route. Residents of these communities deserve to have service maintained at the previous level.”
“I join many of my fellow urban mayors and NJ TRANSIT in my extreme disappointment with Coach’s decision to discontinue O.N.E. bus service on three vital routes in our communities. The hardship that this will create on many East Orange riders could be devastating without an alternative solution in near sight,” said Mayor Ted R. Green. “East Orange is a vibrant transit hub with easy and accessible connections to cities across the entire state of New Jersey. Many of our residents rely on Coach for transportation to and from work and to access critical services, including the Veterans Hospital, one of only two federal VA medical centers in the state. I am committed to working with all impacted parties to find a feasible solution that works for everyone.”
Riders with longer memories may recall when the 44 started and ended its runs at the Erie Loop on the Orange/West Orange border. There were extended but limited 24 runs along South Valley Road in the Orange Valley until 1980.
NJTransit, while running emergency service on four Decamp routes, has been quiet about whether to take over four of C&A’s Jersey City west side routes. C&A has said it will drop those routes Oct. 31.
Please note that CoachUSA’s ONE will continue to run its Megabus, former Olympia lines and charter services from its First Street, Elizabeth garage.
An unnamed citizens group have meanwhile posited notices on Broad and Market streets shelters here, calling for a 6:30 p.m. Sept. 19 rally before City Hall to decry CoachUSA’s discontinuance.
