BY LEV. D ZILBERMINTS & WALTER ELLIOTT
EAST ORANGE – New Jersey Transit, in Gov. Phil Murphy’s Sept. 29 written announcement, will take over the operation of the Nos. 24, 31 and 44 bus routes from CoachUSA’s Orange-Newark-Elizabeth Bus division 5 a.m. Oct. 8.
Riders along the 24, 31 and 44 bus routes here, in Newark, Orange, South Orange, West Orange’s Erie Loop and Union County’s Elizabeth will notice the changes straightaway.
Early morning, late night and Sunday service, that CoachUSA/ONE Bus had cut since July 17 and 22, will be restored.
They will be picked up and dropped off at the accustomed bus stops – but by NJTransit bus drivers in NJTransit buses.
They can still get transfers to other NJTransit bus routes – but, for the first time on these routes as of Oct. 8 – their weekly and monthly rail passes that carry the “Feeder Fare” markings will be honored. Coach, ONE and its predecessors, being privately run, had never honored the Feeder Fare feature.
The cash fare may be 10 to 20 cents per zone cheaper.
Gone with Coach and ONE are the border fare checking stops conducted by Newark Police Division officers on the bus company’s behalf. Delays while police officers check receipts or passes to prevent going beyond the fare zone without paying will be no more.
And that is just on Oct. 8. NJTransit will be running a Saturday schedule that Monday for the federal and state holiday – a holiday which CoachONE has not observed.
Riders will start seeing the reappearance of 24, 31 and 44 paper schedules at Newark Penn Station and other places. An NJTransit Customer Service agent told “Local Talk” in July that it has not received Coach/ONE’s multicolored schedules for a year.
And, starting Oct. 14, there will be a restoration of Sunday service. Coach/ONE had dropped all of its 24, 31 and 44 Sunday service since July 22. Stretches of streets in Elizabeth, Newark and the Oranges became transit deserts those days.
All of this Gov. Murphy pronounced Sept. 29 as “emergency service” on the 24 A&B, 31 to Dover Street/South Orange Village and 44 to Orange Rail Station.
Murphy, NJTransit and NJDOT had used “emergency service” in April when restoring a minimal level of operation on four of Decamp’s four bus routes.
Montclair-based Decamp – presaging Coach/ONE’s Sept. 8’s claims of post-pandemic declining ridership, lack of hiring bus drivers, inflationary costs, and the inability of tapping federal and state COVID recovery funds – called it quits on running six commuter routes to New York City April 7.
NJTransit, which had renumbered the four Decamp routes, chose not to renumber 24 A&B, 31 and/or 44 routes. The non-renumbering may be part of what Murphy (D-Rumson) called a “stabilization plan.”
That plan – in part from hearing riders and constituents’ cries the past month – is this, as per NJTransit’s website:
New NJ TRANSIT #24 Line
- Serves the Central Avenue Corridor in Orange, East Orange, and Newark, and the Frelinghuysen Avenue/Newark Avenue Corridor in Newark and Elizabeth. Also serves East Jersey Street and Elizabeth Avenue Elizabeth as well as Jersey Gardens. Provides service to Downtown Newark, Orange, and Elizabeth, and connections to NJT rail at Elizabeth, Orange, and Brick Church.
- Weekday 5:00 AM – 2:14 AM with service every 20 minutes, AM and PM peak, and Mid-day and every 30 minutes evenings and late night.
- Saturday 5:00 AM – 1:35 AM with service every 20 minutes mid-day, every 30 minutes early AM, evening and late night.
- Sunday 5:15 AM – 1:21 AM with service every 30 minutes, all day.
New NJ TRANSIT #31 Line
- Serves the South Orange Avenue Corridor from downtown South Orange, at the rail station, to Springfield Avenue in Newark, and continues to Penn Station, via Market Street, providing multi-modal connections.
- Weekday 5:00 AM – 1:53 AM with hourly service from South Orange and every 20 minutes AM and PM peak from South Orange Avenue/Dover Street Loop, and every 30 minutes off-peak, evenings and late night.
- Saturday 5:00 AM – 1:22 AM with hourly service from South Orange and every 30 minutes from Dover Street Loop.
- Sunday: 5:00 AM – 1:31 AM with service every 45 minutes in the mid-day from South Orange, and every 60 minutes early morning, evening and late night. All service operates South Orange – Newark Penn on Sunday.
New NJ TRANSIT #44 Line
- Connects Newark Penn Station with downtown Orange at the Orange Rail Station for multi-modal connectivity. Provides service to the Veteran’s Hospital in East Orange. Serves Tremont Avenue, Rhode Island Avenue, Freeman Avenue, and Central Avenue in Orange, East Orange, and Newark.
- Weekday 5:00 AM – 12:28 AM with hourly service all day.
- Saturday 6:00 AM – 12:27 AM with hourly service all day.
- Sunday: 6:30 AM – 12:52 AM with service every 80 minutes all day.
The above restores 24, 31, 44 service to pre-July 22 levels. Previous Coach/ONE cuts – including the No. 31’s Maplewood Loop, RWJBarnabas Health Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center and/or the Livingston Mall branches – remain.
The changes were made in part by constituents’ complaints either directly to the NJTransit Board of Directors at their Sept. 14 meeting – or by way of their local elders’ municipal meetings.
Attorney and Newark resident Orlando Webster, for example, urged Council President LaMonica McIver, her Municipal Council colleagues and city administrators on Sept. 19 to meet with NJTransit particularly regarding the No. 31 route before Oct. 8.
“We have seniors from St. Mary’s Village that go to ShopRite, students from West Side High School, Seton Hall University and other schools who go up and down South Orange Avenue,” said Webster at the Council’s Sept. 19 pre-meeting. “There are those who work at our schools, who work at the airport. We need the council to take the lead on this issue.”
McIver, later that Sept. 19 session, said that “there have been conversations for a month, if not longer” with CoachUSA, NJTransit, the Governor’s Office and State Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) on the matter.
“There are things that we up here can do and cannot do and require the help from or state and federal obligations regarding the elimination of these bus routes,” said McIver. “I thank (South Ward) Councilman (Rev. Patrick Council) for first bringing this to our attention and for (West Ward) Councilman (Dupree) Kelly and other Council members in working to try and find a solution. We’re leaning on our state and federal delegations to not only help us but also East Orange, Elizabeth and other municipalities impacted by this.”
“This’ a major crisis for us,” said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at that time.” Kids wouldn’t be able to get to schools, parents to their jobs and residents to resources and programs that improve the quality of their lives. It is unconscionable and irresponsible to end bus service so abruptly.”
“I join with many of my fellow urban mayors and NJTransit in my extreme disappointment with CoachUSA’s decision to discontinue ONE bus service on three vital routes in our communities,” said East Orange Mayor Theodore “Ted” Green Sept. 22. “I’m committed to working with all impacted parties to find a feasible solution that works for everyone.”
Orange Councilwoman Quantavia Hilbert, on Sept. 29, posted NJTransit’s “emergency stabilization” bus service on an Orange Facebook page. A “George K. launched a Change.org petition to have the 24, 31 and 44 bus service restoration on a “Newark, Irvington, East Orange & Jersey City” FB page.
It should be noted that CoachUSA’s ONE buses serving Megabus, Olympia Trails and charter/contracted service from ONE’s Elizabeth garage. Community Coach’s 77 bus route from West Orange and West Essex to NYC’s Port Authority Bus Terminal continues from CoachUSA’s Paramus garage and office.
