NJ Transit To Initiate Rescue Bus Service Plan For Coach USA Customers
Plan Mitigates Impacts for Customers in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson Counties Abandoned By Coach USA. Service Begins August 17
NEWARK, NJ – NJ TRANSIT will initiate an emergency bus service plan in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties beginning August 17th, for routes abandoned by Coach USA with limited advance notice. The plan, which required a monumental effort from NJ TRANSIT’s bus service planning staff in a very compressed timeframe, will provide customers of those routes with uninterrupted bus service.
“While presenting significant challenges to NJ TRANSIT resources, we are once again stepping up after yet another private carrier abandons service with little notice,” said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin S. Corbett. “We are ensuring that the thousands of customers who depend on these routes for their mobility retain these vital bus services.”
Academy Bus will assume the affected routes in Bergen and Passaic counties with no changes to routes, schedules, or fares. Academy had previously been awarded the contract to operate the Passaic County routes beginning September 1, 2024 and will assume those routes 15 days earlier. Academy will also assume the routes in Bergen County on an emergency basis. NJ TRANSIT will directly operate service for the affected Hudson County routes, using existing resources while minimizing the impact to existing bus routes to the greatest extent possible.
It is important to note that customers on all of these routes in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties will see no difference in the schedules, fares, routes, bus stops, or the look of the buses, and should visit njtransit.com/coach for the latest timetables. Customers should continue to purchase tickets in the same manner as they previously did, and monitor njtransit.com for any future service updates.
The affected routes are as follows:
Bergen County: 751, 752, 753, 755, 756, 762, 772, 780
Passaic County: 702, 705, 707, 709, 722, 744, 746, 748, 758
Hudson County: 2, 84, 88
NJ TRANSIT formally received written notice on July 10th of Coach’s intentions to abandon three of their five contracts—Bergen, Passaic and Hudson—with a cessation of operation at the close of business on August 16, 2024. Previously, NJ TRANSIT also absorbed the abandoned routes from private carriers DeCamp, A&C and O.N.E. last year. These efforts to assume abandoned private carrier routes present significant challenges for NJ TRANSIT’S resources.
Customers are encouraged to check www.njtransit.com/coach for additional information.
About NJ TRANSIT
NJ TRANSIT is the nation’s largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 925,000 weekday trips on 263 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations and more than 19,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.