Tag Archives: observation

Service during snowstorms

On March 21st, Northern New Jersey had a snowstorm. 12-18 inches were forecast, and the total accummulation was on the lower end of that, but still substantial. It was wet heavy snow that brought down a lot of branches!

During the storm, this website received quite a number of inquiries about whether their bus was running. Of course, as an independent observer, I have no way of knowing that. My only source of information was looking out the window and seeing if a Bergenline jitney was passing by.

Since jitney drivers are independent contractors or owner-operators, there is usually no central dispatch office that tells everyone when to shut down service. A driver can decide to go home early, or they can decide to stick it out and keep working during the snow.

NJ Transit and other private bus operators in New jersey canceled service that day between 1pm and 4pm. All local NJ Transit bus service shut down at 3pm.

The roads were slushy but navigable. I saw that bergenline jitneys kept coming, less frequently than usual, but they were coming.

Lots of people wrote me emails to ask the status of their bus. I told them I did not have reliable information, but that if they caught their bus, to let me know. That way, I could tell others with the same inquiry. This was a crude way to assess the status of jitney operations during the snow, but it was very useful!

It seems that jitney service continued to be robust several hours after other modes of transportation shut down. One person wrote to me saying he got on a Kennedy Boulevard bus at around 5:00 pm. Another told me they boarded a Boulevard East bus at 6pm. The Paterson lines were also still running in the evening rush hour.

Why is this? Either jitney bus drivers are ok with working in more hazardous conditions, OR, the service is just more reliable. Another big factor for drivers is that once NJ Transit shuts down, there are more passengers the jitney drivers can transport. With the competition out of the way, the drivers can earn more money.

Thank you to all the commuters who updated me about their commutes that day!

Fare Change on the Paterson-GWB Route

This weekend, I saw a notice posted inside a Paterson bus, for new fares to take effect March 5th, 2018. End-to-end fares remain at $6, but the changes seem to be focused on Fort Lee and Englewood.

The $15 van service from Pennsylvania to Washington Heights

I was at the GWB Bus Station on a Sunday, and discovered that there is a regular-route van service that leaves from Washington Heights to Pennsylvania! I was previously not aware of this service.

The vans advertised service from Hazleton and Stroudsburg, PA to Paterson, NJ and New York. They were boarding at the corner of 180th and Broadway. Vehicle quality ranged from somewhat old, to brand shining new vans.

There were at least two separate van companies providing this service. One was C & P Transportations [sic] . Neither seem to have an online presence. They operate on a reservation basis, with the option to pay cash on-site. The vans said C & P Transportations, but there are online reviews for C & G Transportations, with the same phone number. It is unclear if this is a typo or the company changed names.

These companies seem to provide a much lower fare than their traditional competitors, Martz and Fullington Trailways, which charge $30-$50 for tickets from New York to the Poconos. With an intermediate stop in Paterson, and customer service in Spanish and English, they also seem to serve the needs of travelers better. I assume they have taken the majority of the market share.

There are also online reviews for a similar company called Dxt Transportation, but I could not find anything online.

Contact:

C & P Transportations: (570) 453-6926

Dxt Transportation: (570) 454-1398

Georgia Bus Line: my trip to Atlanta

In October, I was in Atlanta for a few days, for the APTA Expo, which was a public transit industry convention and trade show. On a slow day during the convention, I snatched away a few hours to make an inspection of Georgia Bus Line.

I ubered over to Buford highway, the main road served by this company. A bright orange minibus showed up, and i made a round trip. The driver correctly identified me as a tourist. From him, I was able to gather the essential facts about the route.

What was dismaying, but completely expected, was that no other APTA Expo attendees I met had even heard of this transit service.

This company which, as far as I know, is the only jitney bus operation in Georgia, or the South as a whole. Essentially, it is exactly the same as a jitney bus back in New Jersey. The story is similar. The company was founded in 2001 in order to provide convenient transit service to the Hispanic immigrant communities northeast of Atlanta. It parallels a public MARTA bus route, the 39. You can read the Wikipedia article here.

Challenges to jitney bus service in this part of the country are a little different than in New Jersey. Population density is much lower. Most of the route can be characterized as suburban sprawl. Not exactly a transit-friendly environment, but they make it work.

According to Wikipedia, in 2006 “Three of its buses were burned shortly after the company had provided free bus service to a pro-immigrant rally”

There was a random chunk of asphalt and wood block at the front of the bus being used as paperweights of sorts

The interior was just like the buses back home in New Jersey. Oddly soft seats, air a little too warm, loud engine, etc.

The route runs along Buford Highway between Lindbergh Station and Don Quixote Grocery Store in Doraville. The driver made an announcement asking if anyone was going to Doraville Station, but no one responded, so the driver didn’t go down the station driveway.

Other particulars: The fare is $1.50, and the schedule shows the bus running approximately every 20 minutes. The driver had a handwritten timetable of departure times, but there was no public copy. In typical jitney fashion, I saw several jitneys in the other direction driving directly ahead of the MARTA 39. The service operates approximately 6am to 7pm, 7 days a week.

Overall, I find it heartening that jitney buses can survive in suburban Atlanta. To me, this indicates that the business model can work in many more areas, outside the densely populated city neighborhoods it is associated with in New Jersey and Brooklyn.