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.
