EAST BRUNSWICK — The concerns of hundreds of commuters who use NJ Transit’s 68 bus line to get to Jersey City, Weehawkin and Hoboken may have been somewhat allayed this week.
Despite previous announcements, township officials said Monday that NJ Transit will continue to operate the service from the vicinity of the new Transportation and Commerce Center (TCC) parking deck at Route 18 and Tices Lane. Commuters will be able to get the bus behind the TCC on Old Bridge Turnpike, not far from where they catch the bus now, according to Mayor William Neary, who spoke during Monday night’s Township Council meeting. Officials may have a bus shelter put in place at the stop.
Riders were outraged when they learned that Suburban Transit, the company that has exclusive use of the township’s two park and rides, would not allow NJ Transit buses to make stops at the new TCC, which opens Oct. 1.
Council President Catherine Diem said NJ Transit will continue to operate the 68 bus service, but will not pick up passengers at the loading dock of the new TCC. Instead, the buses will have to use the nearby area.
“NJ Transit 68 will still serve East Brunswick,” Neary said, adding that the agreement was reached earlier that day.
Neary said the exclusivity agreement between the township Suburban Transit, which is owned by Coach USA, is helpful to East Brunswick because it allows the township to collect more money from the bus company and in turn hold down the cost of commuter parking rates.
Township Finance Director L. Mason Neely, who heads the parking utility, said officials are working to alleviate the commuters’ concerns. He anticipates a deal to be agreed upon that would be in place “for a number of years.”
“We are looking for a permanent solution so you have the same, or better, service,” he said.
Neely said that, even though the temporary bus stop is not exactly where riders were getting the NJ Transit buses, it is only a short walk from the TCC and will not add to their commute times.
Commuter Madeline Molinari asked the governing body how ticket sales will be handled, and Neely said the township does not have a contract to sell tickets for NJ Transit, but a kiosk may be put up at the bus terminal for that.
Councilman David Stahl, who is running for mayor this November, said he believes that the agreement between the township and Suburban only grants exclusivity to Suburban for buses going to and from New York City. Stahl made his case in a letter to commuters.
“The bids specifications are geared solely to bus service to and from New York City, and for the payment Suburban remits each month to the [township] parking utility, they have exclusivity as to those routes only,” Stahl wrote.
While Suburban had pledged it would provide the necessary bus service to replace those now run by NJ Transit, Stahl echoed what many commuters have been saying — that the Suburban service would come at a higher cost to commuters, with less frequent pickups and additional stops. Stahl told the Sentinel there would be six daily buses, rather than the 10 offered by NJ Transit, and that two of those six would stop at the township’s Neilson Plaza, further north on Route 18, thereby lengthening commute time. Also, there would be no stops in Hoboken or Weehawkin, and the idea that commuters could take the bus and then board a train to those places does not take into consideration higher costs and longer commutes.
The township’s Commuter Parking Advisory Committee objected to the changes that would be brought about by NJ Transit not being allowed to use the new TCC. The committee noted that the commuters who use NJ Transit’s 68 service would now have to use Suburban and pay $56 per 10 trips, as opposed to the current $44.
“It is with a high level of dissatisfaction that commuters will be asked to pay more for a service that they believe is inferior and was imposed upon them as a result of the new TCC facility,” the committee wrote to its commuter e-mail group.
Stahl said he has asked Township Attorney Michael Baker to look into the issue.
He said he feels NJ Transit should be allowed to use the new TCC.
“Your service will be just the way it was, which was the goal,” he told the commuters who attended Monday’s meeting.