NJT at 40: People, politics and progress
Written by David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor
July 17, 1979 was a momentous day in the annals of U.S. transit history. The New Jersey legislature passed, and Gov. Brendan T. Byrne (1924-2018), signed the bill that became the Transportation Act of 1979. The legislation established New Jersey Transit (NJT), and in so doing, began the process of consolidating the state’s bus service under a single statewide umbrella. That step was considered radical in its day, but it set a model for bringing public transportation into the public sector, at a time when railroads and bus companies in the private sector were working hard to get rid of it.
New Jersey Transit rail operations are still a bit chaotic, but they are making efforts. I look at the North Jersey papers on line just to keep abreast of what’s going on up there. Don’t know why I should care about it at this point, but let’s just say I do and let it go at that.
It’s ironic, but todays NJ Transit buses in North Jersey still follow the old Public Service bus routes, which followed the old Public Service trolley routes! So we can say North Jersey is “haunted” by the ghosts of those long ago trolleys!
New Jersey politics “rough and tumble?” More like total chaos and confusion, but this isn’t the time or place.
We’re experiencing that here in the DC metro area as our current bus lines replicate former bus and even older street car lines. Even our METRO’s Orange Line shadows the route of the former W&OD rail run to Vienna but not to the W&OD’s original Bluemont VA destination; the W&OD Trail does that. METRO’s Silver Line extension will bring service to Ashburn VA when completed.
There has been talk about doing a major restructuring of METRO’s core bus lines: the current configuration replicates all of those former bus/street car routes. Baltimore recently totally reworked its entire bus network to better serve the current regional demographics; I don’t know how well it’s working but it was a chance as buses can always be easily reconfigured versus rail options.
That’s interesting Warren. NJ Transit never felt the need to alter the old bus/trolley routes because the population demographic’s never changed all that much, it’s just gotten denser.
Interestingly, most of the main secondary roads in North Jersey still follow the paths, more or less, of the roads that existed in Colonial times.
Drive down Paramus Road, Kinderkamack Road, or Shralenburg Road and you’re following in the footsteps of Washington’s army.
Check out our special 40th Anniversary edition of FYI, NJ TRANSIT’s customer newsletter:
Four Decades of Service, Customers First
Forty years and counting! NJ TRANSIT has been your state public transportation agency for four decades, and it’s been an amazing ride! We would like to thank our customers and employees who have supported our progress over the years, with more to come!
Fare Modernization
Customers on select bus routes are getting the first look at a pilot program that represents the next step in revolutionizing fare payment technology at NJ TRANSIT. Customers traveling on these Morris County bus routes are using a new onboard ticket validation system.
Your Customer Advocate
Keep an eye out for our new Customer Advocate and Chief Customer Experience Officer, Stewart Mader. Stewart’s role is to serve you by monitoring and improving your experience at every customer touchpoint.
Penn Station New York Improvements
Repair work continues at Penn Station New York, where Amtrak is rehabilitating tracks, switches and other critical infrastructure that supports t