If all NJ Transit services into NYC are suspended because of a strike, then the best option for commuters would clearly be to use one of the myriad commuter buses that run into the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The problem is, there is no map of what routes exist. www.nj.com/news/2025/05... - ThreadSky

princetonyimby.bsky.social • 20 days ago

If all NJ Transit services into NYC are suspended because of a strike, then the best option for commuters would clearly be to use one of the myriad commuter buses that run into the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The problem is, there is no map of what routes exist. https://www.nj.com/news/2025/05/if-nj-transit-strikes-these-are-your-best-options-for-getting-around-nj-or-into-nyc.html

Comments

blank.org•20 days ago

Wait what?

I've lived here for over 25 years and just always assumed... that... existed... somewhere?

I know a lot of the jitney services are pretty small outfits but come on New Jersey.

robinsonmeyer.bsky.social•20 days ago

There’s no map at all? I always felt like the system was hard to use but I didn’t realize it was *that* hard

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

There is now, finally, a map of NJ Transit bus routes.
But most of the buses that run into the Port Authority Bus Terminal are not operated by NJ Transit. They are operated by private carriers, sometimes under contract for NJ Transit. And there is no map at all of those routes.

henryfung.bsky.social•20 days ago

An actual map and not that Google Map one of all the squiggly lines?

jamesinclair.bsky.social•20 days ago

Yes, declassified as part of the JFK files

https://njogis-newjersey.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/cfcd582185654b74b75ef667455a2366_1/explore

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

Which one do you have in mind, becuase I don't even know that Google Map? Do you have a link?

henryfung.bsky.social•20 days ago

https://www.dougandadrienne.info/njbus/indexnnj.html

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

Oh, I know (and love) that one. But it does not include commuter bus services into PABT, right? For example, the Suburban / Coach USA 100 line which runs from Princeton local to East Brunswick and then express to PABT, is not marked on the Doug and Adrienne map.

harveyfliester.bsky.social•20 days ago

The number of easy things we could do to make lives easier, and just don't, is staggering.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

haha. My perspective is that most thing that are worth doing are actually quite hard to do, but this one would actually be easy and cheap.

harveyfliester.bsky.social•20 days ago

I guess I would quibble in that I think a lot of things are easy in the abstract, in that we know what they are on how to do them and there are plenty of examples of them being done well to copy, but most everything is hard because our political systems are designed to make everything hard.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

saying "our political systems are designed to make everything hard" is often another way of saying "strong public support does not really exist for this proposal".

harveyfliester.bsky.social•20 days ago

Often, but often not as well. Our systems are very much designed to allows minority opposition an outsized say in mucking up the works. At the federal level this could be gun control, at the local level this could be adding signage in, say, Princeton, NJ.

denadriscoll.bsky.social•20 days ago

Everyone can take the bus outside my parents street. They can all park at my parents house. Lol.

nofud.bsky.social•20 days ago

There should be multiple pedestrian and bike crossings over the Hudson.
No lessons learned from 9/11.
Same between Brooklyn and Staten Island.
If there’s a major disruption you’re on your own but you need a boat.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

It's a big river to be fair, but I think your point is well taken.

nofud.bsky.social•20 days ago

While I’m on a roll fuming, there’s no safe walk or bike way between Newark and Jersey City?
Sidewalks just stop and you’re supposed to walk along the highway?
How’s that even defensible?

upzonenj.bsky.social•20 days ago

I thought the new Wittpen was supposed to have one? It didn't open right away though.

nofud.bsky.social•20 days ago

I’m not sure about the new Witt Penn bridge but how does someone walk or bike to it?
Along the turnpike?

upzonenj.bsky.social•20 days ago

From Harrison

uckema.com•20 days ago

It’s an industrial zone why would you walk?

tehoriman.bsky.social•20 days ago

You should, in fact, be able to walk between the two highest population cities in the state that literally border one another.

uckema.com•20 days ago

You can’t walk from industrial wards in Tokyo to downtown because they are separated by water though! Route 1 goes through factories and fuel facilities or route 7 floods

nofud.bsky.social•20 days ago

YES! Thank you!

nofud.bsky.social•20 days ago

If you want to go from point A (Newark) to point B (Jersey City) you don’t care about what type of zone there’s between these 2 points.
If you currently try to map that route by walking in Google maps it tells you to go all the way to Teterboro and back. 3 miles by car, 24 miles if you walk.

uckema.com•20 days ago

The solution is restoring the CNJ longterm and making the route 1 bus 10 minute articulated busses shorter term

uckema.com•20 days ago

Do you live in Nj at all?

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

It's insane.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

If you live, in, say, Red Bank NJ, and you normally take the NJ Transit Coast Line to work in NYC, how would you go about finding out what commuter bus services operate in your area? I don't think there is any easy way to do it, and I also think that is a problem.

alanehill.com•20 days ago

#NJTransit bus service around Red Bank NJ isn't even synced with rail, and bus stops are cunningly disguised to avoid seeing poor people when dining out on Broadwalk.

There are two Academy buses to NYC, 5.55am & 7.20am - M-F

RedBank/NYC needs a 15minute timetable, 21stC rolling stock and #ETCS

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

When I lived in Washington DC, there was a map of Metrobus routes that I could study to find out what buses operated in every area. Nowadays you can also use a website or app to search. For private commuter buses from NJ to NYC, I don't believe any of these options exists.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

I would assume - although not with 100% certainty - that somebody, somewhere has a list of all the commuter bus services that run into the Port Authority Bus Terminal. If so, it seems like a fairly straightforward GIS project to put them all on one map so people can see what services are available.

ohhleary.bsky.social•20 days ago

I've resorted to using this a few times.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

This is a great example of what is possible! This map did not exist until quite recently. Before it did, we had to use a map that was patched together by a couple of bloggers, the famous "Doug and Adrienne" map... https://www.dougandadrienne.info/njbus/#google_vignette

bensh3.bsky.social•20 days ago

@catenarymaps.org (still beta) is a modern option!

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

It's hard to understand why such a basic informational resource does not exist, but it probably reflects the cinderella status of buses, even though they transport many more people in New Jersey than trains.

pdohertydesign.bsky.social•20 days ago

The default orientation of most NJ electeds/gubernatorial candidates is for rail and affluent communities.They hardly ever address the deficiencies in the bus system which moves a diversity of residents at all income levels nearer to neighborhoods with less cost rather than fixed train trunk lines.

meelar.bsky.social•20 days ago

Does Google Maps not cover them? What a mess.

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

It was quite recently that Google Maps finally figured out the NJ Transit rail lines, never mind private commuter bus routes.

jamesinclair.bsky.social•20 days ago

Google Maps has some, but not all of the private routes.

Coach USA is on there but I don't think Academy is.

The efficiency of the private sector in action!

princetonyimby.bsky.social•20 days ago

Does anybody even know the full list of bus services that run into PABT?

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