Bus Service to New Hospital to Begin May 14

Don’t have a car and worried about how to get to the new hospital in Plainsboro?

Worry no more.

Pam Hersh, vice president for government & community affairs at Princeton Healthcare System, said NJ Transit will begin bus service between the old and new hopsital sites on May 14.

Although the details are tentative and subject to change, Bus #655 is expected to run from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

It will make stops at the hospital building on Witherspoon Street, Princeton Shopping Center, the Dinky station and the new hospital site in Plainsboro.

The bus will run every 40 minutes from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and every hour after that.

“We have this wonderful new facility, but if no one could have gotten there, it wouldn’t have done any good,” Hersh told members of Princeton Township Committee on Monday.

The bus will cost $1.50 each way but for those who can’t afford the fare, free bus tickets will be offered at the medical office at 281 Witherspoon Street.

Hersh said the hospital will notify its clinic patients of the new bus service, so those who fall within certain income guidelines and qualify for the clinic service will know how they can access the new Plainsboro location. Hersh said fewer than 30 percent of clinic patients come from the Princeton side of Route 1.

“For those who walk or have no other transportation, we’re hoping this provides an excellent answer of how those patients will get over to the new hospital,” Hersh said.

NJ Transit will pay 75 percent of the cost of the bus service. Princeton Healthcare System and Princeton University will divide the remaining 25 percent.

Each of those entities will spend $200,000 over three years to cover the cost of bus service. The hospital will also continue to offer 'on demand' transportation and taxi service for clients who need it.