NJ Transit Will Take Over 20 Bus Routes, Amid Coach USA Financial Woes

NORTH JERSEY — New Jersey Transit will take over 20 bus lines next weekend, after Coach USA filed for bankruptcy and was planning to cut service for thousands of riders through Bergen, Passaic, and Hudson counties.

Paramus-based Coach had planned to cut the lines (listed below) on Friday, Aug. 16, as Patch reported previously— with the state's public transit agency now saying they will begin operating those routes the next day.

"The plan, which required a monumental effort from NJ Transit’s bus service planning staff in a very compressed timeframe, will provide customers of those routes with uninterrupted bus service," the agency said.

NJT announced on Thursday that the "emergency bus service plan" will begin for the following lines, as of on Saturday, Aug. 17: In Bergen County, routes 751, 752, 753, 755, 756, 762, 772, and 780; in Hudson County, routes 2, 84, and 88; and in Passaic County, routes 702, 705, 707, 709, 722, 744, 746, 748, and 758.

NJT said it will directly operate service for those Hudson County routes, and Academy Bus will assume the affected routes in Bergen and Passaic counties "with no changes to routes, schedules or fares." These lines include routes to Jersey City, North Bergen, Paramus, Paterson, Ridgewood, Saddle Brook, and Wayne.

Academy had previously been awarded the contract to operate the Passaic County routes beginning in September, but that date has been pushed up to Aug. 17.

This takeover presents "significant challenges" to NJ Transit's resources, said President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett in a statement, adding that the state-run agency is "once again stepping up after yet another private carrier abandons service with little notice."

“We are ensuring that the thousands of customers who depend on these routes for their mobility retain these vital bus services," Corbett said.

New timetables for these 20 routes will be published shortly, and you can see more information here.

Over the past few years, four private bus companies have ended or discontinued bus routes in the Garden State: A&C, DeCamp, Coach USA and TransDev.

Back in 2020, New Jersey Transit and Coach had teamed up to rescue several commuter lines after DeCamp Bus Lines announced it would end services across the Hudson. And last October, NJT rolled out an "emergency stabilization" plan for Coach and A&C riders in Jersey City, Newark, Elizabeth and the Oranges.