DeCamp To Raise Fares This Month

If you live in or around Montclair, riding DeCamp’s #66 bus (or #33) is almost always part of the equation.

Today riders noticed flyers on DeCamp buses announcing that ticket prices would go up by 15 cents as of Monday, September 26.

The company blamed the hike on a Port Authority toll increase of 150 percent.

DeCamp also raised fares in February by 50 cents, the first increase since December 2008.

Indeed, all bus operators will have to seek extra funds—in some cases millions more each year—to cross the George Washington Bridge and travel through the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, following last month's move by the Port Authority to raise tolls.

NJ Transit, too, which pays $4 per bus to use any of the three Hudson River crossings, will see a 150 percent hike to $10 per bus.

That amount, which applies to buses enrolled in the E-ZPass program, will go up every year until 2014, when the toll will hit $13, Port Authority officials say.

But so far NJ Transit officials have said the company would not raise fares to offset the higher toll costs.

Currently, DeCamp charges $7.25 for a single ticket from Montclair to Manhattan; the company charges only $6.60 a ticket if customers buy in batches of 10.