Coach Drops 3 North Jersey Bus Routes, Leaving Riders Fuming

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — How much have ridership numbers dropped? Would government subsidies help keep the wolves from the door? And what will people living in Newark, Elizabeth and the Oranges who depend on Coach USA’s ONE Bus routes do for transportation now?

These are some of the questions that many local residents are asking this week after Coach USA announced that it will be pulling the plug on three of its New Jersey routes: 24, 31 and 44.

The routes run through Orange, Newark and Elizabeth (ONE), as well as South Orange and East Orange. Stops include a Veterans Affairs hospital, Newark Penn Station, the Orange Train Station, University Hospital, South Orange center, the Jersey Gardens mall and the Elizabeth seaport, as well as stops near Rutgers, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Essex County College.

Coach USA will discontinue service on these lines starting on Oct. 8. Read More: Coach USA Will Pull Plug On 3 Bus Routes In North Jersey

The company blamed a “decrease in ridership, driver shortages and inflationary pressures on all operating expenses” for the upcoming service cuts.

All other existing Coach USA routes will continue to operate as scheduled.

“We attempted to find a solution that would allow service to continue, but none prevailed,” said Dan Rodriguez, vice president of public affairs at Coach USA.

Rodriguez said that “legacy line” routes such as the ONE Bus have become increasingly difficult to keep fully operational and in the red over the years.

“We have attempted every course of action to have prevented this, but without government assistance there is no alternative,” Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez told Patch that ONE bus passenger ridership on the 24, 31 and 44 routes is down 50 percent from pre-pandemic days, dropping from four million to two million annually.

Coach USA said it has given notice about the changes to its unions, NJ Transit, the governor’s office, and elected officials who represent the affected areas.

One of those officials – Newark Mayor Ras Baraka – called the decision “unconscionable and irresponsible” in a statement to NJ.com.

“These lines are for working people and proof of their importance lies in the number of daily riders,” Baraka wrote.

Riders who will be impacted by the changes are also blasting the move.

“There’s going to be a riot,” a commuter told TAPintoNewark. “You know people are going to be mad about that. They’re going to be in the street with posters. You know how it’s going to go.”

A similar outcry took place in July, when Coach announced it was making service changes on the 31 and 44 routes prior to the latest round of cutbacks. Residents of the South Ward in Newark sounded off about the service cuts at a meeting attended by a Coach USA representative and city officials.

“How are [riders] going to get home from work?” a local resident told News 12 New Jersey, pointing out that there are Newark commuters who are employed at the Jersey Gardens mall, one of the stops on the affected ONE Bus lines.

Other impacted riders included seniors – some with mobility issues – and others who have safety concerns about walking at night.

A spokesperson for NJ Transit told Patch that Coach USA is leaving its customers in the lurch yet again with its latest round of cuts:

“NJ Transit is assessing the impacts of Coach’s disappointing decision to discontinue ONE Bus service in its entirety with limited advance notice to customers, particularly after recently scaling back service on these same routes earlier this summer with a similar lack of advance notice. Part of NJ Transit’s assessment is identifying the alternatives already available on existing NJ Transit bus service. NJ Transit will continue to work with elected officials and communities, as well as private carriers, to investigate potential solutions.”

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

Could a fresh wave of government funding help to save the day for Coach riders on the ONE lines in North Jersey? It depends who you ask.

Newel Scoon, vice president of the east for Coach USA, referenced the topic of subsidies in a recent company statement about the decision. He wrote:

“[The] ONE Bus operates very similarly to NJ Transit, but with a key distinction: We are not provided with an operating subsidy. In an environment with consistently lower passenger counts and higher incurred costs, the losses are substantial. Revenue only covers about half of the current cost of operating the service.”

When asked to elaborate, Rodriguez told Patch that government subsidies would help to “assure continual operations” and plug shortfalls that have come from fuel surges, wage inflation and “significant liability costs.”

It’s not a radical idea, Rodriguez said.

“Europe has been subsidizing private carriers for decades and is a model of efficiency [with] very high usage rates, something that should be explored for a long-term solution,” Rodriguez said.

“We have been working on a solution for some time now with NJ Transit [and state elected officials], and will continue to do so, as we understand the importance of this service to those in the communities ONE serves,” Rodriguez added.

However, it’s worth noting that Coach has already received millions in funding from New Jersey. According to state data last updated in November, bus companies owned by Coach USA received more than 50 percent ($12.8 million) of a $24 million-dollar subsidy from state funding in Fiscal Year 2023, with ONE Bus receiving more than $1.79 million.

Additional subsidies have been budgeted for Coach in Fiscal Year 2024, but haven’t been distributed yet.

Coach USA isn’t the only private bus carrier that has raised the issue of taxpayer subsidies in New Jersey.

In March 2020, DeCamp Bus Lines – which ran several routes from North Jersey to New York City – announced that it was ending commuter services across the Hudson River. According to the company, it struggled to recapture daily commuter passengers after the coronavirus pandemic, with monthly ridership averages at 20 percent or less of pre-COVID levels.

“DeCamp has sustained commuter services up to this point, thanks to the various federal and state financial assistance programs,” spokespeople said. “But, without further assistance on the horizon, the economic losses from continued operations of the commuter services are too much to bear.”

• See Related: End Of An Era For DeCamp Bus: NJ Company Stopping NYC Routes

DeCamp was one of many companies and nonprofits in New Jersey that received funds from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, which was meant to help businesses keep workers on their payrolls during the COVID-19 crisis. Read More: Coronavirus PPP Loans In Montclair (Where The Money Went)

However, DeCamp also claimed that it was among other motorcoach, tour and travel businesses that were "shut out" of other federal stimulus packages during the COVID-19 shutdown.

After Montclair-based DeCamp began ramping down in North Jersey, Coach USA was one of the transportation providers that temporarily stepped in to fill the gap, cross-honoring customers who bought DeCamp tickets from Aug. 10 to Aug. 31.

“We are pleased to be in a unique situation wherein we are able to work together with DeCamp to keep Jersey strong and offer a convenient solution for the commuting public,” a Coach spokesperson said.

• See Related: Coach USA Offers Temporary Lifeline For DeCamp Bus Riders In NJ

Meanwhile, NJ Transit rolled out several “emergency routes” to pick up the slack left in DeCamp’s wake, modifying four existing bus routes to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal during weekday peak periods.

• See Related: NJ Transit Will Roll Out Emergency Routes For DeCamp Bus Riders

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