West Orange Jitney May Help Bridge Gap Left By DeCamp Bus Lines

WEST ORANGE, NJ — DeCamp Bus Lines is ending its routes to New York City, including the ones serving West Orange. But there may be a local resource that can help bridge the gap for now: the town jitney.

On Tuesday evening, a West Orange town spokesperson released a statement that promotes the municipal jitney bus as an alternative for local commuters left scrambling in the wake of DeCamp’s decision to stop making commuter trips to New York City. Read More: End Of An Era For DeCamp Bus; NJ Company Stopping NYC Routes

“DeCamp Bus Lines has struggled to recapture daily commuter passengers as work-from-home, telecommuting and flex schedules severely reduced daily commuting to New York City,” the company announced Monday. “Despite our best efforts, monthly ridership averages 20 percent or less of pre-COVID levels.”

DeCamp will be ceasing trips across the Hudson River on April 7. It will continue to run daily charter, shuttle and casino services.

DeCamp recommended that commuters seeking a new way of getting to New York City try NJ Transit. A spokesperson with NJ Transit told Patch the agency is aware of DeCamp’s announcement and is checking into the situation. Read More: DeCamp Bus Is Stopping NYC Trips; Officials Look To NJ Transit

WEST ORANGE: TRY THE JITNEY

Here’s what township spokesperson Joe Fagan said about the situation on Tuesday:

“West Orange residents can utilize the existing jitney shuttle service to secure transportation to train stations in Orange, South Orange, Brick Church and East Orange along NJ Transit’s Morris and Essex Line. Eastbound service is available via the Kearny Connection to Secaucus Junction and Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and there is also service to Hoboken Terminal. West Orange residents are advised to check the jitney shuttle schedule at http://www.westorange.org/1415/LocalJitney-Shuttle for further details about route schedules and times for pickup.”

“Further updates from NJ Transit and West Orange officials regarding jitney shuttle service will be announced, as this is a developing situation,” Fagan said, adding that “many surrounding municipalities served by the bus line are seeking alterative solutions.”

Fagan, who also serves as the town historian, offered some background details about the state’s oldest privately owned bus line:

“The end of the line comes for DeCamp over a century and a half after the company was started by a Civil War veteran. The DeCamps were among the first settlers of western Essex County where they had labored as farmers. Major Jonathan DeCamp of Livingston first conceived the idea in 1870 of running a stage coach between Roseland and Newark via the Newark and Mt. Pleasant Turnpike which is current day NJ Route 10. DeCamp built a covered wagon hitched to a team of horses and a round trip consumed an entire day at the time. His grandson Ralph DeCamp began motorized service on the stage coach line that ran from Orange to Livingston in 1928. Over the decades the business grew but could not bounce back from the decline in ridership that began with COVID-19. Jonathan DeCamp is interred in West Orange’s Pleasantdale Cemetery where many buses bearing his name once passed.”

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