Standees on NJT coaches!

[JohnQPine]

First time on a coach that had standees. Standing must've been brutal for that long 1 + hour ride, there not much to hold onto! On Sunday I was going back from Ocean County Mall (a tiny mall with the tiniest food court I ever seen) to NY. Only the 67 bus stops there, there's Ocean Ride but I didnt even see their buses (they dont run on Sundays I guess).

I could either take the 67 at 4:21pm and connect up with the 139 at 5:15pm in Lakewood, or wait till 5:40pm and get the 67 down to Toms River and get a 6pm 137 up to NY. But the time was close and I didn't feel like waiting around that boring mall, so I opted for the 67 going to Lakewood. It wasn't a long ride to Lakewood and the bus didn't get too crowded. Man is Lakewood ghetto, reminds me of Freeport. The bus terminal actually had a security person there!

Once on the 139 you get out of the bad area pretty quick. It was not a new bus though (8000 something), and the a/c was weak and this bus was a dog. Maybe it was one of the CNG's. What amazed me is the large amount of ridership, by Freehold Mall most seats were filled and we had standees by the time we got to Manalapan, after picking up a bunch of ppl at a Park and Ride. By the time we rolled into Old Bridge there were standees throughout the whole isle and a bunch of folks (who looked steamed!) had to be left behind at Old Bridge Park and Ride.

Now as to why this bus was a dog, traffic was passing us like we were standing still on NJ Turnpike, which doesn't happen with NJT buses usually they go pretty fast. I'd estimate we did no better than 45-50mph.

I think the bus was defective because when we rolled into PABT to discharge the driver shut the engine off right away, before everyone started to exit, usually they dont shut down until everyone is off the bus. Hopefully the driver told the yard about that one!

The trip was long too, took about 3 hours between the mall and PABT. Wont go back to that mall again, mainly because there's no direct NYC bus access and the buses that serve the mall are all "locals". From the Toms River park and ride my trip would've taken half the time.

And the Toms River Bus terminal is a long walk from the mall, so its not like walking over to the 139 from Freehold Raceway Mall.

My one question is does the 139 usually see crowds like this? On Sundays? They run every 30 minutes but maybe they need to increase service.

[KeystoneRegional]

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[553 Bridgeton]

The 8000 Series D4500s are not slow and are not CNG(CNGs are in the 7000 Series), they just take off slow, must have been the driver. Them Howell drivers drive pretty good tho, so you may have got a new driver on that run. Lakewood has tons of Mexicans(Not offending anyone) and they usually hang out in and around the Lakewood Bus Terminal area. I'll never work the 559 again, can't stand Lakewood.

 

Route 9 is spoiled by NJT, rush hour service on Route 9 is littered with buses and even has there own bus lane used for rush hour only.