PHOTOS: The much-talked about public bus system is finally coming to Lakewood. The Township has leased new buses, and Lake Transit, which is run by Jay’s Bus Service, is subleasing the buses and running the local public bus company.
“Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein started working on this years ago when he served as mayor and continued for many years,” Deputy Mayor Isaac Akerman says. “Congressman Chris Smith helped us get a grant for it, and BMG was involved as well.”
Mrs. Rivky Greenspan, who serves as vice president of operations at Lake Transit, spoke about the plans. The buses, which recently arrived in Lakewood, are brand new and wheelchair-accessible, have air conditioning and heating, and are as comfortable as any car. The company has received six buses, but only four will be used at first until the company expands. The bus routes will help to drastically alleviate traffic, as well as get rid of the need for local hitchhiking.
The bus will begin with two routes, one replacing the Job Link route from the downtown area to Industrial Park, and the other going back and forth in the areas between BMG and Westgate, going down Miller Road, up 14th Street, up Forest Avenue through BMG, down Route 9, up Central Avenue, and back to Westgate. “This entire project came about because the Township couldn’t handle running the Job Link route anymore and decided it would be better to have private companies run the buses,” Mrs. Greenspan says.
Plans are underway to add two more routes, one that will go all the way down Route 9, and a fourth that will cover the Princeton-Kennedy-Whispering Pines areas.
The buses will run every 15 minutes at peak times and once every hour during the rest of the day. “We’ll add buses as needed,” Mrs. Greenspan says.
For the first three months, riding on the buses will be absolutely free. “We’re offering this because people in Lakewood aren’t used to the idea of using public transportation instead of driving everywhere, and this will help them realize how convenient the bus system will be,” Mrs. Greenspan says. “We do have grants coming in from NJ Transit and BMG has gotten grants for this as well, but we’ll still be taking a lost in the first three months.”
After the three months are up, the cost will be a dollar per ride. When you add together the costs of maintaining a car and gas along with the inconvenience of being stuck in traffic, carpooling, and relying on others, the dollar cost is well worth it.
Organizers expect the buses to be up and running in approximately a month. Mrs. Greenspan says that while the first route in Industrial Park was arranged relatively easily because it’s on municipal roads, the Westgate route, which stops on Central Avenue, was more difficult because Central is a county road. “Legally there’s no stopping and standing on Central, so we needed the county to pass a motion to change that,” Mrs. Greenspan says. “They also adjusted the route a little so the stops are at what they believe are the safest places.”
Now, the company will submit a petition to the Department of Motor Vehicles in order to get approved to operate in New Jersey. Each stop needs to be approved, so it’s a long and complex process. “We’re hoping that it’ll be expedited soon and we’ll be running within a month,” Mrs. Greenspan says.
It will take a while longer for the Route 9 route to get going, because that’s a state road, which is more complex than municipal or county roads. In addition, New Jersey Transit has a bus line that runs down Route 9, but the frum community doesn’t use it because hardly anyone knows about it and it’s not convenient. Because that route is already in place, the company will have to work out an arrangement that will allow them to run routes on Route 9.
The company is working out a method of payment in addition to cash. “We don’t have to worry about that yet, because the first few months will be free, but we’ve placed fare boxes on the buses and hopefully people will be able to buy bus cards in different places throughout town,” Mrs. Greenspan says.
[TLS-provided by the Lakewood Shopper]
how much will this cost taxpayers?
Where will the mechitza be ?
A great way to spend our budget surplus. What surplus?!
No room for carriages
Ok Taking bets how long this will
take to flop.
I say 6 months!
waste of taxpayers money!!
There won’t be any metchitza unless the Township wants to open itself up to a nice lawsuit, It is PUBLIC transportation paid for by everyone’s tax monies and therefore cannot be subject to any religious restrictions.
How long until someone creates a mehadrin line?
Why no credit given to the township manager who was the one who did the whole thing from the beginning ?
I was joking about the mechitza . . .but I can assure you that there will be one
REDUCE the tax burden !
How old do you have be to ride, i would like to send my 3 & 4 year olds to school and save me the daily commute. Also will it stop by Tent City to pick up 15 year old daughter and her 2 year old.
I think this is a great idea – too bad they didn’t have it when I still lived in Lakewood – I would have used it!
Firstly thanx to whoever helped make this happen wether they were mentioned in this article and given credit or not, no difference. I wanna give a suggestion if I may and not referring to any company in particular. Recently I’ve seen busses more reckless then I was as a rookie driver at 17 years old however they’re driving a big yellow bus, A)It’s huge and extremely annoying when a big yellow bus buts u off, stops in middle of county line rd or route 9 where it is strictly illegal etc. B)A lot of the new drivers I see and those that we put our trust in to transport our precious young children in to and from school don’t look presentable at all. So my suggestion to this new “company” please have a dress code and please hire experienced bus drivers. Thanks for all that you do. Looking fwd to riding the new bus (once it starts costing I’ll never ride it again lol jk)
(If I had known about this sooner maybe I wouldn’t have bought a car.) it’s a good idea for people who don’t or can’t drive.
can anyone get on or is it just for frum people
It’s public transportation, anyone can ride. Even private companies must live up to certain codes and laws. It’s a real much needed start for our town. I hope it goes well and we eventually see these buses on a constant route throughout town helping people get around.
Clearly a lot of thought, planning and effort went into this project and it sounds like they obtained grant funding for it as well. A key difference between this and prior projects is that a private vendor is running it which means they have a pretty good idea that this can be profitable or they wouldn’t do it. Any plan that may take some cars off our overcrowded roads is worth a shot to me. Thanks to whoever spent all the time and effort planning this – I can only imagine how many hours went into figuring it all out! Before we jump on it and predict failure – let’s give it a shot. If it works, it will make Lakewood an even better place to call home.
I hope this works out – the traffic in this town is unbearable – and worsens every year. Thank you to those who were involved!
I think this is an awesome idea! I’d take a bus anytime over driving in the crazy traffic. Can they have one bus going up and down 7th? or up and down county line? for all those in park/ ridge area?!
Can someone explain the segregation of men and women, not knowing any better I see it as discrimination. However, if someone were to explain, I would listen with an open mind.