New MCI Spotted

NJT adds on to its fleet of MCI D-series coaches for private carrier use. 8952, a 2012 MCI D4505, was spotted in Academy Lines livery over the weekend. It is not yet known how many coaches are in what is perhaps the last order from MCI before the new Designline coaches arrive.

Bus Service Mostly Restored

As of this morning, NJ Transit is now operating a full weekday schedule on many of its bus lines. All three light rail lines (Newark Subway, Hudson-Bergen and River LINE) are back in weekday service as well. There are service advisories on a couple of routes near the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne as there is still major flooding on Route 23, as well as many unannounced or unpublicized detours due to flooding, road closures, or power outages that are still bedeviling us after Irene's departure on Sunday.

Irene Shuts Down Buses

The entire NJ Transit bus and light rail system were shut down at 6:00 p.m. in preparation for Hurricane Irene, which blew through the state Sunday morning, leaving coastal and river basin flooding and downed trees in its wake. NJT's heavy rail was shut down earlier on Saturday.

The agency's goal is to have weekend-level service running by tomorrow, but a lot of that is dependent on getting buses through flood zones and places where fallen trees have blocked roadways.

New Buses Coming from NABI, Designline

NJ Transit will be replacing its 30-foot Nova Bus models with a new fleet of low-floor, 30-foot transit buses from NABI. The agency has also entered into an agreement with Designline, a company with roots in New Zealand but a plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a new fleet of CNG-fueled cruiser buses to replace the MCI CNG buses based at Howell Garage. The 30-foot NABI's will be online by the end of 2012; no word on the Designline buses just yet.

MORRIS COUNTY ROUTES TO BE TAKEN OVER BY NJ TRANSIT EFFECTIVE MONDAY, JUNE 6

The PABCO era in Morris County is over. NJ Transit has announced that the county's transit agency will be taken over by the newly-named NJT Morris beginning on Monday, June 6.

The six routes affected are 871, 872, 873, 874, 875, and 880. These six routes were created in October 2010 after a restructuring and renaming of the four existing MCM series routes.

PABCO had been running thirteen 30-foot Nova Bus RTS on the six routes; it's not known how many, if any, of the buses are salvageable. NJT is set to order 35-foot NABI transits to replace some of the 30-foot Novas. Reportedly NJT is also considering moving some 1994 Flxibles (in remarkably good shape for their age) over from Big Tree Garage.

Bergen Avenue IBOA

For the record, the Bergen Avenue IBOA ceased operations on March 12, 2011. The A&C Bus Company will now be running the route. As a stop gap, Montgomery and Westside received some mothballed Flxibles in the 1900 series to replace the Nova Buses that were pulled off the road.

Bergen Avenue's buses were Novas 1240-1244, 1523-1528, and 1530. None were deemed repairable by the NJDMV so they have been junked.

The IBOA (Independent Bus Owners Association) model is slowly disappearing into history. Montgomery and Westside is perhaps the only one left, out of a long line that as late as the 1990's included Lafayette and Greenville, Broadway, Central Ave. and some of the Newark independents which have since merged into Coach USA's transit operations.

We're Back... Again

Since we last spoke with you, there have been a number of changes to the NJT Roster. 250 new NABI suburbans have been delivered, thus making possible the long-overdue retirement of the Flxible Suburbans from 1989. Those buses hung around almost twice as long as the Eagle AE-20's delivered the same year, which were quickly shown the door in 2001.

Approximately the same number of NABI transits have been delivered, but that is just a fraction of an almost 900-bus order. We are still awaiting serial number information on these buses.

If you go to the Fleet Roster page, you will see links to the four fleet snapshots we've done, the most recent being from this month, detailing each bus' location by number.