Academy Wins Suburban's Half Of Rt 139 - Temporarily

Academy Lines will begin offering Rt 139 service to Port Authority on December 30, 2002. Suburban Trails will cease operating this route tomorrow.

Academy's role as co-operator of the 139 won't last long. According to a report in today's Asbury Park Press, NJT will become sole operator of Rt 139 in five years (late 2007/early 2008). Additionally, Suburban Trails will take over Academy's Wall Street service, with NJ Transit also having the option to offer service to downtown NYC for the first time ever. However, NJT is taking a wait and see attitude toward Wall Street, understandably fueled by the loss of many jobs in lower Manhattan since the tragedies of September 11, 2001.

Very Very Few MC9's Left! Take Pictures NOW!

At this writing only 31 of the 1114 MC9's are left in service in NJT paint. Howell Garage has the last three MC9A's, 6102-6104. These were the first three non-demo MC9's delivered to NJT, serial numbers CP037499-37501. Howell also has these MC9B's left: 5001, 5035, 5090, 5135, 5147, 5150, 5155, 5157, 5163-5164, and 5167.

Egg Harbor's remaining MC9B's run mostly 559 service from Lakewood to Atlantic City, so look for 'em on Route 9. They are 5045, 5100, 5113-5122, 5124, 5128, 5161, 5368 and 5373

Coach USA Prepares NJ Exit; Sale Of Some Assets To Academy Imminent

If you read the item below, we opined that Academy may be interested in helping Coach USA close up shop in NJ. According to an item on a Yahoo! group, Academy and Coach have agreed for Academy to purchase Suburban Trails, Short Line and parts of Community Coach and Cape Transit (Adventure Trails). Academy is already a presence in Atlantic City, operating some of the casino employee shuttle routes (using, among others, its fleet of 1989 MC-9's, among the last of that model ever produced) as well as up and down the Route 9 corridor (Wall Street service).

Also, with a transit strike looming in New York, there is talk that the number of cars that are being allowed into NYC during rush hours will be drastically reduced, with no less than four in a car at peak times. It is likely that NJT will add extra service, whether rail or bus, into the city to alleviate the situation. (Of course, how you get around once in the city is up to you - good luck finding a cab!)

On December 15, 2002, Suburban Trails will cease service on Rt 139, which is co-operated by NJT and Suburban. Yet to be determined is if NJT will operate this route alone or some successor company taking over Suburban's interest in the route.

With this week's announcement of Coach USA beginning to fold its US operations at the behest of its corporate parent Stagecoach, there is a strong possibility that the New Jersey properties of Coach - which include Suburban, Community Coach, Hudson Transit (Short Line), Hudson Bus (Red & Tan), Rockland Coaches (Red & Tan), amd Leisure Time Tours (Leisure Line) - may have a potential buyer in the already-massive Academy Lines. A similar deal was struck last week with Peter Pan Bus Lines picking up all of Coach USA's significant New England operations including Bonanza, Maine Line, Arrow Line, Pawtuxet Valley and Coach USA Boston.

Just a note on the item below: at the moment, Chet Furmanek still owns Y-710, but he is looking for a buyer for it and several other buses. A while back he sold his company, Central Jersey Bus, to Stout's Charter Service, and is in the process of selling all his historic buses. I think he's down to his last eight or so. The hobby is extremely grateful to have had Chet actively involved in procuring and restoring buses. I hope that whoever buys Y-710 (and he's already got several prospects lined up) follows through on Chet's wish to ultimately restore it back into Public Service livery.

Here's former NJT unit Y-710, which was seen in the movie "Forrest Gump". If you look to the right of Tom Hanks' head, you can clearly see the painted-out NJT stripes at the top of this bus. Y-710 is a 1967 GM SDM-5302, serial number 1029.

The Motor Bus Society web site is now back up.

This seems like a good place to note that the Motor Bus Society website is presently down. Will advise when it's back up.

When was this ever a rarity? Perhaps never. I saw 6184 - that's right, a MC-9A - pulling down the 559 in Toms River this morning.

Next update will feature a few tweaks to the MCI-D roster. We solved the problem with 8269 and have some new units yet to come from our pals at MCI.

New stuff coming: by tonight or tomorrow, we should have all the 6100 series serials nailed down and on the page, plus some of the odds-and-ends type stuff we haven't had in the past. By the time we all go back to school after the Columbus Day holiday, the only hole left in the Roster will be the 2000-series Flxibles.

More new D4500's to Coach USA/Leisure Time Tours, 8802-8805, per Trevor Logan.

8560-8562 D4500 Trans-Bridge Lines 3P055356-55357, 3P055359
3P055358 is a MCI demo. Permanent correction soon to come.

DeCamp Bus Lines has just gotten some new D4500's. 8441 and 8450 are 2003 buses carrying serials 3P055366 and 3P055375 respectively (which I think gives DeCamp exactly 50 units from NJT). Thanks to Bobby of the Vinmen Yahoo Group for the report. Charlie Bailey has since given me the latest delivery info which is now on the Roster pages.

Also, the serial number for bus 4004 is 2P055086 (thanks to Al Reinschmidt). No builders plate was observed on the Neoplan 9501.

Check out Trevor Logan's Transitalk page for the two new prototypes - Neoplan artic 9501 and MCI D4000H 4004. (We'll get pix of em soon.) Both buses feature Cesar Vergara's wildest paint designs yet. The MCI has "It's Electric!" written on the beltline at the rear of the bus.

Four of today's buses are now in the Gallery: AL5058, 606, 7077 and 8321.

Here are the display units from today's Hoboken Festival.

AL5058 - NJT Access Link/Atlantic Paratrans - 2002 Ford/Startrans - Serial 2HA35979
L627 - PSCT/NJT - 1957 GM PD-4104 - Serial 2281
E313 - PSCT - 1951 GM TDH-4509 - Serial 1901
606 - NJT Red & Tan Tours - 2001 Blue Bird Transhuttle - Serial 1F201415
2564 - NJT - 2000 Nova Bus T60206 - Serial YR834654
7077 - NJT - 2000 MCI 102D3 - Serial YP053261
1922 - NJT - 2002 Roadeo Winner Ed Negron - 1994 Flxible 40102-6C8 - Serial RD104661
7777 - NJT - 2002 Roadeo Winner Al Laning - 2001 MCI D4000 - Serial 1P053685
8321 - NJT - 2002 Roadeo Winner Joe Grandioso - 2002 MCI D4500 - Serial 2P055237
NJT Police Bus - 1981 Flxible 40102-6-1 - Serial BD093977 (orig. PA1158)

Pictures as soon as they come out of the Mrs.' camera.

Just got back from Hoboken Festival. Besides the advertised units, NJT also had on display an Access Link bus, the historic E313 and L627 units from Public Service, the three Roadeo winners' units, CNG bus 7077, and one of the 30-foot Novas. Pictures and more specific information later.

Don't forget, everyone, tomorrow is the Try Transit Festival in Hoboken. This year, Try Transit combines with the Hoboken Music & Art Festival to provide continuous musical entertainment on three stages located along Washington Street, headlined by the Tom Tom Club (members of Talking Heads) at 4:45 p.m. on the First Street Stage. Bus fans will want to stick close to Hoboken Terminal where at least a new MCI D-series Cruiser will be on display along with a now-retired Newark City Subway PCC car. It runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. - come on out!

Also, check out the D series roster. Some new private carrier D4500's have been delivered including the first new cruiser deliveries for Coach USA/Hudson Bus Transportation (Short Line).

Cesar Vergara, who as Chief Designer for NJ Transit is the only such person in that capacity for a transit agency, is profiled in the October 2002 Trains magazine. His work as an industrial designer harkens back to the days of Raymond Loewy, who created memorable railroad pieces (the GG-1 electric) and buses (GM's PD4501 "Scenicruiser" for Greyhound). Vergara designed the General Electric Genesis locomotives and as chief designer for NJT, holds sway over all aspects of the company's design components, from the rolling stock to the stations (hey, Cesar, how about freshening up those staid looking schedules?). The article makes note of Vergara's disdain for the long-standing NJT chevron ("ached of 1979... it looked like John Travolta designed it") and his attempts to put a fresh image on NJT's livery ("...are orange, magenta and blue bad colors for a transit agency? Absolutely not...they needed to be revisited"). Shown in the article is a new 4600-series ALP-46 electric locomotive that features a modified NJT logo, elongated to the length of the locomotive, but as a narrow strip with the colors separated by moire lines and retaining the 55-degree angles of the original logo.