With news that NJ Transit is taking over more routes in Hudson County, riders chimed in on what’s wrong and right with bus service in Hudson County:
Greg Johnson, 32, of Jersey City checks the NJ Transit mobile app to know when the 119 bus will arrive. The 119 route runs from Bayonne, through Jersey City and northern Hoboken, through the Lincoln Tunnel and then the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.
“Sometimes when I go back to the app, the (arrival) time changes,” said Johnson, who takes a 10-minute walk down to Kennedy Boulevard from his apartment near Garfield Avenue every day for work.
It happened Friday when the app said the bus would arrive at 3:50 p.m., then was changed to 4:20 p.m.
“The bus schedules have to be updated. The apps aren’t accurate; it has to be fixed,” said Johnson.
Carlos Kamel, 18, of Jersey City, says the 10 or 119, on the Jersey City-Bayonne border, is sometimes two minutes late. Other times, it makes him late for work at his Downtown job after he catches a PATH train at Journal Square -- “and I lose money because of it.”
“At night it’s the worst thing. The schedule is never right,” said Kamel. He said that the app will say there are no more buses for the rest of the night, but then a bus will show up.
It helps to understand the limitations and traditional flaws of the bus service, some say.
“Sometimes I’ll go to Old Bergen instead because the buses are faster,” said Kevin Henry, 55, of Jersey City, who waited 20 minutes for a bus on Kennedy Boulevard Friday afternoon. “Number 10 you have to wait for forever.
“The boulevard should have more buses,” said Henry. Only the 10 and 119 travel on Kennedy Boulevard through Jersey City.
Leoni, who did not give her last name, said the NJ Transit app schedule is never accurate for buses on Kennedy Boulevard, but it is usually exact for the buses on West Side Avenue.
Leonia, who was waiting at the bus stop near Audubon Park Friday afternoon, said she prefers walking to West Side Avenue because service there is more “reliable” and there are more buses.
Many riders said it common for the 119 to drive past people waiting at bus stops between Bayonne and Journal Square. Thomas Miller said there have been times when he chased down the bus.
“Sometimes they leave you,” said Miller, who takes the 119 bus to his job in New York. “A few times I caught them (after they passed me).”
NJ Transit should do a better job at sticking with the bus schedules, Miller said. “They don’t come when they’re supposed to.”
One rider of the 10 and 119 said they have grown so impatient of the shoddy service that sometimes they walk to their destination when the bus takes too long to arrive.
“Bigger buses would be the best upgrade,” they said, noting that packed buses are usually “uncomfortable.”
Not everyone has issues with the bus service.
“(The bus) usually comes on time for me. I take it at the same time every day,” said one rider who was waiting for a bus near the President Barack Obama Elementary School.
Isata, who lives and works in Jersey City, said, “I don’t take the bus often, but it usually gets here on time.”