Bus hits store, city hits landlord

Thursday, February 21, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Nobody was seriously hurt when a New Jersey Transit bus trying to avoid two jitneys slammed into a shoe store on Palisade Avenue in Jersey City Heights yesterday morning.

But the building's owner was slapped with a code violation, authorities said.

Office of Emergency Management and Buildings Department workers had to shore up the building before the bus could be removed because a support beam may have been damaged, officials said.

In the aftermath of the crash, which happened at 7:46 a.m., a Fire Department battalion chief found that an apartment on the second floor had been divided into four rooms to make an illegal "rooming house," according to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

The building's owner, Luis Santiago, was cited for operating an illegal rooming house by the Housing Code Office and the Fire Prevention Bureau, and is scheduled to appear March 12 in Municipal Court, Morrill said.

Police said no summonses had been issued to any of the drivers involved.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Courtney Carroll told the Associated Press that there were two passengers on the bus, one of whom was shaken up. Carroll also said some passengers on one of the jitneys may have suffered minor injuries when that van struck the bus.

The bus was heading from Lakewood to Weehawken, she said.

Here is an aerial view of the NJTransit & Jitney mess -- luck no one was in the storefront yet.

http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/photo_se ... MG&siteId=1001&isP16=true

Maybe they were all racing away from the Journal Square PATH station - rushing to circle back for one more run.

I'm not sure about the details this time but all these NJTransit Buses and Dollar Jitneys love to speed down the big hill on Newark Avenue and blow through the red lights at Brunswick Street! NJTransit Buses are often the worst speeders!

Click here for thread



-------------------------------------------
petey8 wrote:

Only 2 passengers on the bus??
-------------------------------------------

Only 2 passengers on the bus?? And 2 jitneys in spitting distance? At 8am? And buses in Greenville and B-L are on the chopping block for low ridership...what's wrong with this picture!

Injuries reported after bus swerves to avoid van

Newsday
February 20, 2008

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - A traffic mishap in Jersey City involving a bus and passenger vans leads to injuries.

New Jersey Transit says the accident happened about 8 a.m. when one of their buses carrying two passengers swerved to avoid a passenger van.

Agency spokeswoman Courtney Carroll says the bus struck a building and one passenger was shaken up.

She says some passengers on a second van may have suffered minor injuries when that van struck the bus.

The bus was heading from Lakewood to Weehawken.