Faster??? Smaller??? Courtesy stops in the Middle of the Street??? Those Commuter vans must go, period!!! Remember what nj.com reported last August when a Jitney bus was involved in an accident which injured 17 people? That IS the problem with those Jitneys, they're out of control!!! Jitney Drivers Friendly, Nice???? NO WAY; they drive like as if it's a drag race and always in a hurry and I'VE JUST ABOUT HAD IT WITH THOSE SMELLY JITNEY BUSES!!!! They smell like OLD STINKY TRASH, time to get rid of them!!!!

But here's another problem with those dollar vans (a.k.a. "Guaguas" according to Wikipedia), they are too many of them that say "Bergenline/Journal Square/Newport Mall" it just irks me a lot, they shouldn't have that many jitneys/dollar vans/immigrant buses working at once, it just hurts the traffic flow especially on Palisade Avenue and Newark Avenue in Jersey City; and they're adding more every day, IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE AT ALL and with NJT Cutting down service and raising fares in this bad economy? JUST NOT WORTH IT!!! Plan on taking a dollar bus to Jersey City if this keeps up!!!

Many people taking dollar vans instead of NJT Buses, well they can do whatever they want but for me; I'D NEVER RIDE ON A JITNEY and those JITNEY BUS DRIVERS ARE A PAIN IN THE NECK!!!! You might take the jitney, but there are just WAY TOO MANY OF THEM AND MANY OF THEM STICK AROUND FOR MONTHS AT A TIME, MAKES NO SENSE!!!!

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I wish they were the only transport system around here. They are faster and take up less space on the road/cause less traffic.

While they may stop wherever they want, they at least do their best to pull over. Unlike the big buses who don't even bother in most parts of the city.

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Stop tailgating buses they're known to make frequent stops. It is common sense.

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Agreed. I've taken them when I was really in a rush and couldn't wait for my regular bus but I generally try to avoid them. It really irks me when I'm driving behind one and they just decide to stop - no signal, no pulling over, just stop right in the middle of the road.

NJT's #181 uses the GWB and GWB Bus Terminal. Quote:

The problem with the dollar busses is they stop wherever the heck they want. I know at least three people that got into actual accidents with them and I have been in several near accidents.

With a regulated bus you have bus stops you can count on. You see signs as you approach them.

Drive behind or next to a dollar bus at your own peril. You never know when its going to come to a halt or switch a lane right in to you .

I think the city needs a better transport system but dollar busses need to be curbed!

Are alot of you assuming the buses are illegal? Gee, I wonder why?

I take them everyday to and from Port Authority. They are cheap, plentiful and reliable mode of transportation. It even drops me off in front of my house :D. It gets cramped if you don't fit in the seat or a huge person sits next to you, that's America for you. I do wish they were cleaner, some are and it usually reflects the owner/operators cleanliness.

Heck, my uncle even owns a garage with several buses. They are all well kept and insured. It's put all of my cousins through college.

They go where no NJT go, and did I mention at cheap price which is very covineant to me during these "harsh economic" times."

Screw the NJT and their stupid zone lines charging me almost $3 to get anywhere. They drive just as bad as the jitney drivers. NJT doesnt even pull into bus stops sometimes, alot less then a jitney does, they cause just as much traffic.

Down with NJT Buses! Long live Jitney & privatized transportation!

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Plenty of the dollar vans are legal. And from personal experience, having taken them hundreds of times throughout the years and never having been in an accident, I have no qualms about their safety.

Wait a minute; I RIDE THOSE LEGAL NJT Buses, they're No Joke; didn't ya know that? Those Jitneys are a Joke and they're not safe whatsoever.

I know I can take a Jitney Bus from time to time in fact last year I went on a Vanessa Bus from North Bergen to Union City, there was no problem. I know I take NJT Buses, but if they run late I can take a Big Taxi; not as safe as NJT but good in case of an emergency.

for once i agree with GrovePath... +1!

Maybe they target these smoking, broken down, unsafe, unlicensed and uninsured jitneys because, in the dozen "surprise inspections" over the past two years, consistently half or more have failed each and every time!

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Surprise inspections snag more jitneys

by Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
Thursday October 30, 2008, 7:01 PM

Commuter vans in Hudson County continue to do poorly in surprise inspections.

In Jersey City today, nine of 19 vans inspected were taken out of service and towed away due to safety or motor vehicle violations, officials told The Jersey Journal.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said of the 67 safety violations and nine motor vehicle summons issued during the inspection at Jefferson and Summit avenues.

Violations included bolts missing form wheels, cracked frames, bad brakes and signal and brake lights out.

The prosecutor's Insurance Fraud Unit has conducted more than a dozen surprise inspections of commuter vans in Hudson County over the past two years and the results have been dismal.

"This industry is not moving toward the level of compliance that is necessary to ensure safety to the riding public," DeFazio said. "We are going to have to continue this enforcement until we make it cost effective for these companies to do what they should be doing on their own."

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No surprise: 9 jitneys towed with violations

Friday, October 31, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Commuter vans continue to do poorly in surprise inspections and in Jersey City yesterday 9 of 19 vans inspected were taken out of service and towed away due to safety or motor vehicle violations, officials said.

"The numbers speak for themselves," said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio of the 67 safety violations and nine motor vehicle summonses issued during the inspection at Jefferson and Summit avenues yesterday morning.

The prosecutor said safety violations included bolts missing from wheels, cracked frames, bad brakes, and signal and brake lights out.

His office's Insurance Fraud Unit has conducted more than a dozen surprise inspections of commuter vans in Hudson County in the past two years and the results have been dismal.

"This industry is not moving toward the level of compliance that is necessary to ensure safety to the riding public," DeFazio said. "We are going to have to continue this enforcement until we make it cost-effective for these companies to do what they should be doing on their own."

I hope you took down some sort of ID such as the license plate number. Try to remember the time and place you took the van and report it to the city of J.C.

I realize this subject has probably come up many times, but I am new to the board, so bear with me.

Because I don't own a car, I frequently use the dollar vans to get downtown or to go visit friends in Union City. Most of the time the trip is unremarkable, but there are other times when the ride is more.um, memorable. For instance, I took one to come back to the Heights from Journal Square last Friday night: the driver had his music jacked up so earsplittingly loud that he couldn't hear anyone's stop requests AND he flooring it, fishtailing all over the place, almost pressing up against the back bumper of another dollar van, and hanging out into the left lane into oncoming traffic on Palisades as if to pass the other van! I got out about 6 blocks from my usual stop because I was really afraid for my safety, and as I paid I told him that he seemed like a really unsafe driver. He said that I had to chill out, and as he sped away, he flipped me the bird. Classy.
So who is in charge of these bozos? Who can one complain to?

I see these guys tooling around our streets like it's Santiago, Chile. No regulation, no regard for safety. I am glad they are getting busted. Better to be proactive than reactive when it comes to public safety on our roads.

Tickets pile up as jitneys fail safety checks forecast more inspections

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

WEST NEW YORK - Surprise inspections of commuter vans yesterday found that the continuing campaign to enforce safety laws on the jitneys is having little impact, authorities said.

"It still seems that there is a lack of compliance here, and as far as our office is concerned we are going to move forward and protect the citizens of Hudson County by conducting more of these stops to enforce the law," Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Zevits said yesterday.

Of the 27 commuter vans pulled over on 59th Street beginning at 7 a.m. yesterday, 15 had to be towed away due to safety violations, Zevits said

About 150 safety violations were cited during the inspections by the state Motor Vehicle Commission Commercial Bus Unit, West New York police, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office and the Hudson County Sheriff's Office, Zevits said.

Police also issued 35 motor vehicle tickets, Zevits noted.

Safety violations included bad brakes, cracked frames, fuel leaks and safety equipment violations including bad windows and missing fire extinguishers, Zevits said. Motor vehicle summonses were issued for uninsured vehicles, expired driver's licenses and failure to produce medical cards, Zevits said.

Jitney driver Santos Mercedes, a West New York resident, said he doesn't understand why police pulled him over and inspected his van when he has a valid inspection sticker and his paperwork is in order.

"I was just driving on Bergenline around 7:50 a.m. and I was stopped by a policeman, and I gave him my license and registration and everything was up to date," Mercedes said. "I had in my bus like 25 passengers and he made me take out all my passengers in the middle of the street. They have to go to work. Maybe some of them will lose their jobs."

Mercedes said that in the end, he was allowed to drive away with no citations, adding that last month his van was towed at a cost of $850.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said the safety checks are random and the fact that there is a valid sticker does not guarantee that the motor vehicle is in compliance or that the driver is in compliance.

"It seems to be an all-too-familiar scenario of failure to recognize these safety deficiencies," DeFazio said.

The Prosecutor's Office's Insurance Fraud Unit has conducted more than a dozen surprise inspections of commuter vans in Hudson County over the past two years.

This brings back fine memories of my days in the Heights, grabbing a jitney to Port Authority every morning from Palisades Ave. You never knew what you were getting into, vans w/holes in the floor and leaky mufflers, the driver's son in the front seat holding a screwdriver against the radio to improve reception of a far-away soccer game, ass-pinching springs barely restrained by duct-taped upholstery... Makes taking the PATH seem like first class.

11 vans taken off road; slew of safety violations

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

NORTH BERGEN - Surprise inspections of commuter vans resulted in 11 of 17 being taken out of circulation yesterday, officials said, lamenting that two years of close monitoring seems to have done little to curb safety violations on the vans.

"It appears to be a continuing public safety concern and we will continue these cooperative inspections until there is compliance," Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday.

Yesterday's inspections at 28th Street and Kennedy Boulevard ran from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and resulted in 96 citations for safety violations and issuance of 16 motor vehicle summonses, said Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Zevits.

Safety violations included bad brakes, bad tires, cracked chassis, fuel leaks and emergency doors that were locked or welded shut, Zevits said. Two of the drivers did not have commercial driver's licenses or the requisite medical coverage, Zevits said.

The Prosecutor's Office's Insurance Fraud Unit has conducted more than a dozen surprise inspections of commuter vans in Hudson County over the past two years. The inspections are done in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation, the state Motor Vehicle Division, and in this instance, North Bergen police, Zevits said.

"We are intending to increase the frequency because nothing is changing," Zevits said.

More like a bigger plan to rid Jersey City of the working class poor who rely on them. Not safety. Big development in JSQ and alll across hudson county and suddenly this happens after they've been running for like 25-30 years.. There's a high demand that NJT will NEVER be able to handle.. I've taken them well over a thousand times in my life with no problems.

edit: i'm aware these inspections have happened in the past and in other towns

Let the shitstorm begin.

And what choices do people have?

It amazes me that people still ride these things. Everytime they do one of these inspections, more then 75% get pulled off the road. Not just sited for some minor violation, PULLED from the road. It is very telling that once word of the inspection gets out, that ALL of the vans disappear for the day. (and this happens with every surprise inspection, it is not just a one off thing) If the owners of the vans know they are putting a SAFE product on the street, why refuse to let your vans go out there? You would think they would be confident if they knew that their vans comply with local and state law. Instead, all of their vans scurry back to where they come from and hide. They aren't fools, they know they are putting everyone who rides these things in danger everyday. It is the greedy/lazy commuter who is the fool in this scenario because I am sure they got up this morning and didn't think twice about jumping on the next van that came down the street.

another problem they seem to have with these vans is that the companies that run them are often spotty, having no legit owner for the company (vanessa express, sphinx, etc... you know the names on the sides of the busses) and with that, they have no insurance for the drivers or the business. i read somewhere about the city trying to crack down on the owner of the bus companies, but there seems to be nobody to contact and a constant change of hands.

if anyone's ever been to atlantic city, they have a jitney service which is recognized by their city with organized stops. these busses run nearly as frequent as our commuter vans, but they are at least insured and have to run on an organized schedule and have to make the required stops.

i don't take the commuter vans often, unless i have to run to the city and don't feel like driving over. there have been times where i've gotten on the bus and the driver would tell me he's not going to journal square or grove street or was making some bizarre route when the sign on the van clearly says journal square. of course, i just go back to the bus stop and wait again, but i have never dealt with that on a new jersey transit bus. usually, before i have to take a bus, i'll go on nj transits site and look at what time the 84, 86, or 87 come by (i a few doors down from palisade.) if they aren't scheduled to come within the next few minutes, then i'll hop on a van. i find that the nj transit busses seem to get me to my destination a little bit quicker, and their drivers seem a bit more focused on following a time chart. the only problems i've had with nj transit busses have been the occasional breakdown, or the bus being completely filled and having to wait for another one (87 line after schools let out in mcginley square back in the late 90's)

since then, i have hardly ever been on a crowded nj transit bus. i almost always get a double seat to myself, and the ride is much smoother. i don't mind the vans when i'm in a rush and can't take the car somewhere in the cold, but i also don't like the fact that if the van is involved in an accident and i get hurt, i'm pretty much on my own.

cracking down on insuring these drivers is a good idea. it will inconvenience a lot of people, but keep safety in mind over convenience. if they can come to some sort of agreement on legalizing these vans and their routes, the transportation will improve dramatically.

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I'm SHOCKED!! That is, that the van actually pulled over rather than just stop in the middle of the road like every other van and city bus does. They should get rid of the bus stops if the point of them is to allow cars to pass a stopped bus. We'd have that much more parking.

I love the idea of the free market beating the bureaucracy, but these vans should at least be safe and insured.

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I almost had a similar accident with the vans, I was turning right from 6th St on to Marin when a van pulled over near the corner to pick up people, the driver never signaled with his blinker he was pulling over and I almost hit him.
I hope there will be strict regulation of the drivers and the vans, they have no insurance coverage and the drivers need to be trained to do more than make change.

It would be nice to see the city working with these guys to make sure that everything is running smoothly, and tax them, instead of just pulling them entirely. There's obviously a market for quicker, more frequent service than the big guys are providing. Coach and NJT could take a cue and trade in the big, infrequent service for more frequent, licensed van service.


I waited outside from 8:40 until 9:45 today on Congress and Palisade. I was initially waiting for the vans, but after I realized none were running, I concentrated solely on catching a 10/99S. There is one schedule for 8:40 and one for 9:20. Neither of these showed up. There's a reason they're mostly empty when they do.

Tell me what I'm supposed to do when a bus that's getting public subsidies doesn't show up when it says it will, only runs (theoretically) every 40 minutes during peak hours, and has rude drivers.

Of course I will pick the van that is $1.50 cheaper, is willing to break my $5, gets to PABT faster, runs about every 15 minutes, and -other than this morning - provides more reliable service.

What am I supposed to do now? Move out of the neighborhood, that's what. Transportation here has gone severely downhill in the past months and this has finally convinced me that the extra rent in Hoboken is worth the walk to the PATH. At least the JC government can't f that up. Fortunately my rent is 15th-14th. Today's the day to put in my 30 days notice! It's a sign!

I, for one, am glad to hear this. A while back I nearly plowed into the back of one of these vans because the back brake lights were out.