they are trying to crack down on the very thing that makes the service great. The dollar busses run very frequently and if there is a way to cut time they will do it. why crack down on something thats useful and a good price?

after looking up.. i see this has been discussed.

Erratic driving, lack of licensing
Prosecutor's Office cracks down on commuter vans

By Jim Hague -- Hudson Reporter -- 05/13/2007

Usually, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office handles high-profile crimes like murder, kidnapping, and robbery. It's not every day that you find investigators worrying about the conditions of the vast number of commuter vans that are spotted shuttling passengers all over the county.

However, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, the office's random inspections of commuter vans and jitneys have become a regular occurrence, mainly from an insurance fraud aspect.

"We've been engaged in a number of these inspections throughout the county, in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation and the local police," DeFazio said. "Our focus has been with insurance fraud and safety issues."

Recently, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office conducted a random inspection of 16 such commuter vans that were picking up passengers on the streets of North Bergen, either along Kennedy Boulevard or Boulevard East.

The result was staggering. Of the 16 commuter vehicles inspected, 10 were found to have a total of 64 violations, forcing those vehicles off the street immediately. Those vehicles were towed away.

"Unfortunately, there seems to be a pervasive level of failure when it come to the required safety measures and insurance," DeFazio said. "As a rule, these commuter vans are not complying with the minimum standards. Either the vans had a lack of insurance or phony insurance cards, or there were liability issues and driver's license issues. It's a pervasive problem all over Hudson County, but it seems to be more prominent in north Hudson."

Some of the violations that were levied against the commuter vans and jitneys were broken brake lights, directional signals and other lights; a lack of essential emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers, and bad brakes.

DeFazio said that the commuter vans and jitneys operate with "very little regulations and no uniform scheduling routes."

"I think these vans were going to continue to operate illegally unless we did something," DeFazio said. "I think the results speak for themselves. There are several dangers that exist with these commuter buses."

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Insurance Fraud Unit also received help from the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Bus Enforcement Unit.

Dangers that exist

DeFazio said that most of the owners of these commuter vans and jitneys lease the vehicle to private contractors on a daily basis.

"With different owners and companies, it makes it more difficult to regulate," DeFazio said. "God forbid if we have a catastrophe and the commuter van in question has no insurance."

DeFazio also said that there has been concern that the drivers operate the vehicles in an erratic fashion.

"When the vehicle is leased for the day, it almost encourages them to drive in an erratic manner in order to make the fee for the day," DeFazio said. "They stop in the middle of the street like a taxi cab. There are accidents, but there hasn't been a major catastrophe yet. But it's definitely quite an issue. The insurance issues make it even more complex."

DeFazio credited the efforts of Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Carroll with his leadership in the investigations.

North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco was pleased with the efforts. Sacco sponsored a bill in the state Senate last year that would put more regulations on the commuter van and jitney operations.

"I thought it was great news," Sacco said. "I commend Prosecutor DeFazio for taking the bull by the horns and getting this done. He's really helping the community. We introduced bills that would hit these owners with higher penalties if they didn't keep their insurance up to date. By conducting these random investigations, it is a very strong weapon to combat all the different issues. These vans endanger the lives of the people of our community."

DeFazio said that he plans on continuing the random investigations to crack down on the illegal activity of the commuter vans.

"We have to make sure that they adhere to safety and insurance standards," DeFazio said. "We have been doing this for a while, but we decided to tell everyone that the inspections and the violations are going to continue. We're not going away."

DeFazio said that similar inspections have taken place in Jersey City, Union City and Weehawken.

"Those are the towns where the commuter buses are more of an issue," DeFazio said.

Jim Hague can be reached via e-mail at either OGSMAR@aol.com or jhague@hudsonreporter.com

I love the $1 vans. They're convenient and cheap. However, they piss me off when i'm driving behind one of them.

It appears that the fines are not a strong enough deterrent for these operators to comply to vehicle and public safety standards.
Suspension of operating licences might help.

Cities yank 10 of 16 commuter vans off the road

Thursday, May 10, 2007
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

NORTH BERGEN - A surprise inspection of commuter vans by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office last month resulted in 10 out of 16 buses being taken out of service and towed away due to safety violations.

"Unfortunately, there seems to be a pervasive level of failure when it come to the required safety measures and insurance," said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, adding that more surprise inspections are planned. "As a rule, these commuter vans are not complying with the minimum standards."

The inspections, conducted April 24, turned up 64 safety violations, DeFazio said. Two drivers also were cited for driver's license violations and four others were cited for not having required medical information, DeFazio said.

Even the six vans that weren't towed away were issued warnings for lesser violations, DeFazio said.

Among the van safety violations that drew summonses were problems with brake lights, directional signals and other lights; absent emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers, and brakes that were not performing property, DeFazio said.

The inspections, which have been carried out in Jersey City, Weehawken, Union City and North Bergen, were conducted by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Insurance Fraud Unit in conjunction with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Bus Enforcement Unit, the North Bergen Police Department and the Hudson County Sheriff's Office.

I have taken a ride on these piece of crap immigrant buses myself a few times and they are terrible. They wait for people until half the bus fills up at Newport Mall then proceed down their route and continue to pick more people up, thus filling up the seats on the bus and STILL packing more people in having them stand in the isle for god sakes.

Sometimes the damn things are so full you cant even get off at your stop because all the people in the bus are talking to one another and you have to yell to the driver "next stop" just so he knows when you are ready to exit the bus.

Not to mention they smell, the ripped coushins, broken and loose seats, graffitti on the seats and litter on the bus that is hardly cleaned up. Hell sometimes the driver will have a passenger run into a store for him while parked on the side (with passengers inside) to get him something to eat I've had this crap happen to me on Newark ave, bastard stopped to have someone run inside and get him chicken, pisses me off.

Maybe we should expand the role of the Transit Police to include policing and roadworthy checks on these buses and the taxis.

Some of these taxis look as if they are ready for the junk yard.

Could I assume that these drivers are required to be checked by Police for any criminal offences prior to transporting the public around?
I don't like the idea that some previously convicted sex offender could be driving women around!

This is good news. Its good to know that they are actively and randomly testing these vans.

8 commuter vans off streets
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Spot inspections of 15 commuter vans in Downtown Jersey City resulted in dozens of violations being issued, and eight of the vans had to be taken out of service and towed away, officials said.

The Newark Avenue vans were redirected onto a side street and inspected in a joint operation by Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio's office, the Hudson County Sheriff's Office and the state Department of Transportation.

Three of the randomly selected vans had fake insurance cards, DeFazio said. Four were towed after being deemed unsafe for operation, DeFazio said. Two vans had inoperable emergency doors - perhaps intentionally, DeFazio said.

MICHAELANGELO CONTE

There are several NJ Transit buses that cross the GWB. They all stop at the GWB bus terminal.

Having buses go through the Holland Tunnel would be a traffic nightmare right now. There would need to be a major overhaul of the traffic patterns and idealy another tunnel. The bus lane works at the Lincoln Tunnel because there are 6 lanes in 3 tunnels and a dedicated two mile lane for the busses to go filter into the Port Auhority bus terminal. Building a bus shelter outside the Holland Tunnel requires a location next to a subway stop. Having it at the new Fulton Station would work if there is again a desginated lane for buses only. Having only 4 lanes at the Holland Tunnel would leave one car lane depending on the morning or afternoon rush hour. All the outbound car traffic fitting into one lane is insane at rush hour with all the traffic lights leading up to the Holland Tunnel on both sides. People do no respect the red lights now and block the box causing delays.

While I agree that these jitney buses are dangerous, polluting, and borderline legal, they are a vital service at this point. NJTransit's offerings are horrendous, and I recently found out that they routinely take buses from one line out of commission to fill in on other lines when needed. Buses really don't show up sometimes.

Especially with the recent muggings, these jitneys provide a service for folks just needing to go through the downtown area, not to mention us JC Heighters (I know, it's a downtown list, shame on us, but I did live downtown for years.)

Show me a good plan to implement changes without taking them off the streets. Even with 1/2 of them running, it still is a huge improvement over NJTransit.

Gotta agree with alb on some of this...there are plenty of other much more serious health concerns, not the least of which is all the construction on toxic landfills in downtown.

I would have the buses load and drop off at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub and Fulton Street Transit Center. It is a bus terminal, you can build one very cheap and quickly. Basically a glorified parking lot.
It would help lower manhattan revitalize. Lots of people in suburban new jersey live close to bus stops, so it would be very convienent for them to take a one seat bus ride direct to lower manhattan without having to transfer to the PATH or Ferry, which adds another fare and 15-30 minutes onto commute. It would relieve the overcrowding on the PATH train, and take cars off our roads - all those people who drive to PATH stations from far essex and middlesex counties could take one seat bus ride to lower manhattan.
Plus, the bus terminal would connect to ferry, PATH, and subway, and take NYC transit buses as well as NJ transit buses, so you could transfer to NJ transit buses from NYC transit buses, and vice-versa

Quote:

umm there is a gwb bus terminal with a connecting blue line and a red line a 5 min walk away.

Quote:

I think the reason NJ Transit only uses the Lincoln Tunnel is because of what's on the other end--the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Without something similar downtown, a bus ride into Manhattan would be pretty difficult--bus gets out of Holland Tunnel and goes . . . where? Let them off and pick up curbside? Where do you buy tickets outbound? Where do you stand while waiting for the bus? And if you send them up to the PA Bus Terminal, then it would take longer than going through the Stinking Lincoln.

I think NJ transit should use the holland tunnel as well, a bus line running through the holland tunnel would give people in the heights, union city, and other areas a one seat bus ride to manhattan. It is crazy that NJ transit only uses the lincoln tunnel.

Up in Fort Lee they call them the amigo van. If I remember correctly there are two lines. One is the bergenline and the other is paterson. Inside the bergenline van there is a list of destinations and rates. The amigo van is the only transportation available to go across the gwb, nj transit uses the lincoln tunnel. This is ridiculous if your destination is up north. Anyway I never rode the bergenline all the way through but round trip I think its journal square to gwb bus terminal. I don't like them, but what can you do.

Some of these vans are a menace. There are ALWAYS several that lay in wait along 6th Street between the Mall and Shoprite/BJ's in spite of NO STANDING signs galore. Since there are no lights where people must cross it is imperative to see oncoming traffic.
These semi-parked vans obscure the view so a pedestrian cannot see oncoming traffic and must just pray and step into traffic and sooner or later there will be a car veering around the bus just in time to kill someone.

They DON'T obey traffic laws and are generally a menace when several of them play leapfrog around a Port Authority bus to steal its fares. This game of tag with multi-ton vehicles makes Bergenline Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard even more dangerous than they need to be.

IF the vans are allowed, the penalties should be trebled those for a regular car and they MUST be made to have adequate insurance or face being impounded by police and perhaps given to social organizations, senior citizens buildings, or the like.

"Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a broad term given to a variety of different transportation systems that, through infrastructural and scheduling improvements, attempt to use buses to provide a service that is of a higher quality than an ordinary bus line. Each BRT system utilizes different improvements, although many improvements are shared by many BRT systems. The goal of such systems is to at least approach the service quality of rail transit while still enjoying the cost savings of bus transit. The expression "BRT" is mainly used in North America; elsewhere, one may speak of Quality Bus or simply bus service while raising the quality.".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rapid_transit

What about a Bus Rapid Transit system to replace the jitney buses? A light rail system would take ten years to implement and build, while a bus rapid transit system could be built in only a year. You take a wide long boulevard, like JFK boulevard for example, and you dedicate a lane in each direction for buses only, and you rebuild the bus stations on each side so that they are more like the light rails stations, and you install sensors in the traffic lights to give buses right of way. This way the bus can bypass all the traffic jams, making the bus run more like a subway or light rail system.

Wow - so these could be banned from Newark Avenue Downtown if they are banned on the side streets!

That would be great!

They could still go to the Jornal Square PATH.

======================================

OK so if that doesn't happen I should just get into this field! If they aren't banned then I am looking at getting one, two or more of them -- I found this one on ebay for under $2000!

Click Here to see this GREAT BUS

It is hard to believe but you don't even need to have a Commercial Drivers License - a CDL LICENSE to drive one of these in Jersey City!

I just can't believe it..

And that min insurance is nothing - $10,000 per persson $100,000 max of coverage -- that must only cost $2,000 per year!

OK so lets see, If I hire two drivers - two shifts - that's 16 hours per day, 4 trips per hour, 20 people a time -- one buss could gross $1,280 per day -- $39,680 per month -- $476,160 per year cash...

OK, each bus is not always full and there is high gas prices, and other min costs
Hmmm, ok maybe I'll net $200,000 per year per each bus I buy... (and hey it's cash and there are even bigger buses I can get)

Think I found it here:
http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/codes/jersey/

? 307-38. Municipal consent to operate.

A. No autobus shall be operated upon any street until the owner or owners thereof have obtained the consent of the Municipal Council of the City of Jersey City.

B. No such consent shall become effective until the owner of an autobus has filed with the Municipal Clerk an insurance policy of a company licensed to transact business under the insurance laws of the State of New Jersey in the sum of $10,000 against loss from liability for bodily injury or death suffered by any one person and $100,000 for more than one person, and in the sum of $5,000 against loss on account of property damage suffered by any person or persons as a result of an accident occurring by reason of ownership, maintenance or use of an autobus upon the streets of this city. Consent to operate shall remain effective only so long as such policy remains fully in effect. Such insurance shall provide for the payment of any final judgment recovered by any person on account of the ownership, maintenance and use of such autobus or any fault in respect thereto and shall be for the benefit of any person suffering loss, damage or injury as aforesaid.

C. A power of attorney shall be executed and delivered to the Municipal Clerk concurrently with the filing of a policy hereinbefore referred to, wherein the owner shall appoint the Business Administrator as his or her true and lawful attorney for the purpose of acknowledging service of any process out of a court of competent jurisdiction to be served against the insured by virtue of the indemnity granted under the insurance policy filed. [Amended 8-13-1997 by Ord. No. 97-052]

D. Any such consent may be revoked by the Municipal Council after notice and hearing whenever it shall appear that the person to whom such consent was granted has failed to furnish and keep in force the insurance and the power of attorney herein required.

ECH do you have a ordinance #? I see these mini buses on side streets in front of my house all the time.

By the way: these mini-bus things are forbidden to
come up Erie or Jersey or Grove. They can only operate on Newark Ave. Absolutely no side streets allowed. If you see them there, call the cops immediately.
They used to come into the neighborhoods and sit and idle
for long periods, spewing out that noxious exhaust into
peoples' windows and doors.
We went to the city council and got the council to stop them from coming into any residential area downtown, but of course they pay no attention and they continue to do as they please. The drivers are totally ignorant/disdainful of rules and regulations.

E.P.A. has lots of info on the poisonous exhausts these
junk-heaps cough out. Nasty, nasty, nasty. It would be
great if we could get rid of them and replace them with
law-abiding, organized, legal bus service.

NJTransit is hopeless. We definitely need something else, but it
ought to be on the up-and-up.

I agree -- Ratslayer since you seem to know -- what besides an inspection happens for a taxi?

How is it that taxi cabs have more regulations than these broken down buses that carry 20+ people?

Why don't the cab drivers and owners fight this -- is it that they too have it way to unregulated?

It seems like someone is getting paid off in all this!

These buses do indeed fill a transportation void, but they are an accident waiting to happen. Say a full bus crashes as a result of driver negligence. Passengers are injured and even killed. WHO WILL PAY?? Because most drivers carry NO insurance, the victims are screwed. So much for justice in Husdon County. Our local leaders KNOW these driver's are breaking the damn law day and night. This is criminal. Time to regulate these buses. Christ, we regulate taxi cabs! And when the JC cabbies wanna increase fares, they can't do it without City Council approval, unlike the dollar bus drivers who raise fares any freaking time they want.

I agree that something should happen -- NJ transit Big Buses coming from outside Jersey City should have to take the highways (turnpike and 1&9) as long as they can, and not be allowed to use JC's surface roads. Make them turn in on Marion - sorry if it takes 5 more min.

As for local buses - let's lose this crazy sea of broken down buses, retired from Disneyland -- and let's also lose the HUGE NJ Transit buses. Allow only small NJ Transit van/buses on surface roads in Jersey City. This would save the city a lot in road repair as well!

Also, why can't Jersey City have safe bike lockers at all PATH stations - even if they cost $1 for the day that would still be attractive to many!

Lastly, let's get taxi medallions of some sort!

Quote:

I see NJ transit running these huge diesal buses with 3 passengers, and I see these dollar jitneys packed full.
It is a waste of money for NJ transit to be running these big, asthma causing buses on the same routes the dollar vans take.
Also, the dollar vans are quick and they run on a regular basis...much more reliable than NJ transit.
Plus, those little buck vans are much more manuverable than the long NJ transit buses, which when turning are a hazard to drivers and pedestrians.
I think NJ transit should lease out the bus routes to private operators and retire the big buses.
I think if the dollar vans where legitimatized then they could stop at the Journal Square bus terminal instead of stopping 3 blocks away at 5 corners, and they could use the NJ transit bus stops. It would totally improve transportation.

These Buses should be inspected more and there are too many -- they run almost empty most of the time!

Jersey City like New York should have Taxi Medallions.

It would bring in a lot of money for the city and it would fund the inspection of these cabs and buses. It costs $250,000 to buy just one in NYC for a cab (not even one of these broken down stinking empty buses)

Why are we giving it away in Jersey City?

Hello,
I've just moved to Harsimus Cove from out of town. I really like public transport, but I can't quite figure out those little buses that all say "BERGENLINE Fort Lee/Newport Mall/Journal Square" I've heard them called 'the dollar bus' and even 'the immigration bus' (I think it was the same one, anyways)

What I mean is that I don't know their routes. I've googled a bunch, but they seem to have no website, and I could find no maps online. I asked the driver for a map, and he seemed to think the idea that a bus would have a route map to be absurd.

Now, I've taken them up Newark Ave from Grove Street to Five Corners, and then walked the rest of the way to Little India to get some tasty Dosa, but then (anither time) I saw another similar bus actually going past Journal Square, so I concluded: they have more than one route!

Anybody here know their exact route(s)? Even better, somebody here have a map? Even better, a map of all the bus routes (Coach USA and NJTransit included) in the city/county?

Thanks much,
Paul