But Here Is Some Good Bikes On Transit News

All this angst about no bikes on trains got me thinking about the bike on bus situation at New Jersey Transit. The Southern Division bus fleet has been fully bike accessible since 2001. But north of Trenton and Atlantic City taking your bike on the bus has been a dicey affair and used only by those who know the system well. The NJT Website offers little guidance as to which bus routes have racks - Bicycles are permitted at all times on buses with bike racks on the front or with underfloor luggage compartments on a first-come, first-served basis. Currently half of the NJ TRANSIT bus fleet is "bike friendly". Bicycles can be accommodated on all buses in the NJ TRANSIT Southern Division (generally the area from Princeton/Trenton to Atlantic City and south).

Photo - Trans Options TMA

But since 2010 NJT has been adding new buses with bike racks to the local (exact change) fleet at its Central and Northern Division garages. This trend should continue as older buses are retired, although NJ TRANSIT seems to have a policy of not putting bike racks on articulated buses.

Thanks to this excellent bus roster website we can now get a handle as to which bus routes carry bikes on a reliable basis. In fact as of July 2013 most local buses outside of the Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union urban core are now bike accessible. The list below shows 64 local bus routes that originate from garages with the older non-bike accessible buses, if your numbered NJ Transit Bus Route is not on this list, then you should be able to take your bike along if the space is available on the bike rack or in the luggage bay.

Bus routes that may not carry bikes:

Newark Metro Intrastate Routes
1 6 13 24 25* 26 27 30 31 37 39 40 44 52 70 76 78 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 89 90 99
Intercity Routes to New York
107 108 120 123 125 126 126 128 153 154 156 158 159
Limited Express Routes
347 348 361 375 378
Bergen County Locals
702 705 707 709 751 752 753 755 756 758 762 772 780
Phillipsburg-Easton, PA Locals
890 891

*GO25 express buses have bike racks

For bus route details visit the bus page at njtransit.com or better yet find your next bus on the MyBusNow real time bus map