NJ Transit bus-route battle heats up in Bergen County, with commuters in the balance

If your bus continues to run late and onboard conditions still resemble a trash bin, you might not care much about the big change that NJ Transit recently made in its 34-bus Bergen Line service, but here’s the gist of it anyway:

All eight local routes through the state’s most populous county were turned over to Saddle River Trails of Wallington last month after a contentious, year-long bidding battle that pitted the little family-owned business against the Paramus subsidiary of big Coach USA, which is owned by British interests.

“We’re still pinching ourselves,” said Jim Murphy, president of the company, which also trades as Saddle River Tours. “It’s rare for a bus company our size to beat a national giant. Sometimes smaller businesses don’t even bid against the big guys.”

And when they do compete, their bids aren’t even opened because smaller firms fail to meet rigorous technical qualifications. But not this time.

Saddle River bid $47.9 million for the seven-year contract — less than the $50.4 million proposed by Community Transportation, the Coach subsidiary, and $53.4 million for Transdev Services, a French company. The contract permits Saddle River to pick up passengers along eight bus routes — 751, 752, 753, 755, 756, 762, 772 and 780 — until November 2024.

Newsletter: Stay on top of your commute with the Road Warrior's weekly newsletter

Beating the Coach organization was especially sweet for Murphy because it reversed an old decision. In 2016, the NJ Transit staff sent him a letter saying his company had narrowly outbid Coach for the line — a victory that could give Saddle River the economies of scale to bid the next year for the Passaic Line contract also held by Coach.

“The celebration in our office lasted more than a week,” recalled Chief Financial Officer Joseph Barbato.

But nine weeks later, Saddle River’s bid was canceled on a technicality. NJ Transit staff had mistakenly failed to offer Coach an opportunity to make an oral presentation. So the agency extended Coach’s contract for another year and scheduled a new bid.

Barbato called the 2017-24 contract “the crown jewel of our operation,” but after running the Bergen Line for a few snow-filled weeks, staff jubilation was a bit more guarded during a visit last week.

Nearly 1 million trips

Delivering bus service for more than 917 million passenger trips each year is challenging, especially for a company that has focused on charter trips and a few much smaller commuter lines and school-bus services over the last 46 years.

For riders waiting on windy Route 4 outside the Outlets at Bergen Town Center in Paramus last week, the identity of the new NJ Transit carrier wasn’t the issue. All that mattered was whether or not the 756 bus would meet its schedule.

“It’s always late — always!” a woman bound for Leonia said bitterly.

“Sometimes by more than an hour,” added her companion.

“When afternoon rush is over,” noted rider Art White of Hackensack, “late service on the 753 and 780 has been almost non-existent under both carriers.”

When customers complain about poor service, bus companies frequently blame reduced government financial subsidies and driver shortages — issues that have contributed significantly to declines in bus ridership nationally. Last October, NJ Transit reported a 1.7 percent reduction in bus ridership for all the lines it either runs directly or assigns to private carriers such as Coach or Saddle River.

“If bus service isn’t adequate, people have other options,” Barbato explained. “Cars, trains, Uber …”

In the short term, the transition from Coach Community to Saddle River hasn’t eased these service issues for passengers who depend on the Bergen Line at stops in 11 communities including Cliffside Park, Fort Lee, New Milford, Englewood, Edgewater and the Meadowlands.

One reason: In addition to the 34 buses that the new carrier receives from NJ Transit under its contract, Saddle River had expected to hire some of its predecessor's drivers to help increase its staff about 50 percent to 130 drivers, mechanics and support personnel.

But in an emailed response to Road Warrior questions, Coach executive Sean Hughes said his company “is very proud to be in a position to retain all of the operators who previously performed these duties.”

Retained drivers will simply be shifted to Community’s nine routes on the adjacent Passaic Line, added Hughes, director of corporate affairs for Coach USA North America.

Is Coach paying its drivers incentives to keep them from moving to its competitor? Hughes didn't say, but Barbato has his suspicions.

"That's what sometimes happens," he said.

Although costly, retaining extra drivers to fill shifts that might otherwise result in missed stops can offer financial benefits in the long run, because missed stops can lead to penalties under NJ Transit bus contracts — for Coach Community on the Passaic Line as well as Saddle River on the Bergen Line.

'Growing pains'

Saddle River executives insist they'll quickly solve any manpower shortages.

“Just growing pains,” Operations Manager Jeffrey Ferreri said with a shrug.

“We could use maybe another five drivers,” Barbato said, “but we’ll get ‘em and we’ll train ‘em if we have to.”

“We’re all about service,” Murphy added. “As a small, family company, we don’t need big executive overhead, and if something should go wrong, decision-makers can easily deal with it because we’re nearby — not in some faraway office.”

And in another five years, when bids open again for the Passaic Line contract, might David challenge Goliath once more?

Murphy was circumspect.

“We’re in the game now,” he said.

Email: Cichowski@northjersey.com

