NJ Transit finally announced how it will move the masses of shoppers and employees to the American Dream mall and entertainment complex when it opens on Oct. 25 and buses will bear the burden for the time being.

Officials announced on Thursday that expanded local bus service on three routes will start on a pilot basis, beginning on Aug. 31. Those buses are geared toward American Dream employees and express bus service from the Port Authority bus terminal will coincide with the Oct. 25 opening date. Missing is a date for the start of rail service on the same line that serves Met Life Stadium.

The announced plan follows what was outlined in a March 2014 agreement that called for NJ Transit officials to start advertising transit plans “no later than three months prior to the scheduled opening” of American Dream. That deadline came in late July.

A new bus route, the 355, will operate daily express service from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to American Dream every 30 minutes.

The three-million square foot American Dream will contain a DreamWorks Waterpark, Nickelodeon theme park, a ski and snowboard park, an NHL‐sized skating and hockey rink, an 18‐hole miniature golf course, a Legoland Discovery Center, an aquarium, a luxury movie theater and more. It will have over 100 dining and specialty food options including more than 20 full‐service restaurants, in addition to retail stores.

The stops and starts that the development experienced in its 17-year history has made it the butt of many jokes and the subject of skepticism whether it would ever open. The project is currently on its third developer. The mall expects 40 million visitors each year.

Rail service will not operate until “the rail system is resilient enough that doing so won’t adversely affect NJ Transit commuters,” officials said in a statement. NJ Transit is training several classes of locomotive engineers, with a fall graduation date to end a shortage of engineers that led to a rash of train cancelations in spring and early summer. The agency has canceled fewer trains in recent weeks.

The agency also is grappling with replacing an aging fleet of rail cars and locomotives. Replacements have been ordered, but some equipment is several years from delivery.

Hourly rail service on the Meadowlands line between the Secaucus Junction station and MetLife Stadium was a centerpiece of the 2014 plan. Ultimately it calls for two dedicated sets of trains to serve American Dream.

Instead, Route 356 buses will operate daily express service from Secaucus Junction to American Dream every 30 minutes, which will connect with NJ Transit rail lines at that station, officials said.

In addition, five local buses will connect with the 356 bus at Secaucus, including the 2 from Journal Square, the 78 from Newark, the 124 and 129 from the Port Authority bus terminal and the 329 from Harmon Cove.

The three local buses that will start running on Aug. 31 include 85 Route from Hoboken Terminal that now runs through the Jersey City Heights and Union City to retail centers on Route 3 that are east of American Dream.

The 703 route from Haledon and Paterson, that currently goes to East Rutherford, and the 772 bus that now runs between the Hackensack bus terminal and the Meadowlands also will be expanded to include weekend and weeknight service to American Dream starting on Aug. 31. Service on the 772 bus will be expanded to include Saturday and Sunday service.

Passaic, Paterson, Hackensack and Union City were identified in the study as places where employees would most likely come from. The three routes are in the 2014 agreement.

These three bus lines initially will stop at the Racetrack at the Meadowlands until completion of the dedicated hub at American Dream and will continue operations once opened.

NJ Transit allocated $8 million in the fiscal year 2020 budget for service. Some of that funding will pay for hiring more drivers and buying more buses, said Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit CEO and President.

NJ Transit will conduct public hearings to receive comments on the new weeknight and weekend service on Route 772 and the new express bus service, Route 355, to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. A date for those hearings will be announced, said Nancy Snyder, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

Until the hearing is held, those two routes will be run on a pilot basis.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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