NJ Transit buses broke down on 9,663 occasions in 2015, according to Federal Transit Administration data, which ranked the agency sixth-worst in the nation, yet more reliable than New York City's buses.

The FTA said that number represents the times that a bus broke down and prevented a revenue trip from being completed or started. About 60 percent of NJ Transit's daily passengers rode buses in 2016.

Bus route no. 73, the 9:17Pm from Whippany to E. Orange is disabled due to a mechanical problem in Whippany. — NJ TRANSIT - NBUS (@NJTRANSIT_NBUS) November 3, 2016

NJ Transit's buses did better than vehicles operated by Miami-Dade Transit, which was ranked the worst in the nation, followed by Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, NYC Transit, Chicago Transit Authority and Seattle's Metro Transit Division.

Those agencies reported more than 10,000 mechanical failures, with Miami-Dade buses approaching 20,000 bus failures in 2015. NYC Transit buses had 16,037 failures last year. SEPTA buses placed seventh behind NJ Transit with 9,331 mechanical failures in 2015.

However, NJ Transits buses ran 72.3 million revenue miles, more than four of the five agencies ranked worse than it. NYC Transit was the exception with 87.6 million revenue miles, FTA data said.



Despite that, NJ Transit's buses ranked better than NJ Transit commuter trains, which the same federal data base said broke down more than any other agency in the nation. NJ Transit officials contend that number was inflated because they also report minor breakdowns, which get counted as major incidents.



A similar situation exists with the bus numbers, said Jennifer Nelson, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

The 9,663 total bus failures in 2015 includes both 6,370 major mechanical and 3,293 other failures, she said.

Bus Route No. 190, the 6:21am departure from Paterson to New York PABT did not operate from Passaic due to a mechanical problem. — NJ TRANSIT - NBUS (@NJTRANSIT_NBUS) November 3, 2016

A NJ Advance Media analysis of NJ Transit's statistics showed buses traveled fewer miles between breakdowns. NJ Transit's bus fleet traveled 11,668 miles between breakdowns as of March, a decline from 12,325 miles in 2015 and from 12,525 miles in 2014, according to NJ Transit statistics.



The agency is in the midst of a plan to rid the fleet of its older, high-mileage buses. Production resumed last month on 1,219 new 'cruiser" style commuter buses.

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

