West Orange service is slated to begin April 19 and initially serve about 120 residents, who will be picked up at ten stops throughout the Gregory neighborhood and delivered to the Orange and South Orange stations. Joseph Fonzino, the program's administrator, anticipates the service will enhance the quality of community life, as well as attract people working in Manhattan to relocate to West Orange. Maplewood already claims significant success in these regards (see MTR #201).

Springfield's service began April 5th and is transporting commuters to and from the Short Hills station. Springfield requires commuters to use a local park & ride to access the service, adding a step to the commute and potentially diminishing the convenience and inherent air quality, congestion relief and pedestrian safety benefits of a jitney service. Unlike Maplewood and West Orange, where services are currently free, Springfield residents pay $2 one way or $300 annually.

Jitney services in East Orange and Chatham Township will begin within the next several months.

In response to local officials and town residents, NJT will be completing a jitney plan by next week for the Borough of Rutherford, where train ridership is expected to double with the advent of the Secaucus Transfer in two years. At a recent public meeting to discuss plans for a scaled-down commuter parking deck and mixed use development, representatives from NJT presented preliminary plans for enhanced bus service and a new jitney service, which consisted of single route. While this is a promising start, there is a need for service from the neighboring towns as well. NJT indicated that no funds would be forthcoming to help operate the jitney.

Despite recent statements indicating that NJ Transit would like to avoid any further financial commitment to jitneys (Star-Ledger, 3/25 & Rutherford Planning Board Mtg., 4/18), NJT now quietly claims to be in the process of developing program guidelines to expand north Jersey jitney services. Using the "Challenge Grant" program as a model and a combined total of up to $6 million in TEA-21 earmarks (secured by Congressmen Bill Pascrell and Donald Payne), NJ Transit now has the resources to expand jitney programs throughout Morris, Essex and Bergen counties.