BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

Posing for its family portrait and said to be a circa early twenties 25 passenger White Motor Company Model 50 carrying a Brown Body, we see fleet # B108 operating for the Hudson County Boulevard Independent Bus Owner's Association (I.B.O.A.) of Hudson County, New Jersey (note that the fleet number also represents the individual owner's permit number).

A little history of New Jersey's I.B.O.A.'s excerpted from an article in the May 1989 issue of Transportation Law Update written by New Jersey attorney Jerry A. Casser, Esq.

"Historically, bus transportation in the State of New Jersey had been handled primarily by small family owned companies which were handed down from father to son.

About 60 years ago, prior to the formal regulation of the intrastate bus industry by any State agency, the main thoroughfares of each municipality were serviced by these individual operators, most of whom owned only a single bus and drove it themselves.

These drivers later formed associations known as I.B.O.A.'s in which each member continued to drive his own bus while benefiting from the coordination of schedules, the pooling of receipts and the collective purchasing offered by the groups

While virtually all of Jersey's independents have now come under the state's New Jersey Transit management, one such operation - Atlantic City's Jitney service - is still very much alive and kicking!

Photo courtesy of 'nothingtohide' and is up for bid on eBay as item # 120951806352.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[traildriver]

Thanks for the interesting history lesson, Mr. 'L'. As for the independant owner-operators today....what about those minibuses that run between NY and New Jersey? Some use gate 51 at The Port, while others use the streets, and they seem to service primarily Hispanic areas in Northern New Jersey. Aren't some of them owner-operators? (The way they drive, it seems like they are earning their living from the fare box, like taxi drivers).

[JimmiB]

Hey!!! I drove taxi for a couple of years. Oh, that's right, I did drive like that. Never mind!

[traildriver]

I've been told by someone that they are very much like cab drivers, in that they'lease' the bus for the day, and whatever they earn they keep.
So with that in mind, I can understand why they drive so aggressively...