BusTalk

[N4 Jamaica]

On 6.21.2007, I took advantage of long daylight to ride NJT rail from NY to Woodbridge, and return on board MCI 8044 on NJ Transit route 116, which connects Perth Amboy and Port Authority Bus Terminal, Manhattan. For those who haven't gone local in this part of Middlesex County, this route, like local route 62 (Newark - Perth Amboy) zig-zags through an eclectic mixture of residential and industrial areas. The names of bakeries and churches interest me, as they show the migrations of years ago. Hungarian and Ukrainian stood out, but also some group from India, among the great variety that can show the background of some of America's industrial workers.
At 5:55 p.m. we left the renovated Woodbridge train station, new shopping center, and new municipal building and headed north on Rahway Avenue and east on Port Reading Avenue, crossing over the NJ Turnpike between exits 11 and 12. Continuing east, we entered Roosevelt Avenue in the borough of Carteret, following that avenue not quite to Arthur Kill. By turning onto Washington Avenue, the bus passed through a business district (more passengers than a waterside route), rejoining Roosevelt Avenue just before entering an area of oil tanks and Interchange 12 of the NJ Turnpike, about milepost 96.
Even before reaching Exit 15E (once renowned as the Lincoln Highway, now Truck 1 & 9), at 6:24 we got stopped in a traffic jam, then crawled at 20 m.p.h. or less all the way to the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel. Of course, we used the regular route via Exit 16E and I-495, but it was jammed. At 6:42 we left the Turnpike at Exit 16E, and at 7:07 we moved through the Lincoln Tunnel toll booth. We reached the unloading area on the fourth floor of PABT at 7:16, an 81-minute trip.
I should have kept a check list of all the buses traveling outbound. I must have seen more than a hundred MCI's. The bright destination signs resemble a list of the far-flung suburbs of northern NJ. Then, there was a older tan-and-cream Carl Bieber bus heading for Reading!

[Q65A]

Central-Northern NJ, especially near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel at NJ Tpke Exit 16E, is prime bus watching territory (much of which can be seen from the Alexander Hamilton Service Plaza, located on the SB side of the eatern spur of the NJ Turnpike). Another prime location is Secaucus Junction Station (aka Frank Lautenberg Transportation Center). During the rush hours, you'll see just about everything at these locations (MCI D and J units in every livery, plus all kinds of tour buses: Van Hools, Setras, Prevosts, Dinas; Nova and Flx transits working for NJT; school buses, etc.)
Additionally, DCCBNA and Peter Pan both have new facilities in Secaucus, right near NJ Tpke Exits 15X and 16W. Go nearer to Liberty Int'l. (Newark) Airport, and you'll also see New Flyer LF's, Nova LFS's, old RTS's, and Daimler Chrysler SLF's working the parking lots. Head to Exit 10 on the Tpke and take I-287 west to S. Plainfield to see Prevost's service center or Atlantic Detroit Diesel in Piscataway to check out what's in the backyard. Head down the Tpke to Exit 9 to see MCI's new facility on Cotter's Lane in East Brunswick. In New Brunswick, you can see sharp red and white Rutgers NF D60LF's and Nova LFS's. Head down US 1 to Quaker Bridge Mall near Princeton, and you'll see Flx Metros and 30' Nova RTS's.
Believe me, although I've spent the past 24 years living in Middlesex County, I consider myself a die-hard New Yorker, and I still love a trip to NYC anytime, but I readily will admit that the Garden State is very much a haven for bus fans.