HUDSON COUNTY – The Jersey City Council informed concerned residents Wednesday night that Montgomery Bus Lines will take over the No. 4 bus route beginning Dec. 1. Red and Tan Lines, which currently operates the No. 4 bus line from Newport Centre Mall to Merritt Street, had announced plans to discontinue this route, effective Nov. 6.
“The only thing that still needs to be resolved now is what to do with that gap between Nov. 4 and Dec. 1,” At-large City Councilwoman Kalimah Ahmad told concerned residents at Wednesday’s Jersey City Council meeting. Ahmad added that members of Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy’s administration and a few members of the council are meeting with the bus companies to see if some type of bus service can continue between No. 6 and Dec. 1.
Red and Tan Lines recently announced that it would discontinue the No. 4 and No. 99S routes next month, a move that had many Jersey City and Bayonne residents scrambling to find other ways to get to work and school. The 99S bus runs from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, through Jersey City to West Third Street in Bayonne.
“There’s been no movement on the 99 but route,” Ahmad told residents Wednesday night.
Commuters and public officials were blindsided by the bus company’s move, which came just one month before service on these two routes was scheduled to terminate.
Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith has reached out to Red and Tan Lines and NJ Transit to see if there is any way to save the 99S route after Nov. 6. – E. Assata Wright