Buses added to Penn Station-airport route

NJ Transit will add more than 200 trips a week on the busy bus route that carries riders between Newark Penn Station and Newark Liberty International Airport.

The new trips will mean an extra 8,800 seats a week available on the No. 62 Newark-Woodbridge-Perth Amboy route that now carries 10,000 riders on a typical weekday, the transit agency announced yesterday.

The changes will be most dramatic on weekends and late at night, an acknowledgment of the seven-day, 24-hour nature of airport jobs, the agency announced.

Thirty-six trips will be added to the Saturday schedule and 40 to the Sunday schedule. The weekday schedule will include 26 additional trips.

The No. 62 now runs hourly between midnight and 4 a.m. from the train station to the airport. To accommodate airport employees who must be at work by 5 a.m., the transit agency has added buses at 3:30 a.m. seven days a week and 4:05 a.m. six days a week.

The new schedule also includes additional buses between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. for second-shift workers who are heading home.

Passengers who ride the No. 62 between the train station and the airport will see the most significant service improvements from the new schedule, but those who ride the rest of the route, from the airport south to Perth Amboy, will also benefit, Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said. About half of the riders who use the No. 62 now travel to and from the airport.

"More buses would definitely suit me," said Leslie Brailsford, a Continental flight attendant who rides the No. 62 bus between the airport and her home in Rahway. "The last bus to Rahway at night leaves at about 9:30. If I miss that, I either have to stay at the airport or pay $50 for a cab."

The expanded service begins Saturday.

NJ Transit has posted the new schedule on its Web site, www.njtransit.com.

The new buses are the result of comments from riders, an on-going study of bus usage in the Newark area and a commitment by NJ Transit to improve transit access to the job-rich area around the airport, officials said.

"These enhancements are part of the increased service we are delivering for our bus customers this year," said NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles. "The additional service also represents the first phase of our commitment to improve access to jobs at this major employment site and economic engine for the Greater Newark area."

Jonathan Roitman, vice president of Continental Airlines' Newark hub, said the expanded service incorporates changes the company had recommended.

"The No. 62 route provides a much-needed service that accommodates our employees, whose hours tend to fall outside the standard business day and affords them flexibility when inclement weather or delays further extend those hours," Roitman said in a statement released by NJ Transit.

Tom Feeney may be contacted at [email protected] or (973) 392-1790.

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