News Update 11/18/2005:  The following email addresses are getting bounced.  If it looks like one of yours, please contact me so I can correct it. nelsone23@aol.com,  debcalalng@yahoo.com, myersjay@hotmail.com,  rfdoven@comcast.net, mkriton@dc37.net

Please Note! To be accurate with our reporting of service interuptions, for morning pickups, please be at your pick up points at least 5 or 10 minutes before the arrival of the shuttle.

The town of West Orange, NJ, has a very convenient service entitled “Midtown Direct Shuttle Bus Service”. 

Click Here for the West Orange Midtown Direct Shuttle Service Schedule

Current List of our Drivers Name's, what Route and times they have

Ridership Community Route Volunteers

The service has several Morning and evening runs with several stops in the Valley, Gregory and St. Clouds sections of town.  For areas outside these sections, a park and ride has been established in the Valley at the corner of Valley Road and Main Street.  Not only is the service a boon for an ever overcrowding Essex County, it is also the environmentally right thing to do.  Add to the mix the fuel problems that we face today and you have a service that should grow to encompass the entire town, and add additional runs.  It is such a popular service that all of the surronding towns also supply the same service.

The service however is outsourced to a 3rd party vendor, the Occupational Center of Orange.  We have had occasional issues with the service in the past, but not until of late has the service become unreliable, to the point of nonexistance.  Riders have called the Hotline that is supplied, but rarely get a response.  When a response has been supplied, the answers are unsatisfactory or meant to deny responsibility for the problem.  Since it is my guess that none of the complaints are logged, I will use this space for such a log.

In addition, since singly, the comments and complaints go unnoticed by the town and/or the Occupational Center, I am suggesting that the ridership form a community. This community will be the voice of the riders and will seek action and accountability from the town and the Occupational center. If a service is provided these 2 bodies must understand that the ridership is depending on the reliability of this service.  As a rider for the last 3 years, I have seen quite a bit of things that can be added to a list of issues that need to be addressed. From vehicle safety to driver retention to accountability,  a list will be assembled. We will also be collecting a list of names of all the rider that would like to join this community.

Over the past week, the morning service has simply not shown up. I am fortunate that I live about a mile and half to the Highland Avenue Train station. I did miss my morning meeting, but I was still able to get to the office. With winter approaching however, this is not a situation I would be looking forward too. In addition, the Highland Avenue station is located in an area of burned out and abandoned factories. It is not a very good place to walk though.

A note will be sent to the mayor outlining our intent to form this community and will seek his guidance on how to resolve these issue. I have also reached out to the NYC Straphangers Campaign, and their President offer their support. For now, I will start the log. You can also post your compliants at this site and I will add them to the log.