Monsey Trail is a private

bus company A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ch ...

plying a publicly licensed route based in

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of t ...

. It is operated by the Jewish Lunger family of the Skver Hasidic sect in

New Square New Square ( yi, שיכון סקווירא, Shikun Skvir) is an all-Hasidic village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Hillcrest, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of New Cit ...

. The publicly subsidized carrier uses a fleet of about 60 coach buses, a few of which are publicly owned by

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

and leased to Monsey, running about 75 scheduled daily commuter trips. While the county-owned

Transport of Rockland The Transport of Rockland (TOR) is the bus system for Rockland County, New York, providing service along major routes in Rockland County, as well as connections to Clarkstown Mini-Trans in Clarkstown, Spring Valley Jitney in Spring Valley, the ...

provides local service and connects commuters with rail transit to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Monsey Trails, along with Short Line, provides private bus service between the suburbanized region and the area's principal city, New York City. A subsidiary, Monsey Tours, provides charter service. The company's primary area of service is in the heavily Haredi west-central portion of the county, and much of the company's literature is printed in both English and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

. Routes originate in Monsey, a community with a strong Orthodox Jewish but somewhat diverse population, and

, a

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

village. Many routes also travel to the heavily Haredi Jewish Brooklyn neighborhoods of

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

and Boro Park. Another route connects Monsey and New Square with

Kiryas Joel Kiryas Joel ( yi, קרית יואל, Kiryas Yoyel, ; often locally abbreviated as KJ) is a village coterminous with the Town of Palm Tree in Orange County, New York, United States. The village shares one government with the Town. The vast majori ...

, an exclusive Satmar Hasidic community in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. Monsey Trails made the news in 1994, when a Jewish woman filed a

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...

against the company, after she was told by Haredi Jewish passengers to leave a men’s section. The dispute raised questions about how far a company which receives government financing can go in accommodating religious practices. Monsey Trails received mass transit subsidies from New York State amounting to nearly $650,000 in 1993, roughly a quarter of the company's annual revenue. The suit resulted in an out-of-court settlement, in which Monsey Trails agreed not to actively segregate male and female riders for Jewish prayers, and neither to provide a curtain to separate the male passengers from women, nor advertise daily prayers in its timetables, as they had done before.

Lakewood Express

Monsey Trails also operates service between Lakewood, New Jersey and Brooklyn under the Lakewood Express brand. This service was previously operated by Darkanu Bus Company until it shut down after an accident, and Monsey assumed the route.

The Baltimore Line

Monsey Trails also operates service between Baltimore, Maryland and Brooklyn under the Baltimore Line brand. A bus departs once a week from 14th Ave & 53rd St in Brooklyn, and arrives at 7 Mile Market in Baltimore. A bus also departs once a week from 7 Mile Market in Baltimore and returns to Brooklyn at 14th Ave & 53rd St.thebaltimoreline webpage
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Routes

References

External links

Monsey TrailsLakewood ExpressThe Baltimore Line
{{NYC surface transit Bus transportation in New York (state) Surface transportation in Greater New York