Rutgers Campus Buses are a
zero-fare
Free public transport, often called fare-free public transit or zero-fare public transport, refers to public transport funded in full by means other than by collecting fares from passengers. It may be funded by national, regional or local gover ...
bus
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 cha ...
service used by students at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
campuses. It is the second-largest bus service in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
after
NJ Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
, and one of the largest university bus systems in the United States. Service is provided by
First Transit
First Transit is an American transportation company.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, First Transit operates over 300 locations, carrying more than 350 million passengers annually throughout the United States in 39 states, Puerto Rico, Panam ...
year-round, including weekends and holidays. Late night shuttle service for students is provided by Rutgers Department of Transportation Services (known as the "Knight Mover") when the New Brunswick campus transit system is not in service.
Football and other event shuttles are operated by
Academy Bus Lines
Academy Bus Lines is a bus company in New Jersey providing local bus services in northern New Jersey, line-run services to/from New York City from points in southern and central New Jersey, and contract and charter service in the eastern United ...
.
History
From 2001 to 2011, Rutgers bus service was provided by
Academy Bus Lines
Academy Bus Lines is a bus company in New Jersey providing local bus services in northern New Jersey, line-run services to/from New York City from points in southern and central New Jersey, and contract and charter service in the eastern United ...
. Prior to that,
Suburban Transit
Suburban Transit is a bus operator in central New Jersey owned by Coach USA which provides commuter bus service from Mercer, Somerset, and Middlesex County to New York City and local bus service along the New Jersey Route 27
Route 27 is a state ...
was the operator.
Rutgers began to install new
bus shelter
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 cha ...
s in the summer of 2010. The new shelters incorporate red roofs to cast a red tone on the sidewalk, showcasing university colors.
Director Jack Molenaar announced that the L route would be discontinued due to budget cuts, effective 28 August 2010. Molenaar called the bus a "relic" and said it was "slowest and most underutilized" of the bus routes. There was significant opposition to the move, especially from graduate students and
Highland Park residents who had already made housing arrangements expecting the bus to be there. After 600 people signed an online petition calling for its reinstitution, a temporary LXc route was created for the 2010-11 school year, stopping at Cedar Lane every 30 minutes. A second bus was later added to shorten wait times to 15 minutes. In addition, the three weekend buses (A, EE, L) were reorganized into two all campus loop buses (Weekend 1 and Weekend 2).
After the contract with previous operator Academy Bus expired on June 30, 2011,
First Transit
First Transit is an American transportation company.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, First Transit operates over 300 locations, carrying more than 350 million passengers annually throughout the United States in 39 states, Puerto Rico, Panam ...
took over New Brunswick campus shuttle service. The main reason cited for the switch is cost. First Transit will refurbish existing buses and supply new ones for a total of 50 buses featured automatic stop announcements, whereas now drivers may or may not announce stops.
Academy has filed a lawsuit against the University over the loss of the contract. Despite the loss of shuttle operations, the company continues to provide the chartered bus operations used for tours and football games.
First Transit expanded their bus service to the Newark Campus beginning September 1, 2014; to Camden Campus since September 1, 2019. The new Rutgers-logo fleet of buses utilize the
NextBus
NextBus is a public transit vehicle tracking system which uses global positioning satellite information to predict when the next vehicle will arrive at any given transit stop, which attempts to reduce wait times and reliance on schedules.
NextBus ...
system and real-time status is available via the official Rutgers app. Rutgers replaced the NextBus system with TransLoc after 7/1/2018.
Alternative plans
Several times over the past decade, it has been suggested that the bus system be partially or fully replaced with
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
(BRT),
monorail
A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam.
Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...
, or
light rail. Closing College Avenue to non-bus motor vehicle traffic was also proposed, but indefinitely canceled in February 2010, due to excessive costs. Current plans are for incorporating the Rutgers bus system into the proposed
New Brunswick Bus Rapid Transit
Bus rapid transit in New Jersey comprises limited-stop bus service, exclusive bus lanes (XBL) and bus bypass shoulders (BBS). Under the banner ''Next Generation Bus'' New Jersey Transit (NJT), the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), ...
, which would be centered on the
New Brunswick Station
New Brunswick station is a railroad station in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It serves Amtrak and NJ Transit trains on the Northeast Corridor. The station is located at the intersection of Easton Avenue and French and Albany Streets, near the Col ...
near the intersection of Route 18 and Route 27.
Routes
New Brunswick Campus
![Rutgers NB Bus Map - Fall 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Rutgers_NB_Bus_Map_-_Fall_2022.png)
There are currently 10 routes on weekdays, 2 routes on weekends, and 1 route on holidays for New Brunswick campus.
Weekday routes
As of Fall 2022.
![Rutgers University Knight Mover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Rutgers_University_Knight_Mover.jpg)
The Knight Mover operates when weekday buses stop running.
Weekends and breaks
In Spring 2021, a variation of the weekend routes were introduced. They are essentially an express version of the regular weekend routes, stopping only at the stops served by the color routes on each campus. In Fall 2021, a revised version of previous Letter Routes with redundant stops eliminated was introduced. Weekend Routes were also based on revised Letter Routes.
Special event shuttles
Buses for the following routes are not trackable.
Former routes
=Color Routes
=
In Fall 2020, 6 Color Routes were introduced to help with social distancing on Rutgers buses due to COVID-19. They were based on regular intercampus routes, but featured less stops to reduce students traveling time on bus. These routes were implemented on August 26, 2020. However, due to low ridership, these routes were discontinued after October 2, 2020 and weekend routes were used until the end of Spring 2021 semester.
In early 2021, Color Routes were planned to continue in Fall 2021. However, this plan was scrapped in summer 2021, and Letter Routes were brought back for Fall 2021 with slight modifications.
=Shuttles
=
=Routes Operated Under Previous Contractors
=
The majority of the below routes ran throughout the late 20th Century as alternative variants or service patterns of the current routes.
Newark Campus
![Rutgers Newark Bus System Map - Fall 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Rutgers_Newark_Bus_System_Map_-_Fall_2022.png)
There are currently 4 routes on weekdays and 1 night service running seven nights a week for Newark campus.
Weekday routes (As of Spring 2022)
The Newark Penn Station Midnight Express Security Shuttle operates between 12:00AM and 4:00AM every day, providing transportation between Newark Penn Station and the Rutgers Newark Campus via Boyden Hall.
Former routes
Camden Campus
![Rutgers Camden Shuttle Route](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Rutgers_Camden_Shuttle_Route.png)
Bus routes for Camden campus only operate on weekdays.
Fleet
Current Fleet
[https://rutgers.transloc.com/]
On Order
As of October 2021, a multi-year order of diesel
ENC Axess BRT 40' buses has been placed to replace the current ElDorado and New Flyer buses. These buses will feature same paint scheme as 202-203 and 205, with all aisle-facing seating (35 seats total), 8 sets of dual USB power ports on seatings & rear deck. All buses in this order are owned by Rutgers University and operated by First Transit.
Upon the purchase of First Transit by Transdev, 10 New Flyer hybrid buses are expected to join Rutgers University fleet in mid-January 2023. All buses are owned and operated by Transdev.
Gallery
File:Rutgers University 1002 - Route A.jpg, Route A - 1002
File:Rutgers University 1495 - Route B-He.jpg, Route B/He - 1495
File:Rutgers University 1496- B.jpg, Route B - 1496
File:Rutgers University - Route C - 4186.jpg, Route C - 4186
File:Rutgers University 1493- EE.jpg, Route EE - 1493
File:Rutgers University 1011.jpg, Route F - 1011
File:Rutgers University 201.jpg, Route H - 201
File:Rutgers University 4190 - LX.jpg, Route LX - 4190
File:Rutgers University 4194 - REXB.jpg, Route REXB - 4194
File:Rutgers University 4053 - REXL.jpg, Route REXL - 4053
File:Rutgers University 4181 - All Campuses.jpg, All Campuses - 4181
File:Rutgers University 4132 - Penn Station Express.jpg, Penn Station Express - 4132
File:Rutgers University 1510 - Summer 2.jpg, Summer 2 - 1510
File:Rutgers University 1504 - Winter Break.jpg, Winter Break 1 - 1504
File:Rutgers Eldorado Axess BRT - 39 seats - Red.jpg, 2015 ElDorado Axess BRT - 39 seats
File:Rutgers Eldorado Axess BRT - 39 seats - Blue.jpg, 2014 ElDorado Axess BRT - 39 seats
File:Rutgers Eldorado Axess suburban seating - 37 seats.jpg, 2010 ElDorado Axess - 37 seats
File:Rutgers University Eldorado Axess - 35 seats.jpg, 2010 ElDorado Axess - 35 seats
File:Rutgers New Flyer D40LF - 35 seats.jpg, 2007 New Flyer D40LF - 35 seats
File:Rutgers Eldorado EZ Rider II BRT - 30 seats.jpg, 2015 ElDorado E-Z Rider II BRT - 30 seats
References
External links
Rutgers Department of Transportation ServicesNew Brunswick Campus BusesNewark Campus BusesCamden Shuttle*
- historical information about Rutgers Bus routes. Vo, Steven (2014).
{{NYC surface transit
Surface transportation in Greater New York
Rutgers University
University and college bus systems
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Piscataway, New Jersey
Bus transportation in New Jersey
Transportation in Newark, New Jersey
Transportation in Essex County, New Jersey
Transportation in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Zero-fare transport services