Transport of New Jersey (TNJ), earlier Public Service Transportation and then Public Service Coordinated Transport, was a

street railway A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and

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 ...

in the U.S. state of

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 ...

from 1917 to 1980, when NJ Transit took over their operations. It was owned by the

Public Service Corporation The Public Service Corporation (PSC) was an energy and transportation company in New Jersey. It was formed to shore up financing and development of New Jersey's streetcar and power companies at a time when they were growing but exhausting capital ...

, now the Public Service Electric and Gas Company.

History

The Public Service Railway operated most of the trolley lines in New Jersey by the early 20th century. Public Service lines stretched from northeast New Jersey to Trenton, and then south to

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

and its suburbs. Major parts of the system were: *The

Newark Public Service Terminal The Public Service Terminal was a three-level streetcar station in Newark, New Jersey, owned and operated by the Public Service Corporation, adjacent to the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad's Park Place station. It served as the terminus for stre ...

, a two-level terminal in downtown

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

. *The Hoboken Inclined Cable Railway, an elevated railway from Hoboken Terminal up the New Jersey Palisades into

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Journal Square. *The Newark-Trenton Fast Line, an

interurban streetcar The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

line mostly on private

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

from Newark to Trenton. Public Service Transportation was formed in 1917 as a bus-operating subsidiary of the Public Service Corporation, supplementing the Public Service Railway's trolley lines. In 1928, the operations of the two companies were merged to form Public Service Coordinated Transport. Over time, Public Service bustituted most routes. The name was changed to Transport of New Jersey in 1971. PSE&G sold TNJ to New Jersey Transit Corporation in 1980. Although PSCT/TNJ had been a major profit center for PSE&G earlier in the century, PSE&G had increasingly felt chagrin at having to retain unprofitable routes, and believed the state could provide better service. PSE&G chairman Robert Smith said that he and his colleagues felt they were "getting rid of a headache." Many of former PSCT/TNJ bus routes are still run by NJ Transit and even use the same number. Following bustitution, the only streetcar route still in operation was the #7 line, in the form of the Newark City Subway. At the turn of the 21st century, the line was upgraded to operate new modern light rail cars, and was extended northward into Bloomfield. The system was renamed the Newark Light Rail. Additionally, a portion of an old spur tunnel to the abandoned Cedar Street Subway, another Public Service trolley conduit, has been rehabilitated and use to connect a second light rail line, which opened for service in 2006.

References

External links

Light Rail Now: January 2004 ''Northern New Jersey Light Rail Spectacular Comeback''

York Times, July 11, 1904 ''Buys Kearny Meadows Tract: Trolley Company May Shorten Newark-Jersey City Route''
* Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NJ-65,
Public Service Railway Company, Newton Avenue Car Shops
{{DEFAULTSORT:Transport New Jersey Defunct public transport operators in the United States Tram, urban railway and trolley companies Defunct New Jersey railroads Bus transportation in New Jersey Interurban railways in New Jersey New Jersey streetcar lines Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Bergen County, New Jersey American companies established in 1917 Transport companies established in 1917 Transport companies disestablished in 1980 1917 establishments in New Jersey 1980 disestablishments in New Jersey

History

See also

References

External links