The decision by the owners of A&C Bus Company to close shop and end service next month on four Jersey City bus routes marks the end of several eras.
One is the 96-year history of the bus company, which has been passed down to three generations of the Checchia family. The other is that of the profit-making commuter bus company — A&C was one of few still in operation in the country, let alone New Jersey.
A&C’s decision to end its bus service for the West Side of Jersey City after nearly a century follows similar moves by other New Jersey motorcoach businesses, including 153-year-old DeCamp’s decision to end commuter service in Essex County, Coach’s decision to end Newark service to the Oranges and Elizabeth, and TransDev’s move to end its contract with NJ Transit to serve the seven-route Monmouth County service.
Coach and TransDev are both large, international transportation companies with more profitable charter and interstate aspects to their businesses; DeCamp is a small, six-generation family-owned company, but also has charter service to keep its business alive.
But for A&C, this is the end of the company.
Jack Callahan, whose wife and sister-in-law took over the business in 2005 from their father, said at its peak A&C operated about 30 buses.
The company “employed almost 50 individuals, all people from the community, Jersey City, men and women of every color, and ran a very difficult business, a very challenging business, ran it for all these years and COVID hit and changed the dynamics of everything,” Callahan said, adding that only 60% of riders have returned compared to pre-pandemic numbers
“What had been a longstanding, proud tradition of a family business, a family business that had survived all these years through all different hardships — this was untenable,” he said.
‘Devastating impact’
The question now is what should happen to those bus routes and how — or whether — the residents who rely on them will be served.
William O’Dea, a Hudson County commissioner, urged NJ Transit to come up with an interim and long-term plan, including taking over A&C’s routes.
“I have grave concerns over the proposed termination of those lines and the effect it will have on both senior citizens and low-income communities,” O’Dea said, who added that he took the Montgomery West Side bus to school as a student. “The devastating impact upon those vulnerable populations is something that cannot be tolerated.”
Tanisha Garner, a bus rider who lives in the Ironbound, said she is concerned about people who rely on those Newark buses to get to the mall for work, the VA hospital, or to get to school.