How To Get to Work from Maplewood and South Orange

For updates on this story, like Maplewood Patch on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. 

New Jersey Transit has suspended the Morris and Essex train lines until further notice.  According to its website, "flooding in Kearny has caused rail washouts making rail traffic impassable." 

This was the report on Wednesday from one harried South Orange commuter:

I took a bus from South Orange this morning at 5:55am which went very well but am nervous about the ride home (sitting on the 20th floor of the Woolworth building currently looking at the snow storm outside.) I tried carpooling to NYC yesterday but the commute home was over 3 hours. My friend took the bus the other day and spent 7 hours commuting. People are carpooling to Newark Airport and then getting on the AirTrain but they have experienced long delays. Some are even carpooling to Metropark and then taking the train.

It's a huge nightmare for us commuters but it feels like no-one is taking about it in the news.

In the meantime, help your neighbors find the best routes to work with suspended trains lines and delayed buses by adding your route in the comments. Add an estimated time so residents can plan.

Trains

but not the Morris and Essex Line. 

PATH trains are operating limited service from Journal Square in Jersey City to 33rd Street in Manhattan from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Busses

With the train lines out of service, NJ Transit provided a list of bus lines that parallel train lines to accommodate those who need to travel to New York City, Hoboken or Newark for example. NJT has also established some emergency buses to transport customers to light rail and ferry services in Hoboken, Weehawken, and HBLR’s Liberty State Park Station as well as providing limited, direct service to several boarding locations in lower Manhattan. For more information go here.

There are no buses that leave from Maplewood. Residents will need to travel to bus stops below and check bus times here.

However, Maplewood township has instituted a jitney to bring residents to the #25 bus which stops at Springfield Avenue and 43rd Street in Irvington just over the Maplewood border. Read more about it here. 

The CoachUSA bus #31 can take commuters to Newark, via South Orange Avenue. Read more about it here.

Also, a South Orange resident established a Facebook Page and Twitter feed where commuters can post up-to-date information about the daily commute.

From South Orange:

MyBus# Bus Number Location Destination 19338/19353 107 SLOAN ST AT 2ND ST or VALLEY ST AT 1ST ST New York 19338/19353 92 SLOAN ST AT 2ND ST or VALLEY ST AT 1ST ST Branch Brook Park Station, Newark 19354 31 VALLEY ST AT 1ST ST Newark

From Summit:

MyBus# Bus Number Location Destination 29673 70 BROAD ST AT MAPLE ST Newark Penn Station 29674 70 BROAD ST AT SUMMIT AVE Newark Penn Station

Livingston Mall also runs a bus, number 73 that runs into Newark. More information here. 

Ferries

Other residents are carpooling into the city, or into Newark Penn Station or to catch a ferry. There are New York Waterway ferries at Paulus Hook in Jersey City and ferries to World Financial Center or 39th Street and also from Weehauken.

 

Patch will update this story frequently.