In 1980, the publicly owned New Jersey Transit (NJT) acquired the privately owned Transport of New Jersey (TNJ). And in 1982, NJT adopted a route numbering system to replace an old numbering system which had been adopted in 1925. Under the old system, streetcar routes had odd numbers and bus routes had even numbers. And numbers were duplicated among the several TNJ operating divisions. The new system would eliminate duplicated numbers. The streetcars were eventually replaced with buses, with "All Service Vehicles" (combination trolleybuses and motorbuses) operating briefly on some routes. Some routes were eventually discontinued, with route numbers in parentheses. This page lists New Jersey Transit routes which can trace their histories back to the privately owned transit companies. Not listed are routes newly formed by New Jersey Transit.
Public Transportation in Passaic County had its origins in the form of a local streetcar system in Paterson. Some replacement bus routes evolved into portions of the present bus system. While several other streetcar routes did not survive, and are listed first.
In Bergen County, three local streetcar routes existed, operating from a terminal in Edgewater. Only the "Fort Lee" streetcar route was not replaced with a bus route. In addition, both Passaic County and Bergen County had some streetcar routes operating from Essex County and Hudson County to the south, and are listed on the page for those counties.
In both Passaic County and Bergen County, the bus networks evolved to where they bear little resemblance to the system formed by the private operators. Except for the original streetcar routes, only present day routes are listed. Beginning in 1971, subsidized bus routes began operating in Bergen County, with route numbers beginning with "B".
PASSAIC COUNTY LOCAL ROUTES
Route Route Bus Former Company Buses Streetcars
Number Name Type & Route Numbers Introduced Discontinued
Beech & Clay PSCT 2 acq. 1924 1925
Main PSCT 6 acq. 1925 1927
Riverside PSCT 10 acq. 1925 1926
Totowa PSCT 12 acq. 1925 1927
Broadway PSCT 20 acq. 1924 1926
Park Ave. PSCT 20 acq. 1924 1926
702 East Paterson T GPB 18 new 1919
702 Belmont T GPT 6 new 1917
702 Passaic T Consol. 1 new 1922
702 Athenia T PA new 1916
702 Richfield T PA new 1926
703 Haledon T PSCT-ABC 14 acq. 1924 1927
703 East Rutherford T TNJ 3 acq. 1924
704 Signac T TNJ 4 acq. 1925 1927
704 Governor T TNJ 50 acq. 1924 1927
704 Bunker Hill T BHTC-ABC 64 1924
705 Athenia T PA new 1916
705 Allwood T PA new 1953
707 Clifton T TNJ 112 new 1929
707 MacArthur (Grenelle) T GPT 7 new 1924
709 Bloomfield T Allwood 2 new 1917
709 Passaic-Lodi T TNJ 44 acq. 1923 1927
712 Hackensack-Willowbr. T TNJ 120 new 1928
722 Paterson-Paramus Park T STC-ABC 92 1923
722 Hawthorne T PSCT-ABC 22 acq. 1925 1926
742 Paterson-Greystone P. T TNJ 82 new 1936 disc.
744 Passaic-Wayne T PSCT-GP 98 acq. 1928
744 Paterson-Passaic T TNJ 54 acq. 1924
744 Paterson-Wayne T ABC 21 1974
746 Ridgewood-Pompton L. T TNJ 86 acq. 1928
746 Maple Avenue T TNJ 170 new 1926 1929
BERGEN COUNTY LOCAL ROUTES
Route Route Bus Former Company Buses Streetcars
Number Name Type & Route Numbers Introduced Discontinued
751 Fairview-Edgewater T TNJ 1/B 1 new 1938 1938
752 Oakland-Hackensack T TNJ B 2 new 1971
753 New Milford-Paramus T TNJ 72/B 3 acq. 1939
Ft. Lee PSCT 3 1927
755 Ft. Lee-Edgewater T TNJ 1 new 1938 1938
756 Ft. Lee-Paramus T TNJ B 6 new 1974
758 Passaic-Paramus Park T GP B 8 new 1972
762 Hackensack-Paramus T TNJ B12 new 1976
770 Paterson-Hackensack T TNJ 102 new 1928 1928
772 New Milford-Secaucus T TNJ 72/B72 acq. 1939
780 Englewood-Passaic T TNJ 80 new 1933
A portion of NJT route 746, former TNJ and PSCT route 170, basically replaced the North Jersey Rapid Transit Co., an independent interurban railway which operated from Paterson to Suffern NY, between 1910 and 1929.A portion of NJT route 703 was formerly PSCT route 14, sold to Associated Bus Co. in 1960. And a portion of NJT route 722 was formerly PSCT route 22, sold to Associated Bus Co. in 1965. In 1980, Associated Bus Co. was absorbed by Transport of New Jersey.
A portion of NJT route 744 was formerly PSCT route 98, sold to Garfield & Passaic Bus Co. in 1952, later to be absorbed into the New Jersey Transit system.
Independent Bus Companies
Prior to the formation of New Jersey Transit, most bus routes were part of Public Service Coordinated Transport (PSCT) or Transport of New Jersey (TNJ). While some bus routes were newly created by New Jersey Transit (NJT). The following abbreviations are used for bus companies which remained independent from PSCT and TNJ, and were later acquired by NJT.
ABC - Associated Bus Co. (TNJ after 1980)
BHTC - Bunker Hill Transportation Co. (ABC after 1957)
STC - Safety Transit Co. (ABC after 1959)
Allwood - Allwood Bus Co. (Consolidated Bus Lines after 1924)
Consol. - Consolidated Bus Lines (Community Bus Lines after 1959)
GPB - Garfield & Passaic Bus Co. (GPT after 1973)
GPT - Garfield & Passaic Transit Co.
PA - Passaic-Athenia Bus Co. (Red Star Transp. prior to 1922)