BLOOMFIELD - A township rider has apparently found, after an abbreviated Aug. 6 ride on a local New Jersey Transit-contracted bus, that a cash fare cannot be recalled once it is paid. The driver, furthermore, should have had her identification placard in place in case the rider needed the information for a possible complaint letter.
Those two items is what Local Talk has learned from while witnessing the dispute on a northbound bus on the No. 709 route. The argument aboard the 7 p.m. run from Bloomfield Town Centre to Paramus brought three township police officers to Broad Street just north of Belleville Avenue.
The 709 Bloomfield-Paramus bus route is one of 17 that NJTransit contracts its operations to Community Coach, of Paramus. Community Coach, which also runs the No. 77 Morristown - Port Authority Bus Terminal interstate route through Essex County, is an arm of Coach USA. The 705 Passaic - Willowbrook Mall, Wayne route, which goes through Bloomfield and Montclair, is also operated by CC for NJTransit.
The rider was among a party of five who boarded the No. 709 on Broad Street just north of the Liberty Street intersection at 7 p.m. The bus driver was directing boarders to put cash fares into an open paper bag she was holding instead of an apparently malfunctioning fare box.
The rider in question put her $1.50 in the bag - and asked why the driver was running 30 minutes late, asserting that the run was to start at 6:40 p.m. The driver said that she had passed the bus stop 20 minutes earlier while finishing her southbound run to the Bloomfield train station.
The driver and rider, before 10 other passengers, got into an argument over the alleged lateness while the 39-passenger RTS bus traveled north. The rider asked for a fare refund and said she would not leave the bus until she received it.
The driver had gone north two blocks when she stopped the bus just north of the Belleville Avenue intersection at 7:03 p.m. She directed the rider off the bus and then respectively called her bus dispatcher and the Bloomfield Police Department. The rider meanwhile called for her husband on her cell phone.
It was during the nine minute wait when Local Talk noticed that the driver's bus placard was not in its overhead front holder. NJTransit issues white-on-blue plastic cards with the driver on duty's identification number. Riders who have questions or complaints are to note the driver id number among other ride and vehicular details.
The rider got off at 7:11 p.m. when she saw a man appear whom she said was her husband. Three BPD officers appeared at the same time in squad cars 5 and S-9. One officer boarded the bus, got a statement from the driver, and allowed the bus to resume its trip.
The rider was last seen talking with two officers on the street. It is not known whether the rider had filed a complaint with BPD and/or NJTransit - or was charged with a disorderly person's offense by officers. A BPD incident report was not available to Local Talk as of 9:30 a.m. Aug. 11.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
