A guest post by ROUTE founder Nick Giglia
DeCamp bus stopping commuter service in April 2023 created a transit desert in many parts of Essex County, especially on weekends, where prepandemic demand and ridership have rebounded much more quickly than rush hour service due to hybrid work schedules. NJ Transit has provided limited rush-hour service on some of the former bus routes with the 101, 102, and 199D, but the weekend demand remains an issue. The Montclair-Boonton line runs limited train service that departs Bay Street and Hoboken every 2 hours, utilizing a single train set and providing limited utility to those who live further out on the line.
Nick Giglia, a Montclair resident and father of 2, has started a group called ROUTE (Restore Our Transit in Essex), a grassroots initiative seeking to leverage NJ Transit and existing infrastructure to improve weekend transit access within Essex County. The group has 2 main goals:
- Institute hourly weekend train service on the Montclair-Boonton line running to at least MSU, if not points west.
- Implement new, 7-day bus service run by NJ Transit mirroring the former DeCamp 33, 44, 66, and 88 routes.
This initiative would dramatically improve transit options for numerous communities, including Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Verona, Nutley, Caldwell, West Caldwell, West Orange, and points west. The group is seeking to build local support and make greater transit equity and access in Essex County an issue in the 2025 election for New Jersey governor.
ROUTE hosted an introductory event on Wednesday, February 26, at The Clubhouse in Montclair, featuring a small but dedicated group of people passionate about improving transit access. Nick also appeared on the March 6, 2025 edition of The Montclair Pod, a podcast about local Montclair issues, which spoke about transit access. If you would like to learn more about ROUTE, please e-mail Nick at essexroute@gmail.com and join the Facebook group for now. Stay tuned for more events, and let’s make change!
