NJ Transit’s Transit to Trails web page, www.NJTransit.com/trails, states that it “gives everyone the ability to access over 40 parks in all 21 New Jersey counties via our bus, light rail, rail, or Access Link services.” In fact, very few New Jersey parks can be accessed via public transit, and the transit-accessible ones are primarily located in the most highly developed areas of the state.
A few state parks in relatively remote areas with an extensive network of trails are accessible by transit, such as Abram S. Hewitt State Forest in Passaic County, which is served by the #197 bus. In addition, South Mountain Reservation, which also has a number of trails, is readily accessible from the Millburn station on the Morristown Line, which has service 7 days a week.
Some parks with trails accessible by transit are not shown on the Transit to Trails website, including the Celery Farm in Allendale (~0.5 mile from the Allendale station on the Main/Bergen County Line), Garret Mountain in Paterson (~0.3 mile from the #192, #199 and #702 buses), and Loantaka Brook Reservation in Morris Township (~1.0 mile from Convent Station on the Morristown Line).
However, the vast majority of state parks and forests are not transit-accessible—and some of the best transit-accessible parks are served by the western ends of the Montclair-Boonton Line and the Raritan Valley Line, with only limited service on weekdays, and none on weekends. Most of the transit-accessible parks are the smaller county and municipal parks, some of which (such as the 9-acre Waltman Park in Millville) do not have any trails.
In sum, some parks in New Jersey are transit-accessible transit, but NJ Transit’s webpage shows that the vast majority of parks in New Jersey—including most of the larger state park—can be accessed only by one’s private vehicle.
Lackawanna Coalition Secretary Daniel Chazin, Esq., is the author of Afoot in Morris, a guidebook to hiking in Morris County, and the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 226 in Teaneck, N.J.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to member Ron Weissman for this: North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority is seeking input on how to better connect North Jersey trails. Their survey is at https://bit.ly/nj-trails. For more information, visit https://njtpa.org/trails.
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