Light rail bus links for commuters NJ Transit officials are planning to make it easier Staten Island commuters traveling through Bayonne to get into Manhattan or to Jersey City's financial center on the waterfront.
There are sketchy plans for NJ Transit buses to bring commuters from Staten Island and put them onto the Bergen Hudson Light Rail Transit System. Bayonne officials complain that Staten Island commuters are now taking parking spots along Bayonne streets.
Eventually, the light rail line might even stretch across the Kill Van Kull, over the Bayonne bridge and into Staten Island. The 70-year-old bridge is strong enough to carry a rail line, according to NJ Transit Executive Director Jeffrey Warsh.
But that's many years and possibities away as far as Joseph Ryan, spokesman for Bayonne Mayor Joseph V. Doria, is concerned. For now, the goal is to get Staten Island commuters to park their cars in one of two NJ Transit Park and Ride lots and have them hop on the light rail to get to and from work.
"The hope is that the park and ride lots constructed by New Jersey Transit, both the lot already constructed on the 45th Street station and the one under construction on 34th Street, will relieve some of the congestion," Ryan said.
Once the light rail begins to run at the end of next month, the trains will run as far south in Bayonne as 34th Street.
"We expect we're going to have a fairly large number of people using the light rail from Staten Island, so we'd like to establish a convenient link to get them to the system," said NJ Transit spokesman Ken Miller, referring to the proposed bus service across the Bayonne Bridge. "But there are still some issues that need to be worked out."