(The following story by Richard Pearsall appeared on the Courier-Post website on September 7.)
CHERRY HILL, N.J. — When NJ Transit decided to cut service on one of its main bus routes to Atlantic City, it apparently didn’t consult the people who work in the casinos.
Among the runs eliminated was the 10:30 a.m. out of the Avandale Park ‘n’ Ride here — one of the most popular of the day. The day shift for most dealers and other casino floor workers begins at noon.
“We’re all scrambling to find other ways to get to work,” said Mary Ann Gurka of Berlin Borough, a table games supervisor at Caesars Atlantic City.
The 551 runs between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, with one stop in Camden and another in Avandale, off the Atlantic City Expressway, at roughly the midpoint of the journey.
NJ Transit says cutting the service from every half-hour to every hour during midday was based on ridership.
Riders, drivers and union leaders say that’s nonsense.
Joe Sullivan, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 880, which represents the drivers, described the 551 as “one of our best lines” and contended it was cut for reasons of camouflage, not ridership.
“By going to one of the better lines, they figure they can hide the cuts,” Sullivan said. “If they picked on one of the lines they’ve already butchered, they might as well kill them and they don’t want to do that.”
Sullivan said the reason for the cuts is to save money, regardless of any inconvenience to riders, and said the reductions on the 551 resulted in the loss of three, eight-hour driver shifts.
Larry Geltzer, a 551 rider and longtime critic of NJ Transit, accused the public transportation agency of “sinking to new lows.”
“They blame low ridership for all the aggravation,” said Geltzer, who lives in Cherry Hill and works in Egg Harbor Township. “But anyone standing on these buses knows there is not low ridership.”
Joe Dee, a spokesman for NJ Transit, said the 10:30 a.m. run on the 551 was cut, along with four other shore-bound runs and five runs the other way, as part of a “seasonal adjustment.”
The reductions were made based on “ridership patterns,” he said.
“The average number of passengers between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. is in the low to mid 20s,” Dee said of ridership on the 551.
That is “roughly half the bus capacity,” Dee said.
But Gurka and other regulars on the 551 say the bus is routinely full and Dee was unable to provide numbers for specific runs between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., only an average for a five-hour period.
“We’re the ones with monthly passes,” Gurka said. “We ought to know.”
The Atlantic City rail line, she noted, runs less frequently than even a reduced 551.