By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
A bus ride in Sea Isle City doesn’t take very long.
The New Jersey Transit bus stops next to City Hall, then makes a right turn onto Park Road, a left onto 42nd Street, a left onto Central Avenue and another left onto John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Then it travels to Cini Avenue and Veterans Way to pick up more passengers before heading out of town.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio urged New Jersey Transit to expand the bus service last year, noting that “other shore locations have complete routes through their entire towns.” The agency considered his request, but for now it will continue with Sea Isle’s bare-bones service.
“They’ve been monitoring it and it seems to be working well,” Desiderio said in an interview Monday.
The route was shortened in 2019 due to a weight limit reduction to 15 tons on the Townsends Inlet Bridge linking Sea Isle and Avalon. So instead of multiple drop-off points giving bus passengers a choice of where they would like to go throughout the community, the service is limited to a few pit stops after the bus enters Sea Isle over the JFK Boulevard bridge.
Desiderio spoke with New Jersey Transit representatives to try to get them to restore full service. He also had a meeting with Sangeeta Doshi, a Cherry Hill councilwoman and board member at New Jersey Transit who owns a vacation home in Sea Isle.
But as long as the antiquated Townsends Inlet Bridge, which was built in 1939, continues to have a 15-ton weight limit there will be no bus service between Sea Isle and Avalon. Desiderio said he doesn’t know whether the weight limit will ever be raised to accommodate buses.
As an alternative, Sea Isle and New Jersey Transit officials looked into the possibility of having the bus travel up 94th Street at the foot of the bridge and then turn around. Desiderio, though, explained that a little turnaround loop on 94th Street at Townsends Inlet Waterfront Park is not big enough to safely accommodate a bus.
Sea Isle officials also tried getting creative to persuade New Jersey Transit to run buses up to 94th. They suggested using a smaller bus that could safely make the tight turnaround, but the agency told them there are no smaller buses available, Desiderio said.
Sea Isle also asked New Jersey Transit to hire a contractor to operate the route, but the agency said it does not lease out its service, the mayor noted.
So for now, it is status quo with Sea Isle’s limited bus service. Although he wants to see an expansion of service in the future, Desiderio said he will settle for the modest route New Jersey Transit operates at this time because the alternative could be a lot worse.
At one point, New Jersey Transit had no bus stops in Sea Isle, Desiderio said. Instead, passengers had to catch the bus at the Garden State Parkway’s Ocean View rest stop a few miles out of town.
Desiderio said local business owners complained to him then because they would have to pick up their employees at the Ocean View bus stop for work and then drive them back after their shifts were done.
The complaints prompted New Jersey Transit to begin running a bus to Sea Isle.
“At least they have the bus come into town now,” Desiderio said.
