On March 21st, Northern New Jersey had a snowstorm. 12-18 inches were forecast, and the total accummulation was on the lower end of that, but still substantial. It was wet heavy snow that brought down a lot of branches!

During the storm, this website received quite a number of inquiries about whether their bus was running. Of course, as an independent observer, I have no way of knowing that. My only source of information was looking out the window and seeing if a Bergenline jitney was passing by.

Since jitney drivers are independent contractors or owner-operators, there is usually no central dispatch office that tells everyone when to shut down service. A driver can decide to go home early, or they can decide to stick it out and keep working during the snow.

NJ Transit and other private bus operators in New jersey canceled service that day between 1pm and 4pm. All local NJ Transit bus service shut down at 3pm.

The roads were slushy but navigable. I saw that bergenline jitneys kept coming, less frequently than usual, but they were coming.

Lots of people wrote me emails to ask the status of their bus. I told them I did not have reliable information, but that if they caught their bus, to let me know. That way, I could tell others with the same inquiry. This was a crude way to assess the status of jitney operations during the snow, but it was very useful!

It seems that jitney service continued to be robust several hours after other modes of transportation shut down. One person wrote to me saying he got on a Kennedy Boulevard bus at around 5:00 pm. Another told me they boarded a Boulevard East bus at 6pm. The Paterson lines were also still running in the evening rush hour.

Why is this? Either jitney bus drivers are ok with working in more hazardous conditions, OR, the service is just more reliable. Another big factor for drivers is that once NJ Transit shuts down, there are more passengers the jitney drivers can transport. With the competition out of the way, the drivers can earn more money.

Thank you to all the commuters who updated me about their commutes that day!