New Jersey Transit said it’s restoring service to nearly 60 rides across the state as the pandemic wanes, restrictions are lifted and summer travel picks up.
The service restorations include a dozen trains that will shuttle beachgoers between Bay Head and Long Branch on the Jersey Shore. That feature of the North Jersey Coast Line was suspended last year because of COVID-19 and will be available through Sept. 11.
Weekend service is being returned to the Gladstone Branch through Union and Somerset counties, which will include the addition of 39 trains between Gladstone and Summit. The line has instead relied on bus service since 2018 between those destinations.
Weekday train service cut last year during the pandemic on the Northeast Corridor and Raritan Valley lines will be restored.
Ridership across the state plummeted last year amid mass business closures, stay-at-home orders, work-from-home mandates and widespread unemployment.
All of those restorations go into effect on June 6, according to NJ Transit.
Corbett
Kevin Corbett, who heads the statewide mass transit agency, called the restorations “especially necessary now,” and said that they come “at a time when more and more customers are returning to our system, and frequent and reliable service is more critical than ever.”
Recent reopenings have meant that more people are returning to work at their physical offices rather than telecommuting, and need to rely on mass transit. And, they mean that more tourists are headed to the Jersey Shore, a highly lucrative, multi-billion dollar sector of the state economy.
Restrictions on businesses and public gatherings are being lifted across the board for the state, as the pandemic wanes and more than 4 million people who live, work or study in the state are vaccinated against COVID-19.
The indoor mask mandate and social distancing rules were lifted for fully vaccinated customers at restaurants and other indoor businesses on May 28–the start of the Memorial Day weekend. On June 4, large venues and stadiums will be able to operate at full capacity, and employers would not be required to enforce mask usage at private offices.
