NJ Transit provides bus service throughout New Jersey, commuter rail service in northern and central New Jersey and along the Route 30 corridor, and light rail service in Hudson and Essex counties and in the Delaware Valley.
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Locale | New Jersey (statewide), New York, Rockland and Orange counties in New York State, and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania. |
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Chief executive | Dennis J. Martin |
Headquarters | 1 Penn Plaza East, Newark, NJ 07105 |
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Began operation | July 17, 1979 |
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New Jersey Transit Corporation, marketed as NJ Transit (NJT), is a state-owned public transportation system serving the US state of New Jersey; along with portions of New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State; and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania. It operates bus, light rail, and commuter rail services throughout the state, notably connecting to major commercial and employment centers both within the state and in the adjacent major cities of New York and Philadelphia.
Covering a service area of 5,325 square miles (13,790 km2), NJT is the largest statewide public transit system and the third largest provider of bus, rail, and light rail transit by ridership in the United States, linking major points in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
NJT also acts as a purchasing agency for many private operators in New Jersey, with numerous private operators receiving equipment from NJT (primarily buses) for route service within the state not controlled by NJT.
NJT was founded on July 17, 1979, an offspring of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), mandated by the state government to address many then-pressing transportation issues. It came into being with the passage of the Public Transportation Act of 1979 to "acquire, operate, and contract for transportation service in the public interest." NJT originally acquired and managed a number of private bus services, one of the largest being those operated by the state's largest electric company, Public Service Enterprise Group. It gradually acquired most of the state's bus services. In northern New Jersey, many of the bus routes are arranged in a web. In southern New Jersey, most routes are arranged in a "spoke-and-hub" fashion, with routes emanating from Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic City. In addition to routes run by NJT, it subsidizes and provides buses for most of the state's private operators providing fixed route or commuter service, such as Coach USA, DeCamp, Lakeland, and Academy.