New Jersey Transit is a weird bus network with its main draw for weirdness coming from its fare system. What the hell is an override, and why are buses using zonal fares rather than a flat one like any sensible bus network?! In fact, this bus trip was MORE expensive than a NJT Rail ticket between Hoboken and Newark Broad(!!!). Why? Because it went to the PABT. Anyways, here’s the 126: one of Hoboken’s local routes that crosses into NY via the Lincoln Tunnel.
So, the bus was crowded and, surprisingly, was of the inaccessible variety (high-floor boarding?! In 2025?!). There weren’t any fareboxes either, that I noticed, so all tickets and fares had to be handed to the driver directly. Did the driver even check the ticket? Probably not. Do they have a way of memorizing who’s going where? Also, probably not. At least, I wouldn’t count on it for a busy route like the 126. With that aside, it’s a straight shot from here to the Lincoln Tunnel. About 2.2 miles down the streets of Hoboken and (barely) Weehawken. Plenty of people both got on and off, suggesting it’s used for local travel. As for land use around the route, it’s actually pretty decent with mixed-use buildings! After crawling the streets of Hoboken for a decent bit, we enter Weehawken for a short period, and hop on the highway into the Lincoln Tunnel, pick up speed a little bit (even though we were still subjected to the tail end of Manhattan rush hour traffic), and soon enough we were weaving into the PABT.
The good: It’s very frequent! During daytime hours, it shows up once about every 8-10 minutes. Even on weekends, it manages to maintain frequencies, at worst, of half-hourly. It also serves places people want to go in Hoboken and Midtown!
The bad: Why the hell does it cost $4 and change to ride this through the Lincoln Tunnel? What the hell is an override fare? And lastly, it doesn’t run overnight.
Nearby points of interest: The area it runs through is very walkable inherently. It’s one of the closest routes to the Hoboken Historical Museum, as well as the Stevens Institute of Technology. It can also get you close to Lincoln Harbor. However, I’d suggest asking Avery the Cuban-American for more insight as he knows a lot more about the area than I do.
Overall though, it’s not a bad route, and it’s a powerhouse (& maybe one of the most-used NJT routes?) that serves a lot of people in relatively little mileage. However, WHAT THE HELL IS AN OVERRIDE?! It’d be better if they used low-floor buses with better accessibility though (does NJT not know what a low-floor bus is?)
Rating: 8.5/10
