MAPLEWOOD, NJ - It had every reason to cruise along nicely. In addition to helping eliminate a parking problem in a congested town crowded with commuters, the Wyoming line of the Jitney between Maplewood and Millburn saves people the expenses associated with travel – mainly the price of gas, and car maintenance.

In fact, Jennifer Duckworth, the Chairwoman of the Millburn Environmental Commission, said that using the Jitney instead of parking in the Maplewood lots would save each individual $160 per year in parking fees. Yet, the small bus only averages approximately 2 to 3 riders per day, which is an increase from early June, when the Wyoming route claimed only 1 to 2 riders per day.

The miniscule increase in ridership might correspond to two changes. First, the jitney has begun running two minutes earlier than normal to better match up to the departure times of the Midtown Direct trains. Furthermore, the earlier route times have made it possible to add two new stops. One of those stops is between the tracks and Milburn Avenue, and the other is off of Wyoming, halfway between the Maplewood border and Glenn Avenue.

Charlie Bibbins, who has been a member of the Maplewood Transportation Committee since it began 12 years ago and the Chairman of the group for the last six years, believes that the new transit routine includes locations that "represent the Wyoming area to the people that use our Jitney. There are two chunks of the population there." Despite the improvements that have been in place since January of this year, the Wyoming Jitney is largely unused. "I think that people don’t know about it and haven’t realized the utility," said Duckworth. "Also people have their own routines that they’re acclimated to, so to switch routines is difficult."

To increase awareness about using mass transit to get to the train, Duckworth has some ideas. In addition to using the power of the press, she plans to talk up the transportation system through the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) in the local schools. The parking permits that are sent in the mail will include information about the Jitney as well.

"At first, we didn’t have an electronic link [to Jitney information], but that’s now been satisfied," she said. "Word of mouth is really the best way."

There are other possible improvements to consider, as well, such as putting an annual permit into practice. "We could use a card instead of paying a dollar every time," Duckworth explained. "It might increase ridership, and it’s faster to get on and off."

Bibbins, who has been a Maplewood resident for 50 years, sees another problem with the bus line. "The Wyoming route has excess capacity because there are fewer homes in that section of town," he said. "The area that we recommended for the two stops couldn’t be used. For some logical reasons, Millburn made some changes. A police officer looked at safety, but not the needs of the community...If we can move these Jitney stops, we think this program is viable."

For this reason, both Bibbins and Duckworth mentioned shifting the stop locations. Yet, even with the stops being where they are, the benefits to the jitney systems might be worth the inconvenience. "The major advantage [to using the Jitney] is that it saves as many as 250 parking spaces a day," Bibbins explained. "We have a town that has a lot of commuters. The Midtown Direct was a trigger. About 1,200 people were commuting from the station before the Midtown Direct started. There are now about 3,000. If we didn’t have the jitney, there’d be a major expense issue for the town to build a parking lot or something of the sort in a space we don’t have." "Furthermore," he continued, "it greatly reduces congestion around the station. Since 40% of Maplewood commuters walk to the station, and about 50 people ride bikes, that’s not a place you want to have a lot of cars around."

Duckworth sees different pluses to using the system. "Getting cars off the road is a benefit because there are fewer emissions and that’s less fuel that’s used for the cars," she said. "It gets people outside because they would walk to the jitney instead of getting straight into their cars. Riding it home is timesaving, too."

The benefits to using the bus will matter little if nobody takes advantage of it, and Bibbins is concerned. "People might not be using it because the timing of the trains doesn’t match their schedule," he explained. "We do six runs in the morning and seven in the evenings, mostly for the midtown direct. But people going to Hoboken have a wait longer than they’d like. Unless we can improve the number of people riding it, we’re gonna pull the plug," he said.

Still, the Millburn Environmental Commission Chairwoman still has hope. "The biggest accomplishment of the MEC is that we’ve engaged the community to be more environmentally aware of issues involving the town," she said. "Hopefully, by getting the word out, more people will ride the jitney and make it viable for Maplewood to continue."