Over the past decade, our community has grown significantly, welcoming many families from across Jersey City and beyond. With this growth, our need for reliable, frequent, and direct access to downtown Jersey City—key locations like the PATH Stations, Newport Mall, schools, daycares, the pedestrian plaza and local businesses—has never been greater. Yet, it’s currently easier to reach Hoboken from the Heights or Bayonne from West Side than our own Jersey City Downtown, a major missed opportunity, and it feels like our community has been forgotten and swept aside in terms of mobility and service.

Bus 86, finally showing up

NJ Transit Bus 86 often runs just once every 1.5 hours—far too infrequent to be a viable option for Jersey City and Union City residents. It also has a Pac-man eating dots circular loop that serves no riders well. This poor service level discourages ridership, creating a cycle of poor usage and inadequate service. To truly serve our community, we need Bus 86 to run every 20 minutes and follow a more direct route from the Heights to Downtown.

NJ Transit Bus 9 runs only once an hour yet is the only direct bus between West Side and Downtown and an important route that also serves kids going to school, people headed to work or shopping errands, residents reaching City Hall and services, or families headed to Lincoln Park and West Side businesses. Frequent bus 9 service would also reduce overcrowding on the busy 80 bus.

Both of these routes are the only direct crosstown routes for the Heights and West Side and deserve frequent service levels. Stronger crosstown transit connections will reduce the car reliance that is causing congestion, traffic safety issues, parking, and environmental concerns in our neighborhoods, boost local businesses, and enhance our quality of life. Let’s come together and push for better service—sign the petition to demand a more connected, public transit-friendly city!

We ask NJ Transit to make the following changes:

• 86 bus service to run every 20 minutes during the daytime and weekend hours

• A direct bus 86 route that doesn’t literally loop in circles—with increased frequent bus 9, light rail, or another bus service taking the circular aspects of the route.

• 9 bus service to run every 20 minutes during the daytime and weekend hours

• Extended 9 bus service past 7pm to at least 9pm

• We also ask that 100% of the near $1 billion dollars in annual funds raised from the Corporate Transit Fee be sent to NJ Transit as promised instead of plundered for the general budget

-JC Heights Parents and SafeStreetsJC

Bus 86’s Pac-Man loop

Bus 86’s unusable weekend schedule

Bus 9’s infrequent service and completely missing evening buses