The NJ Transit board has approved a proposed BRT route designed to help ease traffic snarls and commutes along the South Jersey corridor which includes routes 55 and 42 and I-676. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the route from South Jersey to Philadelphia would allow rush-hour buses to travel on highway shoulder lanes and medians.
NJ Transit planners will now ask the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to include the $46 million project in its plan at the commission’s June 28 meeting. The meeting could clear the way for federal funds. If approved and funded, bus service would be in operation by 2020, with some parts of the project phased in earlier. The BRT line would cost from $5 million to $10 million annually. According to projections by NJ Transit, an estimated 6,400 riders would use the rapid-bus route daily by 2035.