An Epitaph For DeCamp. From 1870 until February 28, 2025, DeCamp Bus Lines operated stagecoaches and later buses buses in charter service and on routes between New Jersey to New York, bringing to a close the operation of then New Jersey's oldest bus company. NJ Transit 107 (Kinki-Sharyo, 1999) was one of 54 Light Rail Vehicles built to replace PCCs on this line as well as supplement service for the extensions and for the newly constructed Hudson Bergen Light Rail. Since this photo at the Silver Lake Station on April 9, 2011, it has been lengthened from three to five sections. DeCamp 8415 (D4000, MCI, 2000) is seen in the background crossing at grade on Franklin Street while operating on the Route 44. The ridership of this route between Belleville, New Jersey and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, New York was certainly challenged by the arrival of light rail on June 22, 2002, when the Newark City Subway (today's Newark Light Rail) was extended to this station in Belleville and Bloomfield along what had been the former Erie Railroad Orange Branch. Service on DeCamp's routes was severely impacted by the pandemic and never returned to previous levels as fewer people were commuting to offices in New York City. The memory of DeCamp will live on at the Friends of The NJ Transportation Heritage Center where DeCamp Bus Lines 1990 MCI 96-A3 497 is part of the collection.
