NJ Transit Will Test Self-Driving Buses At Fort Monmouth

TINTON FALLS, NJ — Get ready, New Jersey: These self-driving buses will one day come to a bus or train station near you — and unfortunately, there's no making small talk with the driver.

NJ Transit recently applied to purchase three autonomous, self-driving shuttle buses through a $950,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). This winter, the FTA will decide if their grant application is approved.

The autonomous shuttles can hold up to 15 passengers, travel at speeds up to 15 miles per hour and are 100 percent electric-powered, meaning they use only renewable energy. The buses look similar to the monorail at Newark airport, which is also driverless, and other small shuttle buses one might see in Disney World or other theme parks.

This week, NJ Transit showed off the buses to the media at an exposition center in Edison. Should NJ Transit acquire the buses, they will first be taken for practice runs on a 40-acre site on a closed section of Fort Monmouth in Tinton Falls.

If all goes well with that first trial phase, NJ Transit will then allow the buses to drive on public roads and carry passengers within the Fort Monmouth property. Fort Monmouth is a former U.S. Army base that has sat mostly unused for decades; the federal government officially closed it in 2011. There is a public recreation center on the site run by the Monmouth County Parks Department and a girls' private school.

There are many vacant roads on the 1,713-acre Fort Monmouth property, and the site is ideal for the testing of driver-less vehicles.

After the Fort Monmouth test run, NJ Transit has not yet revealed which towns, or where exactly in their system the buses will go. Also, it remains unknown how these buses will collect a fare. Right now, NJ Transit said they will be used on "fixed routes," meaning small, shuttle-type bus routes that don't have stops.

But the statewide transit agency is clearly excited about the new self-driving buses.

“Autonomous vehicles have the potential to add significant value to our service,” said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin Corbett. “The ‘need’ is also there – especially for NJ TRANSIT customers. Despite low gas prices and declining nationwide rail ridership trends, NJ TRANSIT’s rail ridership went up approximately three percent from fiscal year 2018 to 2019. Our customers are clearly looking for ‘first mile, last mile’ options, and that’s what this pilot program is all about."