One person was injured Sunday morning when a vehicle struck an NJ Transit bus traveling north on the Garden State Parkway, sending the bus to a tow yard and forcing 56 passengers onto a following coach to finish their trip. The crash happened around 10:25 a.m., and the injured person was not taken to a hospital, officials said.
The bus was running Route 319 to the Port Authority Bus Terminal via Toms River when it was struck, according to News 12 - Hudson Valley. NJ Transit told the outlet that the driver of the other vehicle had lost control in a separate crash just before hitting the bus, though the exact location of the collision along the Parkway has not been specified.
NJ Transit’s timetable shows that Route 319 links the Port Authority Bus Terminal with Toms River and continues south to Atlantic City and points in Cape May County. The agency lists express segments along the route, placing Sunday’s bus within a corridor that carries riders well beyond the Toms River-to-New York stretch described in the initial account. NJ Transit’s Route 319 schedule outlines the stops and service pattern.
After the impact, the bus was towed from the scene and the 56 passengers aboard were shifted to a following NJ Transit bus so their commute could continue, the station reported. It remains unclear whether the other driver faced any citations or enforcement action in connection with the crash.
More detail about the collision may appear in the official crash report. Parkway crashes are handled through New Jersey’s toll-road crash-report system; reports become searchable after they are completed and approved, a process that can take up to 14 business days. The state’s crash-report portal identifies the Garden State Parkway as a covered toll road, while the Turnpike Authority lists a $5 fee for an electronic report.
A Familiar Stretch of Highway for Bus Trouble
This is not the first time this month a bus has run into trouble on the Garden State Parkway. On October 11, a bus crash on the Parkway's north outer roadway at milepost 116.7 in Holmdel left one passenger with minor injuries, who was taken to a local hospital, according to the same source's reporting on that incident. State Police said in that case that the driver of a Motor Coach Industry bus lost directional control and struck the left guardrail while heading north, per the earlier report.
Bus crashes elsewhere in New Jersey have sometimes produced more serious tolls. In Summit, a van struck an NJ Transit No. 70 bus headed to Short Hills Mall near Summit Avenue and Broad Street, leaving four people injured. The bus operator, one of nine passengers aboard, and both occupants of the van were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, that report found, though the cause of that crash was not immediately available.
What Happens Next for Riders
For now, the exact circumstances that led to Sunday's crash on the Garden State Parkway remain under wraps, and the identities and conditions of those involved have not been released. NJ Transit's Route 319 continues to run along its regular corridor connecting Toms River to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, with scheduling details available through the agency's own tracking tools.
