Election Week Schedule
We will be reducing our schedule Tuesday through Thursday (11/5-11/7). This schedule reduction is due to Election Day and the NJEA Teachers Convention, which means that schools for majority of our riders children are closed for these days.
Reducing buses is the thing I like doing least at Boxcar. Every customer that doesn't have their favorite bus available, even for a few days, is a customer we might lose - and we know that everyone has other options when it comes to commuting.
But as we have noted in the past, these cuts are necessary to keep our service lines sustainable during the days that ridership decreases significantly.
When we decide to cut bus schedules, we look at past performances around certain events. While we don't have a lot of experience with presidential elections to draw from, we do have experience navigating around the anti-Israel protests on-and-off for the last year, which has been quite a challenge and caused unexpected street closures. This is what we also have to consider happening after Election Day next Tuesday.
In 2020, our ridership fell 90% on election day and remained down 50% for weeks. It took 4 months for ridership to return.
While we are reducing buses now, if see on Monday that buses are sold out on Tuesday morning, we'll add more for election day.
If we see that the buses are sold out on Tuesday, we'll add more on Wednesday. If we see that buses are sold out on Wednesday, we'll add more on Thursday.
Evening Unpredictability
We will be all hands on deck next week even with this reduced schedule as we prepare for potential protests or unrest in the city.
As most of you who use Boxcar in the evenings experienced, we have been navigating around the anti-Israel protests on-and-off for the last year, which has been quite a challenge and caused unexpected street closures.
Starting Tuesday, our first pickup in the evenings, for those buses that travel down 5th Ave, will be the Sephora on 47th and 5th, as 5th Ave near Trump Tower will likely be funneled down to 1-2 lanes.
Next Week:
Monday: Normal Schedule
Rest of Week: The following are the buses that will be running for all service lines on these days.
If you currently have reservations for any other bus than the ones listed above for these days, your reservation will be canceled and your Boxcar account will be credited your ticket purchase price to use toward rebooking.
Thank you in advance for your understanding and, as always, feel free to reach out to Customer Support at support@boxcar.com for any assistance.
We are ready to get this election behind us, for a host of reasons. But we are particularly excited to get back to our normal schedule and the business of adding new bus times to our existing routes and providing even more Boxcar options for you to choose from.
