Station Review #31: Lakewood Bus Terminal (NJT)


Lakewood Bus Terminal is a bus station in Lakewood Township, Ocean County, New Jersey. Lakewood Bus Terminal is a regional center for buses in Ocean and Monmouth counties, signifying the importance of Lakewood itself in terms of regional transportation in the process.

Services


Bus

Multiple buses stop or end at Lakewood Bus Terminal:

NJT:

  • 63: Lakewood Bus Terminal to Weehawken
  • 64: Lakewood Bus Terminal to Weehawken or Journal Square
  • 67: Journal Square Transit Center/Newark Penn Station to Toms River Park and Ride 
  • 130, 132, 136, 139: Port Authority Bus Terminal to Lakewood Bus Terminal. Note: all of these are basically the same route with different stop patterns
  • 137: Express: Port Authority Bus Terminal to Lakewood Bus Terminal 
  • 317: Center City Philadelphia to Asbury Park via Lakewood Bus Terminal
  • 559: Lakewood Bus Terminal to Atlantic City Bus Terminal 

Other: 

  • Ocean Ride Route 4: Point Pleasant Beach to Lakewood Bus Terminal
  • Academy bus Route 9: Lower Manhattan/Downtown to Lakewood Bus Terminal
  • Lakewood L Shuttle Industrial Bus: Northern Lakewood to Cedar Bridge Road business park

Tour


The terminal from far away.

Lakewood Terminal is depressingly plain. There are 3-4 bus berths, much like many other transit centers. Actually, if anything, Lakewood Bus Terminal reminds me of a Greyhound bus station. 

Lonely TV being used as a departure board up front.
There are two rooms. One room has a few chairs, and a help desk (the man at the helpdesk is bilingual, so bonus points there!). This room also has a television with schedules for the buses that pass through, and a door that leads to the main waiting room. 

Main waiting room.

The main waiting room was locked at the time of visiting, and is normally open on weekdays. It's a small room with several benches and a cash only convenience store where you can buy muffins and not much else. 

Parking lot for the park-and-ride.

There is a parking lot behind the bus station for the park-and-ride. This seems surprising until one remembers that the 139 goes here.   

Driveway for the buses.
Besides all of this, there's not much else at Lakewood Bus Terminal. Much of the station property is asphalt.

Points of Interest Near Lakewood Station


There's a lot of stores in downtown Lakewood, many pertaining to the Hasidic Jewish community (and the non-Hasidic Jewish community as well), and to the Latine community. Both of these groups make up much of the residents of Lakewood. There are also multiple parks nearby as well, and a few other Lakewood Shuttle buses, though good luck figuring out where they actually run. 

Statistics

Name: Lakewood Bus Terminal
Agency: New Jersey Transit
Line(s): 63, 64, 67, 130, 132, 136, 139, 317, 559, Industrial Bus, Route 4, Route 9
Locality: Downtown
Municipality: Lakewood Township
County: Ocean
State: New Jersey
Ridership: N/A

Amenity Checklist


Accessible: ✓
Bathrooms for employees: ✓
Bus Departure/Arrival Info (signs that update/screens): ✓
Clean Station: ✓
Easy to get around: ✓
Indoor Shelters: ✓
Maps: ✓
Multiple entrances/exits: ✓
Near places people are: ✓
Paper Timetables: ✓
Schedule Boards: ✓
Seating: ✓
Shelters: ✓
Station In Good Condition: ✓
Something related to fares: ×
Ticket Offices: ✓
TOD: ×
Updated Signage: ✓

Final Verdict: 5.5/10

This terminal is not a very good place to spend a while, but it does the job. 
 

Station Directory

 
--------NEW YORK--------
--------Borough of Manhattan--------  
Port Authority Bus Terminal
--------NEW JERSEY--------
--------Hudson County--------
Journal Square 
Lincoln Harbor
--------Essex County--------  
Newark Penn  
--------Middlesex County-------- 
Old Bridge
Inverness Drive
--------Monmouth County-------- 
Union Hill
Gorton's Corner
Symmes Drive
Freehold Center
Freehold Mall
Howell
Aldrich Road
--------Ocean County--------  
Toms River
    
 

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