Deal ends bitter rivalry between bus companies
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
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Kiryas Joel – Two bus lines competing since 2000 for Hasidic Jewish passengers from Kiryas Joel and Brooklyn have reached an agreement that puts the newer company out of the daily commuter business.
Under a truce that took effect Dec. 13, Netzach Transportation Inc. has ceded all daily runs between Kiryas Joel and New York City to Monroe Bus Corp., an older and much larger business that has operated since 1985.
In return, Monroe Bus will stop charter runs between Brooklyn and the Catskills in the summer, leaving that trade to Netzach's parent company, Excellent Bus Service.
The deal ends a bitter rivalry that had long frustrated Orange County officials, who got caught in the middle because the county distributes crucial state subsidies to bus companies.
Because the state won't fund two bus companies offering the same service, the county helped Monroe Bus and Netzach negotiate schedules in November 2000 that avoided duplication by allowing the upstart company mostly off-peak service.
But both companies have since accused the other of violating the agreement and declared they could not adhere to the established schedules.
The county was still trying to resolve those differences last year when it cut off Netzach's funding because the company had failed to provide required paperwork about its drivers.
The deal last month means higher fares for former Netzach customers and fewer buses for the Hasidim in Kiryas Joel and the Williamsburg and Borough Park sections of Brooklyn, where many people rely on the buses to get to work or visit family and friends.
Monroe Bus has picked up some slack by adding two runs since December, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, said Joseph Freund, who runs the company.
One former Netzach rider who commutes to work in Midtown Manhattan said this week that switching to Monroe Bus has made little difference.
Chaim Rolnitzky, 30, who lives just outside Kiryas Joel in Monroe, now catches the bus each morning at 7:15 instead of 7:10 for his hourlong ride to B&H Photo in New York, where he does Internet marketing.
A one-way ticket on Monroe Bus is $12 – $2 more than what Netzach charged. But the difference is less with the monthly pass he bought, Rolnitzky said.
Tale of two bus companies
Monroe Bus Corp. began in the earliest days of Kiryas Joel, when the 40 or so families in the community had one bus driver – Herman Freund, who had to fix the vehicles outside his house at night to keep service going, residents recall.
Freund formally established Monroe Bus Corp. in 1985 and grew it into a business that had 267,447 riders on its fixed routes in 2002, according to the Orange County Planning Department.
Netzach Transportation, operated by Kiryas Joel resident David Falkowitz, emerged on the scene later and began vying with Monroe Bus Corp. for transit aid in 2000. It had 36,945 passengers on its fixed routes in 2002. Last year, Orange County cut off Netzach's state funding, which was $138,633 in 2003.
