Lakeland Bus Lines

I love this bus service to NYC. I take the bus about once a month and it has always been on time. The buses are pretty full, but the pricing is quite reasonable compared to other services. The buses are always clean. People who have offered negative reviews about the scheduling might not take into consideration that the bus travels on one of the most traveled routes in the country. The bus cannot sprout wings and fly over other traffic. Others who complain about germs should not be using public transportation.

germ incubator. Iron/​steel workers that lost their jobs in PA and NJ traveling to NYC, coughing on everyone. trying to intimidate people so they have 2 seats to sleep and stretch out. I’ve never been taken off a bus and put on the next bus scheduled, because they were only 20 people on each bus and the cheap bastards wanted only 1 bus to go to the city. I take the train from the denville station. I pay more in ticket and parking; but you won’t have to get run over by some thug trying to race you for a seat; and get to hear people coughing up phlegm the entire hour, 15.

I just got on the bus and am writing after being completely mortified by the bus driver. Since Lakeland doesn’t have an online complaint system, I’ll just post this publically.
If Lakeland Bus is reading this, the bus number is 8733 on the New York bound bus from Parsippany on Friday ¹¹⁄₂₇ at 10:15pm. He was rude, inconsiderate, literally screamed at me for not having bills smaller than a $ 20, and threatened to not allow me to board. I have never felt more embarrassed.
And I literally said nothing to this person. I would like to file a formal complaint, but I wanted this to be posted for public posterity.

Nightmares! The bus schedule they have on their website is completely wrong. I missed my bus home from Port Authority because of their outdated schedule. The schedule says my 7:00pm bus home is gate 206. It was actually gate 207, door 2. I had to ask three different Lakeland employees before someone knew which was the correct gate. There is no way to find out which gate your bus is. I hear people every night who are not on the right line because Lakeland’s schedule is wrong. Lakeland sucks. I think they stay in business because they are the only bus to/​from NYC from Morris County. Get it together. How hard is it to update your website? You can tell Lakeland doesn’t care about their customers because they do not respond to any of these comments.
Some of their drivers are the most miserable aholes you’ll ever meet. Then when people stop taking Lakeland and that bus driver is out of a job, he’ll think his bad attitude had nothing to do with why people stopped taking the bus. No one ever thought the Post Office would be downsized. People have other options today (train, lyft, über, etc.). Don’t bother calling the Dover Bus Depot to complain about a driver. They don’t care and the drivers are in a union and can’t be fired, which is probably why they act the way they do to customers. Aholes.

Lakeland buses do not adhere to their own written schedules when going TO the Port Authority from New Jersey. No one should have to arrive 8 minutes before a bus is scheduled to depart from your stop and see it leave, 8 minutes ahead of schedule. Buses either pickup ahead of schedule, thereby stranding passengers at their local bus stops for over an hour (sometimes even 1 hour and 15 minutes) to wait for the next bus. On the other hand, buses to NYC are frequently 15 minutes late. So you can’t win. Either you miss it, because your bus left too early or you arrive late to NYC.
On the plus side, buses departing from the Port Authority to NJ do adhere to Lakeland’s schedule and are dependable. The staff working at the Port Authority are helpful, too.
Unfortunately, some of the bus drivers have been incredibly rude and unsafe. Is it really necessary to slam on the breaks, jerking the bus and it’s passengers dangerously, nearly causing a traffic accident on the highway, when someone is on their cell phone for one minute? I understand that cell phone conversations are not allowed, but stomping on the breaks and threatening to throw passengers off the bus is sinking to an even lower level, and is even more unsafe. In addition, one particular bus repeatedly gave off a terrible grinding noise and was driven this way for many months. I mentioned this to a driver… I hope it’s been inspected and is safe, because that was just as loud and annoying (and scarier) than any cell phone conversation.
One can always count on the Lakeland bus to have no cell phone users, even if it costs passengers their safety!
Sadly, one can rarely count on Lakeland bus to stick to their own written timetables when going into NYC, nor can one expect drivers to be courteous.
I had a private event and hired two buses for this, but did not choose Lakeland because of all the above.

Bus was supposed to stop at Budd Lake but because it was raining and we were waiting in the car instead of standing outside getting wet, the bus just blew right past us and never even stopped. That’s BS for a bus line, especially if you already bought a prepaid ticket to be picked up at Budd Lake. Lakeland’s response when we called? «The bus driver doesn’t stop if he doesn’t see anyone waiting. Go to Dover». Unacceptable. Won’t use them again. P. S. — Lakeland Bus Line never told us that that’s their policy on how they pick up passengers. Thumbs down, Lakeland.

It’s a shame you have to give any stars because Lakeland deserves none. For starters, even though most riders are on every day, they refuse to sell monthly passes to save us a few bucks. With no competition, why try harder? The buses are ALWAYS late. ALWAYS. With no competition, why try harder? They don’t leave PABT on time because these pigs want to pack the buses until people are standing. I’m serious — they keep me away from my family so they can pack the buses until uncomfortably full. With no competition, why try harder? The standing riders have nothing to grip onto and bump into you face level with their groin or butt. Of course, some standing riders have perfected leering down female passengers’ blouses. I think some creeps actually wait to get on bus until they know they can stand and hover over targets. Speaking of creepy, you gotta experience the Lakeland PABT crew to believe it. Those pathetic lotharios just stand there hounding woman and flirting rather than alleviate the confusion of finding your gate or if the next bus is a local or express. The thin white mustached Romeo does nothing but flirt and talk with friends and seems annoyed at commuter questions.
Again — with no competition, why try harder?

It’s a toss up whether it runs on time. If you have something important, I recommend more expensive, but more reliable train. Most drivers are good. I had a horrible experience with a driver named Chris who drove the route leaving from gate 405. I told him my stop when I handed him my ticket and he proceeded to skip my stop. He said he announced it on the bus. The drivers do announce stops on the bus, but if you are anywhere past the middle of the bus then it just sounds like garbled mess. He was rude and unprofessional. Lakeland bus needs to review it’s hiring qualities.

Not the best people to deal with but average ticket prices to New York and good if you live in the surrounding area. The busses are usually clean.

Don’t bother taking this bus line if you need to get anywhere on time (I would give this company zero stars if I could).
I used to take the Route 46 Eastbound bus to New York every once in a while, and the Lakeland bus is ALWAYS late. It might be 10 minutes late. Sometimes 20. Sometimes 30. There’s no point in having a bus schedule at all.
Do yourself a favour and go to Willowbrook Mall to catch an NJ Transit bus to NYC. That one is exponentially more dependable.

Bus 8718 April 17^th 2014 3:55pm, who ever the driver is I want you to know that people like you are a cancer to society. Lazy degenerate rolled on the opposite side of the parking lot without stopping. I had been waiting for that bus for 30 minutes. Lazy inconsiderate trash.

I took the service from Port Authority to Lyons, NJ. The good news is that this service exists, the bad news is that Lakeland operates like it’s the only game in town. They know they don’t have to be very good, just good enough to «kind of» compete with the train.
On 12/​23/​2013 I called the dispatcher and asked if there would be an express bus leaving per the schedule. I thought I should call to confirm since it was the holidays. The dispatcher assured me there would be a bus, but it might not be Express if there are not enough people.
I went to PA and waited on the line at the gate where I asked 2 Lakeland employees on the ground if the bus was Express — they said yes. I asked a few other passengers waiting and they said it was definitely the Express. We got on the bus and waited a couple of minutes and then left the PA. The entire bus was totally shocked when the driver pulled into Summit. One passenger asked if the bus was Express and the driver said he switched it to local! Everyone started calling people who were picking them up to say they were going to be late — NO ONE on the bus had any idea that it was «going local» until it pulled into Summit. It was really FRUSTRATING. I could have been picked up in Summit if I had know it was a local bus or I could have just taken the train.
The bus itself was clean and the driver was trying his best, but clearly you need to COMMUNICATE with passengers.
Bottom line: Taking this bus is just a game of chance, I am always stressed out since they change things — like delay a bus if there are not enough passengers, or switch the Express bus to local. However, they are the only game in time so if you have some patience and a flexible schedule (not many NYer do) then this bus should be fine.

Zero stars! The woman who answers the customer service phone should get FIRED IMMEDIATELY. She was the rudest CS representative and hung up on me and was rude to my fiancé as well as every other passenger that tried to call. We all waited 30+ minutes at the rockaway mall stop only to be taken to Dover and wait another 30 minutes. Biggest disappointment ever.

My fiancé and I waited 45 mins in the cold for the 3:53 bus to NY. About 10 other passengers were waiting with us, we all kept calling to find out about when the bus was arriving and if there was a problem. The customer service lady said IT WILL GET THERE WHEN IT GETS THERE and hangs up. THEN when the bus finally does arrive they drop us off in Dover and make us wait another hour for a different bus. As A PAYING CUSTOMER, I EXPECT TO LEAVE ON TIME AND TO GO THE ROUTE I PAID FOR. Not to wait around and be shuttled to other stops which take longer. MY TRIP TAKES 1 hour and 15 mins usually. Today took 4 f-​ing hours!!!

I was early for my usual bus and as I exited my car to aprroach the bus stop I notice the earlier bus was there an loading people. As I cross the street the driver closes the door as the last person boards. I got his attention as I was about to cross 5 feet away from the bus and he ignores me and pulls out. I yell to him and he looks again but continues off like I was not there.
These drivers do this all the time. they are rude and pull out even when they are still on time with people even 2 steps away from the door.
I called the main office to complain and the person who spoke to me YELLED at me the whole time, gave me a tough live with it attitude, said he would check the tape. As I tried to tell my story he spoke over me and dismissed me. When I asked if he could call me once he checked the tape he said no and hung up on me while i was still talking.
I called back and said I wanted to make a complaint with the BBB, NJT and Consumer affairs and he said go ahead alluded to he can hang up on whomever he wanted too.
Not only is this unacceptable way to treat paying customers, it also causes great stress. How many people have heart issues because they were upset beyond belief? I felt my heart pounding because of his «Go F yourself» attitude he had with me.

Pros: clean
Cons: overpriced compared to other bus lines in nj to NYC. Many schedule delays. Arrogant dispatcher.
Need to give them a competitor.

Cannot believe there are so many five stars for this service. Makes me wonder how many of them are real.
The Service itself is OK. The buses are clean and mostly quiet except for the occasional loudmouth. It is reasonably on time (always a few min behind, but w/​traffic here, that’s expected).
What is absolutely atrocious is the website and figuring out which buses go where. Good luck finding out if there are delays too. The schedule is a joke. They way it is formatted makes it difficult to figure out when the Sunday buses are running (as opposed to Saturday). This is doubly difficult to do your smart phone because they format does not translate to looking at it on the phone’s screen.
Is it that difficult to hire a guy w/​decent programming skills for a month? Apparently it is if you are Lakeland!

I am from the city, and my boyfriend unfortunately lives in Warren County, NJ. Since the NJT train only goes to Denville/​Dover, we thought we’d give this bus a try, since it gets me a little closer to his area.
I went to the bus company’s website (which is, according to my browser, riddled with viruses and malware) to pull up the schedule. Problem: the schedule doesn’t tell you where the bus actually stops. You’re just expected to know where «Stanhope Park & Ride» is. Google doesn’t even know where that is. There are no addresses or route maps provided anywhere. We chose to meet at «Behind Shop Rite» in Newton, hoping there was only one Shop Rite in Newton.
I screwed up the oh-​so-​logically-​organized schedules for the bus going to «Behind Shop Rite,» and saw that the next bus out of [the sketchiest part of] PABT was actually going to «Budd Lake.» No address, just the name of the town. One of the nice folks waiting on the bus line told me it stops at 7 – 11 on 46. Thank heavens for that lady. I promptly called Boyfriend with change of plans, and luckily, 7 – 11 on 46 was listed on the Google.
The bus. On the upside, it’s very clean. It apparently had brand new brakes, too, because the driver had no idea how to roll to a stop. It was like riding a giant vomiting cat.
Digression: there are no bathrooms on this bus, so don’t drink anything the day of your trip.
Catching a little attitude for going to the last stop on the driver’s route (like I wanted to spend extra time with him) we herky jerked our way to 7 – 11. Unfortunately, the «bus stop» was just a random sign planted on the side of the road, opposite said 7 – 11, and I was unceremoniously dumped on the wrong side of a 4-​lane highway… that bends, with no traffic light or anything. You know that part in Frogger where the unforeseen truck comes whizzing by and creams you? Frogger wasn’t wearing $ 8 ballet flats and wasn’t grossly over-​packed for the weekend.
To sum up, take the train and make him drive the extra 25 miles to get you.

Old reliable! Clean seats and always on time. If I have to head to the city in weekdays, I normally take the bus. I hate dealing with parking. On weekends, service is slower (which is expected). I only took this bus on the weekend once. I normally drive to the city on weekends since parking is much much easier.
I am extremely happy with the cleanliness of these buses. No funky smell!

Despite having a car, sometimes it’s just easier to take a bus into Manhattan, so that you don’t have to bother with parking, driving on a snowy day, etc. I’ve taken the Lakeland Bus 46 both to/​from Parsippany to Port Authority Bus Terminal and it’s been a very easy and pleasant experience.
Note if you’re going from the Port Authority Bus Terminal you’ll need to buy your ticket before going on the bus, but if you’re getting picked up and going Eastbound, then you can buy your ticket directly from the driver. It cost me $ 8.75 to go from Rte 202 & 46 to Manhattan and about 45 mins. They have bueses that leave almost every half-​hour on Sat and every hour on Sun, making it really convenient to get into the city.