Through our connection and communication with Chris Rotondo of FMCSA, we have learned we will be provided with a supply of masks for GNJMA operator passengers.  As of today, the ship date is unknown, however they will be packaged in a pallet that holds 12,500 masks.  We requested multiple pallets; time will tell what we receive.  However, if you're interested in getting masks once we receive them, please drop us an email.  We will setup 3 convenient locations (and dates) to distribute them to operators (North, South & Central NJ).  It will be nice to see you!

New for 2020, Marketplace will have a Halloween Theme!  We are also offering special pricing this year, plus 10% off for first-timers.  Contact Pattie Cowley for details.  D ownload the registration form and reserve your booth today!  Get more details here .

We recently sent a reminder on this campaign.  KEEP SHARING!  Let's keep this momentum going and make sure our voices get heard!

Here is the updated  Social Media Toolkit (with added "handles") . This step-by-step guide includes:

• A list of member social media profiles, let us know if you want to be added.
• Social media post templates to share on your profiles (easy copy/paste)
• Social media information for members of Congress
• Key URLs and hashtags
• Graphics and an infographic to use in posts

Through the days leading up to the Ides of March, GNJMA President Tim Stout of Stout's Transportation, watched nervously as schools and college sports teams canceled bus trips. Rider College even forced its baseball team, traveling in one of Stout's $550,000 motor coaches on I-95, to turn around en route to Florida spring training to return home.  Read more...

GNJMA Member, Bailey Coach has dedicated one of its specialized electrostatic sprayers to disinfect personal vehicles, with a suggested $10 cash only donation going to support the York County COVID-19 Response Fund. The service will be offered Mondays through Fridays from 8:00am to 2:00pm at Bailey Coach's location in Spring Grove, PA.

GNJMA Member, Greyhound Lines Inc., will require all customers to wear a face covering when on its buses as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19. Beginning May 13, the policy will be added to Greyhound's extensive list of efforts it is taking to protect the communities it serves from the spread of the novel coronavirus. Children under the age of two and those who are medically unable to wear a mask will not be required to do so.  Read more...

School buses in Berks County are on the move again, although they're not transporting any students. GNJMA Member, Klein Transportation Inc. and New Rhoads Transportation Inc., both school bus contractors for the Daniel Boone Area School District, are teaming up to surprise graduating seniors with a parade through the district. With this year's graduation ceremonies not happening as planned because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Blazer Education Foundation said it wanted to do something special by visiting each senior's home and presenting him or her with a graduate sign to be displayed on the property. Read more... 

Not many people are traveling by motorcoach these days, but Jason Briggs, vice president of business development for VIP Tour and Charter Bus Company, in Portland, Maine, organized a 500 mile trip for a literal ton of Maine potatoes to help the D.C. Central Kitchen. Jason arranged for new GNJMA member, Northeast Charter and Tour Company to transport the spuds to the soup kitchen in Washington, DC when they drove down for the Motorcoaches Rolling for Awareness event. "I never knew that potatoes could bring so many smiles to so many faces," said Scott Riccio, President of Northeast Charter and Tour, who was on hand for the delivery.

GNJMA Member and Platinum Sponsor, Prevost, has launched Prevost Clean + Care, an all encompassing program for your business today.  Click here for a complete outline of the program since it will continue to be updated with new offerings.  It includes many initiatives and solutions, such as:

• Warranty Extensions
• Free Online Training
• Storage And Cleaning
• Contact Free
• Back To Business

Jeff Goldwasser,  GNJMA member & Silver Sponsor, has launched a new product ( see image) aimed to help bus operators with sanitizing solutions. His company, Motorcoach Services Group, is partnering with Brown Specialty Parts to sell Victory Electrostatic Sprayers.  The global pandemic has made electrostatic sprayers hard to find. The handheld device shaped like a gun shoots a spray of potent disinfectant that can quickly sanitize enclosed spaces, eliminating many communicable diseases, including corona viruses.    Read more...

Please contact Jeff at coachsales@jeffgoldwasser.com or 551-482-1608.

GNJMA Member, Bergen Upholstery, a leader in interior refurbishment for over 74 years, has developed a protective driver barrier ( image 1, image 2) for MCI, Prevost and VanHool.  Also available are passenger barriers that separate a seat from front and back, using the same clear plastic that hangs down from the luggage rack.  Bergen Upholstery has also been manufacturing face masks for donation to local nursing homes and hospitals and these are available for sale for riders who might not bring their own.  

Please contact Nancy Citti at 201-457-9100 or 800-SEATS50 (800-732-8750).

After serving the bus industry for 35 years, the Atlantic City Transportation Center Bus Parking Lot has been permanently closed for business as of May 26, 2020.  Please take a moment to  read their notice .  We would like to thank Dave Goddard, Roger Hansen and their team for all the support and goodwill we have received over the years.  The GNJMA Meetings & Marketing Committee members are working on a new deal for AC parking.  Stay tuned!

With the latest coronavirus aid legislation headed to the Senate after passing the House, commercial and public transportation providers are considering what they've won and lost so far - and what they want in the next round. The motorcoach industry, which includes charter buses, private transit and passenger buses, has asked for $15 billion to help survive the crisis, including $10 billion in grants and $5 billion in loans. Read more... 

As the news focuses more and more on reported cases around the world and within the United States, your customers may call with questions about their trips and how safe they are continuing their plans. 

You should communicate with customers that your company takes the health and safety of your passengers seriously. That you are reacting to the Coronavirus with the same precautions and policies adopted during the regular flu season, in accordance with CDC recommendations, such as cleaning and sanitizing buses regularly.    Read more...

Click here for CDC Updated Guidelines.

Reopening America requires all of us to move forward together using recommended best practices and maintaining safe daily habits in order to reduce our risk of exposure to COVID-19. As a business you need to establish a plan for your operations and you need to educate your drivers and passengers. Failing to do so will expose your employees and customers, and you could end up liable from Covid-19 exposure.  Read more...

Bus and motorcoach drivers, particularly those running transit and commuter routes, are on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, and they are constantly at risk of infection.

They encounter hundreds of people daily, never knowing which of them might be infected with the virus because they often show no symptoms.  Read more...

Traveling, unless on a cruise ship, is largely a means to an end. Whether for business or for pleasure, it's about where one's going, rather than how they arrive. As such, it shouldn't add unnecessary drama to customer's lives.  The reality however, is that traveling has more than its fair share of dramatics. Some of this is undoubtedly contributed by the customer, while the process also adds its fair share of drama.  Read more...

PPP Loans FAQs
The Small Business Administration (SBA), in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, intends to provide timely additional guidance to address borrower and lender questions concerning the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program, established by section 1102 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act or the Act). Get the FAQs.

SBA & Treasury Release PPP Loan Forgiveness Application
The Small Business Administration released the Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness application accompanied by instructions.
The instructions afford some additional clarity as to certain lingering questions concerning payroll cost calculation during the 8-week forgiveness period. Read more...

SBA Clarifies PPP Loans In 4 Important Ways
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses that took Paycheck Protection loans finally have a path to getting their loans forgiven, but much delayed guidance released by the federal government is nowhere near final. Read more...

Hundreds of cars began lining up outside of Atlantic City's Bader Field for an emergency food distribution, organized by the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and local unions. One by one, unemployed casino workers and city residents received boxes of canned vegetables, peaches, spaghetti and meatballs, bags of onions, and fruit. It was a display of solidarity - the volunteers there to distribute food were themselves out-of-work casino employees.  Read more...

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, the Broadway League has announced a further delay to the reopening of shows on the Great White Way. Initially set to be shut down through April 12 and then through June 7, all Broadway productions will now stay on hold-and will offer refunds and exchanges-through September 6. An official return date has not yet been announced.  Read more...

If you're a certain kind of traveler, you enjoy meeting like-minded people and you're happy to leave the details of planning to someone else. Conveyances such as buses or vessels, an easy way to see a city or the countryside, don't give you pause - or they didn't until recently.  Read more...

Gov. Phil Murphy announced his decision that the election he already postponed until July 7 will be conducted primarily by mail, with most registered Democrats and Republicans automatically getting a ballot and everyone else registered receiving an application for a mail-in ballot.  Read more...

Sue Fulton, Chair and Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (NJMVC) issued Administrative Order 2020-04 on May 18, 2020, which extends the expiration dates of various items, including in-State and out-of-State temporary registrations.

Per the Order, the expiration date of any valid New Jersey Class "D" drivers license, basic driver permit, vehicle registration (including temporary registration) certificate, vehicle inspection sticker and other items due for renewal between March 31, 2020 and July 31, 2020 are extended.  Please refer to Administrative Order 2020-04 for more information.

Please note the following NJCRIB rule changes that have been adopted by the commissioner:

• COVID-19 claims will not be included in Experience Rating calculations.
• Payroll for employees who are being paid while not working will not be included in premium calculations for policies in effect on or after March 21, 2020. This will remain in effect until 45 days after the Stay-At-Home order is lifted.
• 8810 Clerical Class Code can be used for employees who have been temporarily re-assigned to clerical duties and/or a clerical environment for policies in effect on or after March 21, 2020. This will remain in effect until 45 days after the Stay-At-Home order is lifted. Please follow these reporting guidelines:
• Report the payroll directly in Class Code 8810. Payroll records must be documented to show the time period the employee worked in this clerical class code.
• Do not report payroll for those employees who are being paid while not working.  However, please be sure to document these instances in your records.

Read the full bulletin.

Toll Increase Vote Happened on May 27th

This is not the type of header that Jersey drivers hoped to see this spring.  Two different highway toll agencies went to vote on Wednesday, May 27th  whether to approve toll increases to fund close to $25 billion in construction over 10 years.  Read more...

New Toll Hike, $24B Construction Plan APPROVED by Turnpike Board

New Jersey Turnpike Authority commissioners did what drivers expected them to do, voting to increase tolls and approve a $24 billion construction plan, which the hike will fund.  Read more...

SJTA votes to increases A.C. Expressway tolls by 37%

On the same day that the Turnpike Authority voted to increase Parkway and Turpike tolls by double-digit percentages, the South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) decided to increase Atlantic City Expressway tolls by 37%.  Read more...

The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse went live over four months ago and has already proven to be highly effective. Though it's created additional compliance-related workflow for motorcoach fleets, carriers, and drivers, alike, it's positively changing the entire motorcoach industry. When first released, many companies and organizations weren't prepared for the mandate, and some still aren't, but now, many industry experts can see the impact the database is having, creating safer roads and highways for everyone.  Read more...

The National Park Service has officially announced the withdrawal of its plans to implement a standard, nationwide commercial use authorization (CUA) requirement for road-based commercial tours and will not increase commercial tour entrance fees.   Read the alert from ABA.