814 | NJ Transit (Operator: Suburban Transit)

Serving North Brunswick, New Brunswick, Highland Park and Edison

7 Days a Week

Runs From: M-F: 6am-10pm | Sat: 7am-7pm | Sun: 9am-4pm

“I’m the workhourse of New Brunswick, and the core of my service is Livingston Ave, the busiest stretch for New Brunswick’s bus travelers. I also have more limited service out to Brunswick Shopping Center, Chamberlain, MCC and the Heller Industrial Park, so check the schedule to make sure I won’t stop short of your destination. I run a solid, frequent service on weekdays. But on the weekends, I retract my ends and aggressively thin my schedule. Sorry about that. Unlike 811 (the other through-routed bus), I drop passengers off at the drop-off stop and then loop around to the departure stop before continuing onward. So whether you’re going North or South, meet me at the departure stop on Somerset St and George St. My number is 973-275-5555.”

Timetables:

Full Schedule

🚲 Bikes welcome! | 📡 Live Tracking | 📱 Mobile Tickets

📢BAD INFO ALERT📢 Checked 8/2/2022

There’s an error in the GTFS (digital schedule used by Google and Transit) that shows southbound 814s stopping at the drop-off stop (George and Albany) after leaving the departure stop (Somerset and George). This is physically impossible, since the arrival stop is on the other side of the street. To simplify, the only bus passengers should be waiting for at the drop-off stop is the northbound 811.

This is a designated stop route, meaning that technically, you’re supposed to be at an official stop to board. Most, but not all, official stops are marked with a sign. Use Google Maps or Transit to identify stop locations. Live tracking is provided to third party apps, but is often unreliable. Real time bus locations can be viewed in MyBus, on the official NJ Transit app. One more thing. If boarding a Northbound 811 or 814 at Brunswick Shopping Center, you should know some drivers like to enter from Milltown Rd instead of doing the counter-clockwise loop. Your bus may arrive across from the awning.

Tickets can be purchased by credit card in the NJ Transit App and are held in “My Tickets” until you activate them. Activate just before stepping on the bus, and show the driver. Digital tickets, which are  labeled with different route numbers, can actually be used interchangeably between routes, as long as you are traveling the same number of zones. You can also pay fares in exact change.

Transfers can only be paid for in exact change. When you get on your first bus, ask for a transfer and pay the $0.75. You will receive a transfer ticket stamped to expire in 2 hours. Use this to board the second bus. If you’re only traveling 1 zone on the second bus, then have a seat. You’re good to go. If you’re traveling more, then you’ll have to pay an “override” on all the zones after that first one, and sadly, it can only be paid in cash. (It’s also exact change only, unless it’s a long-distance “full service” route.) You can calculate it using the fare table below. But if you’re short on coins, you can just buy separate tickets, since the transfer only saves you $0.95.

Note: NJ Transit has been piloting open payment, allowing contactless
payment on the readers. However, it is unreliable and sometimes charges
the wrong amount. Click here for more details.

814: North Jersey System
1 Zone Intrastate: $1.80
^Only these can be bought as tickets.^

Purchase transfer if transferring: $0.85

Second Bus (if transferring)
First Zone: Paid for with transfer ticket
Any subsequent zones are paid in override fares. Calculate overrides by subtracting $1.80 from what the whole leg wold have cost if paid for with a ticket. Read more on the NJ Transit Fare Guide.

Use Navigation Apps Carefully.
Stop locations displayed on all apps are mostly accurate. However, detours are rarely programed in, and notifications about service changes often don’t appear in third party apps. Use NJ Transit’s alert page instead. Over the past year, the data quality of NJ Transit’s bus live tracking has deteriorated, and now only works on Transit App.

NJ Transit charges Coach USA/Suburban Transit $150 for skipping a bus and $300 if they fail to report it. Click the link to tell NJT if their contractor left you stranded. Use MyBus to make sure your bus was really skipped, and be very specific.