FAKE TROLLEYS IN DEPTFORD? Officials in Deptford Twp, Gloucester County, are looking into a possible shuttle system, using fake replica trolley buses. The Gloucester County Times reports that the Deptford Township Council approved funding to study such a system. Township officials note that traffic in the township's shopping district - which includes the Deptford Mall and several other major chain stores - has increased significantly, due in large part to the easy access from NJ 42 and NJ 55. The study is expected to be complete by next year.

NJT service to the Deptford Mall and other shopping centers in the adjacent area could be described as mediocre at best. The only two routes that serve the mall are the 400 between Center City Philadelphia, Camden, and Sicklerville, which only operates hourly, even during peak hours (very poor, even by South Jersey standards, when you consider the high amount of service to Cherry Hill and Moorestown Malls) and the 455 which connects Cherry Hill Mall with Paulsboro via Deptford Mall and Haddonfield, and also operates hourly; on Sundays, the 455 only operates between Paulsboro and Deptford Mall on a limited schedule.

Bear in mind that Cherry Hill Mall is served by the 317 (stops on NJ 38), 404, 405, 413 (on NJ 38), 450, and 455; Moorestown Mall is directly served by the 317, 407, 413, and 457. How TPTB in Newark can ignore the increased number of traffic generators in Deptford Twp is really not surprising, considering that South Jersey has long been the rotten stepchild of the entire NJT system (as evidenced by the North Jersey junkers that are constantly sent south to run their last miles).