The Little Van That Could: A Free Ride Arrives for South Jersey’s Seniors

There is a particular kind of South Jersey loneliness that nobody puts on a billboard. It’s the loneliness of a woman in her seventies in a Gloucester County ranch house who gave up her car two winters ago, whose kids live an hour up the Turnpike, and who now has to choose, on any given Tuesday, between a doctor’s appointment and a trip to the pharmacy because she can only arrange one ride. For a lot of our neighbors, the hardest part of getting older in the suburbs isn’t the stairs or the bills. It’s the simple fact that the whole place was built for people with cars, and one day you aren’t one of them anymore.

Which is why I want to tell you about a minivan.

Five vans, no fare

Five of them, actually. As of last week, Camden and Gloucester counties, NJ Transit, and a local outfit called Senior Citizens United Community Services — SCUCS, if you’ve ever filled out the paperwork — rolled out something called the CG Hopper. It is a free, on-demand, shared-ride service for anyone 60 or older and anyone with a disability who lives in the two counties. You open an app, or you pick up a phone, and a Toyota Sienna shows up and takes you where you need to go. No fare. No fumbling for exact change. No favor to call in.

The fleet is small on purpose — five vans, operated by Via, the same company that runs on-demand transit in big cities — because this is an 18-month pilot. The counties want to see who rides, where they go, and whether the thing earns a permanent place. The service launched October 28, and here is the detail that made me smile: it doesn’t stop at the county line. The Hopper will carry a Runnemede grandmother across into Gloucester County, or a Deptford man over into Camden, and it connects to NJ Transit’s bus stops, the rail and light rail stations, and the Access Link paratransit system. In other words, it’s not just a ride. It’s a door back into the whole region.

How to sign up

Riders already enrolled with SCUCS or the county transportation programs get folded in automatically. Everybody else fills out a one-time eligibility form through SCUCS or Gloucester County’s Division of Transportation Services, and then they book through the CG Hopper app, the web app, or a phone call for the folks — and there are plenty — who would rather talk to a human being.

Why it matters

I’ve covered enough ribbon-cuttings to know the difference between a photo op and a thing that will actually change a Wednesday. This one is the latter. A free, reliable ride is the quiet infrastructure of dignity. It’s the hair appointment you stopped going to. It’s the grandkid’s game you can finally see in person. It’s showing up to the senior center on your own steam instead of waiting by the window for a ride that may or may not come.

A free, reliable ride is the quiet infrastructure of dignity.Max Cedar

Eighteen months from now, the counties will look at the numbers and decide whether the Hopper stays. I’d suggest they also look out the window. Somewhere in Camden or Gloucester County this week, a Sienna is pulling up to a curb, and somebody who hasn’t left the house in a while is reaching for the door handle. That’s the number that counts.

Based on reporting from ROI-NJ, NJBIZ, 93.3 WMMR, Gloucester City News, and the Rutgers Bloustein School.