Bayonne (New Jersey)

Bayonne is a city of 72,000 people (2020) in New Jersey. It is home to Cape Liberty Cruise Port. The city is not a usual tourist destination for daytrippers from New York City, but it does have the authenticity of a suburban town with a relatively low-density, often tree-lined urban feel that harkens back to the times before gentrification. And like some of the lower-density neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Bayonne has many churches.

Understand
Bayonne is a largely working-class city, with a mix of private houses and small apartment buildings, just south of the larger, more built-up Jersey City and right across the Bayonne Bridge from the North Shore of Staten Island.

By car
There are only three ways to get in and out of the city by car: the Bayonne Bridge from Staten Island, Route 440 from Jersey City, and the New Jersey Turnpike (I-78) from Newark/New York City. During rush hour this results in traffic jams when exiting the city via New Jersey Turnpike.

By bus
Bus transportation is provided on three main north-south streets of the city: Broadway, Kennedy Boulevard, and Avenue C, both by the state-operated New Jersey Transit and several private bus lines. The Broadway line runs solely inside Bayonne city limits, while bus lines on Avenue C and Kennedy Boulevard run to various end points in Jersey City. One Kennedy Boulevard service (the Coach USA 99S) runs to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, New York City, and rush hours peak direction the NJ Transit 120 runs between Avenue C in Bayonne and Battery Park in downtown Manhattan.

By train
New Jersey Transit's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system provides service throughout Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City and North Bergen.

Stations in Bayonne are:



Service within Bayonne is available between these four stations. Northbound service from Bayonne runs through Jersey City, mostly near the waterfront, to Hoboken Terminal. Other parts of the system can be accessed via transfers. The Liberty State Park station is the nearest transfer station for those traveling between Bayonne and stations on the West Side Avenue line. PATH trains for Midtown Manhattan and New Jersey Transit commuter train service throughout the state are available at Hoboken Terminal. PATH trains for Newark, Harrison, and Downtown Manhattan are available at Exchange Place.

Get around
Bayonne doesn't have much public transportation other than bus (NJ Transit, A&C Bus) and the train (Light Rail). Most visitors come to Bayonne for either the two shopping centers along Hwy 440 or to walk around the only county-owned park, which is also the largest in the city. NJ Transit offers buses at Kennedy Blvd (10-Journal Square, 119-New York), Ave C (81-Exchange Pl, 120-Lower Manhattan NY) and Broadway which has their own bus that you can transfer to the Journal Square Transportation Center in Jersey City (33). New York's MTA offers the S89 bus to Staten Island from the 34th St Light Rail Station