Driving a bus is “ministerial” in nature and public transit operations in NJ are not immune from bus driver’s breach of applicable negligence standard.

The trial court initially granted summary judgment, concluding that poor weather was the only contribution factor when a New Jersey Transit bus rear-ended the plaintiff’s vehicle. 

The appellate court disagreed, relying on a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision in Maison v. N.J. Transit Corp., 245 N.J. 270 (2021), which confirmed that, absent a specific immunity, government and private actors are to be treated similarly with respect to ordinary negligence. The Mercado court specifically described acts such as designing a route as discretionary, but confirmed the defendant’s role to operate safely and within the motor vehicle code was ministerial in nature. Since the bus’s skidding as a result of the weather or the driver’s operation is a factual dispute, summary judgment was inappropriate. Thus, the decision granting summary judgment to New Jersey Transit was reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
 

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