The Rockabus won’t be running this summer

Winter and fall are traditionally our seasons of death and mourning, but summer is starting off with a couple of burials. First we get word that Roberta’s is axing Tiki Disco, and now comes the news that the Rockabus, the yellow school bus to the Rockaways, will be throwing in the sandy towel, for this summer at least.

The team behind the beach shuttle, which was the first of the big yellow school buses running from Williamsburg to the Rockaways, announced the summer off on their Facebook page late last night. In the Facebook post, they thanked their customers and Rockaway locals for getting behind the idea of buses bringing people to the beach, but said that between tightened regulations as to the types of buses they could use, a desire to retool the service and various other challenges in running a seasonal business, they were going to take a summer off.

Still, they were insistent that this is a hiatus and that they aren’t folding up shop entirely. This leaves the NYC Beach Bus as the only game in town at the moment. At least when it comes to buses to the beach. There’s still the subway. Or your bike. Or even walking, if you’re really that desperate for a beach trip.

The statement in full from the Rockabus team:

Dear Friends,

So let’s get the bummer news out of the way first: the Rockabus will not be running this summer.

When we started Rockabus in June 2012, we weren’t sure how New Yorkers would respond to the idea of school buses shuttling adults to the beach since it hadn’t been done before. Much to our delight, beachgoers and other kindred spirits flocked to our service while the locals in Rockaway warmly embraced our customers and our staff. For this we are infinitely grateful.

It hasn’t been easy, though. Over the course of two summers, we dealt with a major natural disaster, tightened regulations that limited the types of buses we can use, and other challenges that are unique to seasonal businesses. Building Rockabus has been a learning process, to say the least.

And so because of the aforementioned challenges, as well as in the interest of expanding and enhancing our service, we have decided to not run the Rockabus this summer. Make no mistake, the Rockabus will return bigger, better, and dare we say more rockin’. This suspension in service will enable us to best accomplish that goal.

We look forward to seeing you on the bus again soon.

Sincerely,
Ryan & Sam

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