Some marchers have been paying nearly $200 each to secure a spot on a charter bus from New Jersey to Washington.
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NEWARK -- New Jersey will be sending nearly 300 buses to the Women's March on Washington Saturday, but don't expect to score a cheap last-minute ticket.
Nearly all of the buses are completely sold out, and many have waiting lists, according to local organizers. Some marchers report paying nearly $200 each for round-trip tickets on the charter buses as prices have soared due to high demand in New Jersey.
"We've been really overwhelmed and moved by the outpouring of interest we've had here," said Felicity Crew, co-coordinator of the march's New Jersey chapter. "There are simply not enough buses."
Crew estimates there are between 275 and 300 New Jersey buses carrying at least 13,500 people who have registered with organizers. Other buses not registered with organizers also might be headed to Washington from N.J., she said.
"What I'd love to do is add more buses, but at this point, we can't," Crew said.
Rally, an online travel company, added new charter bus routes to the march from Morristown, Princeton and East Brunswick this week. Round-trip seats were selling for $150 to $170 on Tuesday, according to the company's website.
More than 150,000 people from around the country are expected to attend the Women's March on Washington, which is scheduled for the day after President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. The event, which is attracting a long list of celebrities, began as a grassroots movement to send a message to Trump on his first day in office about women's rights and other causes.
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New Jersey groups said efforts to add more buses have been stymied by high prices from charter companies, which say they need to bring in buses from out of state to meet the demand.
When the activist group New Jersey Citizen Action began booking buses immediately after election day, companies were charging about $2,500 for the trip to Washington and back, said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, the organization's executive director.
More recently, charter companies have quoted prices of about $8,000 per bus, Salowe-Kaye said.
"It's clearly gouging," she said.
The Newark-based group is sending 14 buses to the march.
Some of the buses headed to the march from New Jersey are charter buses organized by local groups, including BlueWave NJ and Rutgers University's faculty union. Others are buses provided by Rally, Skedaddle and other online services that provide on-demand transportation through their websites to big events, including concerts and marches.
The online bus-booking services have a business model that includes offering low-price tickets to the first people to reserve seats, then raising the price as the buses or routes get more crowded.
So, some marchers say they were able to book round-trip charter buses for as little as $30 to $50 a seat a few weeks ago. But prices on the same buses rose to $150 to $200 each seat as they began to fill.
Rally's website shows some of the last marchers to book seats on their buses paid $195 each for a bus from Sparta, $180 from Teaneck, $175 from Montclair and $150 from Cape May.
Nearly all of the buses are expected to leave early Saturday morning and return later that night. A list of the New Jersey buses is available on the Women's March on Washington's website and the New Jersey chapter's website and Facebook page.
Most of the charters have secured parking at RFK Stadium, which is located about two miles from the start of the march near the U.S. Capitol building. Marchers are expected to either walk to the start of the march or take the Metro.
Amtrak reports most trains that would get people from New Jersey to the nation's capital in time for the 10 a.m. march also are sold out.
With limited transportation options, organizers said, many New Jerseyans are planning to drive.
"We're getting phone calls and emails every day from people who can't find a bus to get on," Salowe-Kaye said. "They're driving. They're carpooling."
However, march organizers are warning drivers that parking is limited near the Capitol. Instead, they are being directed to find parking near Metro stations in Maryland or Washington, then walk or take mass transit into the city.
Because of the large number of people expected, marchers were asked to pre-purchase tickets for the Metro online to cut down on lines at ticket machines.
New Jersey marchers can meet before the event in Washington at the New Jersey Avenue entrance to Spirit of Justice Park, at the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and Avenue D SE, organizers said. The group will make the 10-minute walk together to the starting point on Independence Avenue near the U.S. Capitol.
For those who can't make it to Washington, more than 300 satellite marches are scheduled for every state in the nation and several cities around the world.
New Jersey's "sister" march is in Trenton on Saturday at 10 a.m. It starts with a rally at the Trenton War Memorial. Then, participants will march a half mile to the State House.
The Women's March on New York will be held Saturday at 11 a.m., starting at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 48th Street at First Avenue in New York City. The march will end at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.
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