Four alumni turn a scrapped Atlantic City jitney into the ultimate tailgating machine
For Kenneth Forberger, Rutgers pride runs deep. His family has had season tickets to Rutgers football games since the 1950s and he grew up spending many Saturdays at men's and women's basketball games and, of course, football games.
At Rutgers, Forberger studied environmental science and was a drum major in the Marching Scarlet Knights. After graduating in 2004, he and fellow alums Mike Green and Graig Fergusson (School of Engineering’ 05 and '06 respectively) along with Justin Tellone ( '07) formed a tailgating group. They hoped one day to have a tailgating vehicle of their own.
Their chance came from Atlantic City. In 2011, the Jitney Association, which runs buses all over Atlantic City, upgraded its fleet to new, natural-gas vans. That meant the old white-and-blue buses would be scrapped.
"I met a mechanic who took care of all the old jitney bodies. Most of what he had were parts vehicles, but he had one that was the most complete out of all of them," Forberger says. The vehicle has a newer transmission and a low-mileage engine. So, for $3,400, the group had their bus.
But that was only the start. The four friends spent 18 months and $10,000 to turn it into the ultimate Rutgers jitney tailgating machine.
First, they stripped down the inside, painted it Rutgers red and white and added benches for optimal seating. They took out the handicap lift so those second doors could be opened for tailgating. The group also added a “kegerator” and a flat screen TV. They created a custom grill for the front of the vehicle out of aircraft grade aluminum and placed a giant R on top. The final step was painting the outside body and adding vinyl and decals. Once that exterior was painted, Forberger says that he had strangers stopping by his Piscataway home to say hello and ask about the bus.
The bus made its tailgating debut in the fall of 2012. It won the 2012 Bold Tailgate Award for best vehicle, the Miller Lite's 2012 Tailgater of the Year Competition and Tailgater of the Game on homecoming weekend. Last year News 12 did a three-minute spot while the young men set up the during the last home game of the season. Both the Rutgers Scarlet Knight mascot and Eric LeGrand have stopped by.
Forberger takes the bus to all Rutgers home football games and most home men's and women's basketball games. Last year, the friends drove it to Philadelphia for the Rutgers-Temple game, but Forberger says they won't go too far until they put new tires on the bus, which will happen later this year.
This summer, they're also planning an authentic train horn and a “T-shirt cannon” shaped like the Rutgers field cannon that will shoot – of course – Rutgers Jitney T-shirts.
Forberger says that coverting an old jitney was the perfect way to create a tailgating bus - and they don't hide its history. The bus's license plate says, of course, JITNEY.
"There aren't a lot of jitneys around – they were run mechanically into the ground," says Forberger. "We knew that it was going to be unique and it's uniquely New Jersey."