CART offering free bus service- Possibly to Atkinson?

From the Eagle Tribune;

December 12, 2011
CART offering free bus service
By Doug Ireland
direland@eagletribune.com

A long-awaited free shuttle bus service is coming this week to Derry and Londonderry, with plans in the works to expand to Salem, Windham and possibly other towns.

The Cooperative Alliance for Regional Transportation (CART) plans to begin the service along Route 102 on Thursday, according to executive director Lee Maloney.

CART hopes to offer the other free routes by next year, she said. Those include a route that begins at Whispering Winds off Mammoth Road in Windham and continues to shopping venues in Salem, including The Mall at Rockingham Park, Maloney said.

Another route along Salem's busy business corridor is still being planned, she said.

"Everybody is looking forward to them," Maloney said. "It's going to be like a real transportation system."

The Route 102 service — with roughly eight stops along the busy corridor — was expected to begin three months ago but was delayed because of computer software problems, Maloney said. The software is used for tracking buses.

Cart's "Sun Bus" will run five days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., allowing residents — especially senior citizens — to visit shopping centers in Derry and Londonderry.

The bus will stop at local housing complexes, Hood Common in Derry and Market Basket in Londonderry.

The route, established in conjunction with Easter Seals and Rockingham Nutrition, also includes stops at the Meals on Wheels sites at the Marion Gerrish Community Center in Derry and the Londonderry Senior Center.

Rockingham Nutrition was able to obtain $24,000 in federal funding to help pay for the route, executive director Debra Perou said.

"We're very excited to get it underway," she said. "There is a huge potential there. I'm really hoping it becomes a real link."

While the Derry-Londonderry service has been in the works for a while, the two routes planned for Salem are relatively new.

Expanded service in Salem would benefit senior citizens, said Lynda Drouin, an employee at Salemhaven nursing and rehabilitation center.

"It would be extremely helpful," she said.

Drouin said she knows a woman who enjoys using the current service because it is so convenient.

CART has proposed a three-day shuttle service, possibly for free, connecting Hampstead and Londonderry.

A pay-your-way route running daily from Derry to Salem is also being planned. CART has received a three-year $600,000 grant from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program to fund the route in conjunction with the Interstate 93 widening project, Maloney said.

But a $100,000 match is required, she said.

It's hoped riders will donate money to help fund the free shuttles. CART began running advertising on some of its buses this summer to help defray costs.

The free shuttle service is a big change for CART, which has offered a ride request service since it began in October 2006. Anyone needing a ride in its six service towns could call up and ask for one at a cost of between $3 and $5 each way.

That service would continue for the approximately 1,700 people who use it.

CART serves Chester, Derry, Hampstead, Londonderry, Salem and Windham, with contributions received from the participating towns. These contributions are then matched with federal transportation funding.

Maloney met with residents Thursday in Atkinson, where there is interest in establishing a CART route.

CART has provided approximately 65,000 rides to local residents over the last five years. They are especially used by senior citizens going to medical appointments and grocery stores.