|
Boone to Greensboro: a new option |
|
|
|
Thursday, 24 August 2006 |
by LAUREN LAWSON
News Reporter
The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation began its bus service between Boone and Greensboro Thursday.
The service runs twice a day, 7 days a week, Chris Turner, director of AppalCART said.
PART Executive Director Brent McKinney said the cost is $10 one way between Greensboro and Boone.
Stops between Boone and Greensboro will be offered in Wilkesboro,
Winston-Salem and Yadkinville. Prices will vary depending on the
desired stop and distance.
Shared stops between the PART bus service and AppalCART will include a Boone mall stop and an on-campus Raley Circle stop.
"[The bus service] will
provide students mobility options they didn’t have before."
Chris Turner,
director of AppalCART
|
Also offered are trips to Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh by transferring to connector bus services in Winston-Salem.
Turner worked with PART in Greensboro to “work out scheduling and the sharing of stops,” he said.
The decision to supply a bus service between Boone and Greensboro was
made after researching the areas where the Greyhound Bus Line no longer
runs, McKinney said.
PART officials were surprised at the lack of transportation services provided to the western rural areas of North Carolina.
The bus service is expected to lighten the traffic load of tourists
into Boone during such events like football games, McKinney said.
Although it is uncertain whether this bus system will significantly
improve the overall traffic congestion of the area, it is indeed
expected to “help with traffic on key weekends,” Turner said.
The bus service was made possible by the combined aids of a shipment of
eight new buses in July and $170,000 from the North Carolina Department
of Transportation, McKinney said.
“[The bus service] will provide students mobility options they didn’t have before,” Turner said.
Sophomore political science major Lauren L. Bostian said the bus system is a great idea for people without cars.
“I did go home quite a few times last year and it was hard to find
someone to drive me because I didn’t have my car up here,” she said.
“The biggest negative would probably be the fact that buses don’t go as
fast as a car would.”
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments
