Burlington-Montpelier bus proves popular

By Matt Sutkoski
Free Press Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2004

The Link Express, a nearly 6-month-old bus service between Burlington and Montpelier, looked more like a library than anything else late Friday afternoon.

The bus service aims to reduce traffic on Interstate 89 and cut down on pollution, and give commuters an alternative to their cars.

As soon as the 5:15 p.m. bus lurched away from Burlington with 22 central Vermont-bound commuters, the books and paperwork popped out. One person knitted.

John Frisbie of Montpelier settled down with "The Art of Paragliding." The bus gives him time to study up on his nascent hobby, he said, but the real issue is money.

"It beats wear and tear on the car," he said, adding that the $3 one-way bus fare is less than he'd spend on gas to fuel his GMC Sonoma. Frisbie said he also avoids paying $180 a month in parking fees.

The Link is an experiment to measure demand for public transit between Burlington and Montpelier. Interstate 89 between the two cities fills with cars during rush hours.

Census data provided by the Chittenden County Transportation Authority indicate than on average, 2,821 commuters travel from Washington County to jobs in Chittenden County each day.

At the same time, 1,852 Chittenden County residents travel to work in Washington County. The Link attempts to tap into that market.

CCTA General Manager Chris Cole said 16 or more passengers per trip after two years would mean the bus service is justified. "We're hitting those numbers now on some of our runs," he said. The busiest trips often attract more than 20 passengers, he said.

Erin Smith of Montpelier is one of the regulars on the Link. Commuting from Montpelier helped put 60,000 miles on her car in two years, she said. It was a waste of gas, and she wondered how much carbon dioxide her commutes were spewing into the air. "I'm an environmentalist," she said.

CCTA conducted a ridership survey and found that half the passengers said they used the Link because they believed it helped the environment. Twenty-eight percent said they didn't like driving between Montpelier and Burlington, Cole said.

Some passengers Friday came up with other reasons for riding the bus. "It's comfortable," said Tim Garrison of Barre, settling into a seat near the front of the bus. "I was waiting for something like this to happen."

William Russell of Montpelier said a bit of a community has grown on the Link since it started operating in September. "You see the same faces day after day," he said. "People notice when the guy with the red jacket is not on the bus. We ask if we can wait for him."

The ridership survey indicated 62 percent of people who take the Link do so every work day.

Like almost all public transportation systems, the Link survives largely on a subsidy. The Link depends on a $200,000 annual federal grant to stay afloat. The subsidy began with the bus run's inception in September and continues for three years.

Other federal grants could spawn more bus runs between commuter destinations. Gov. Jim Douglas' proposed budget includes $500,000 for such runs. Most of the money would come from the federal government, said Trini Brassard, the public transit administrator for the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

If the Legislature approves the funding, bus routes might sprout between Franklin and Chittenden counties; between Randolph and towns near the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.; between Bennington and Brattleboro; or elsewhere. Decisions on where the runs might be established would be made after the Legislature approves a budget, Brassard said.

The number of people on the 5:15 p.m. Link on Friday gradually dwindled as the bus made stops in Richmond, Waterbury and Montpelier.

When bus driver Rob Ratliff turned the bus westward, back toward Burlington, the only passengers were his wife, Polly, and children Daeshawn, 2, and Tyrek, 6, who made the round trip to visit with Ratliff; and a bedraggled man who got on in Montpelier and sat alone in the middle of the bus.

The bus arrived back in Burlington, right on time, at 7:40 p.m.

Contact Matt Sutkoski at 660-1846 or msutkosk@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
The Link Express

WHAT: A bus service linking Burlington and Montpelier.
COST: $3 per boarding. Monthly passes cost $99, and include transfers to local buses in Chittenden and Washington counties.
SCHEDULE: Four round-trips Monday through Friday, plus a midday round-trip on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
RIDERSHIP:
September: 344 (service started Sept. 22)
October: 1,338
November: 1,166
December: 1,400
January: 1,605
February: 1,349
On the Web: Information about the Link and Chittenden County Transportation Authority is available at www.ccta- ride.org