Stagecoach Sees
More Riders

People ask me what $4+ a gallon gasoline has meant to the Stagecoach. In many ways, it is the best thing that has happened to public transportation. People now are making choices based on personal economy and concerns about the environment over the convenience of the single occupant private car.

Ridership on the Stagecoach River Route commuter service has increased 51% in the past year, while ridership on the 89er has increased 31%. This represents a good return on the public investment put into these routes by the Federal Transit Administration and the Vermont Agency of Transportation, as well as this area’s largest employers, Dartmouth College and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

But with the public funding also come the regulations. These routes are open to anyone at anytime. Thus, by federal regulation, they are required to operate on a "first come/first serve" basis. As a safety net, Stagecoach monitors daily the number of passengers commuting in the morning. No passenger, including those from the VA Hospital, have ever been stranded at the end of the day without a ride home.

In working closely with passengers, the Stagecoach, at the request of VA Hospital employees, sends out e-mail notices on maximum capacity days. This notice alerts people that they may have to wait for the second evening bus. In using public transportation, people do make choices of economy vs. convenience. As to allowing standees, safety trumps every other concern. Overcrowding a bus, which is in violation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, is not an option.

While Stagecoach receives daily suggestions as to where new routes should be started, regrettably, the public funding process lags far behind events in the marketplace. This summer Stagecoach, as required by the legislature, is conducting a Short Range Transit Plan, which will develop service recommendations for the next five years. The process to seek funds to carry out these recommendations will occur within the legislature. At this transitional time in our patterns of travel, please forward your thoughts to the Stagecoach or your legislators.

Working together, we will develop a better access to opportunity for everyone.

David Palmer, Manager

Stagecoach Transportation Services