Shuttle route would link University Place, Nassau Street, Witherspoon Street, Harrison Street.
By: Marjorie Censer
The Princeton Borough Traffic and Transportation Committee discussed the possibility of implementing a town jitney and voiced concern about the development of the hospital site at its meeting Monday.
Committee member Charlotte O’Connell said her vision for the jitney would require four vans, at a cost she estimated at a total of $100,000 per van per year. She suggested a route that would begin and end at the Dinky station, traveling on University Place, Nassau Street, Witherspoon Street and Harrison Street. She said her research showed that the trip would take 20 and 24 minutes, depending on the direction of the route and including stops. She recommended the jitney use the four vans to maintain 10-minute cycles. This initial route only incorporates the borough, but Ms. O’Connell said she would like the service to eventually reach Princeton Township as well.
Ms. O’Connell said she hoped to set up an independent fund to support the jitney’s operational costs.
The committee debated who could operate the jitney. Sandy Solomon, chairwoman of the committee, suggested allowing the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association to serve as the operator.
Members of the committee also considered pricing for the jitney rides. Ms. O’Connell suggested beginning it as a free service and potentially charging families a flat yearly rate later.
The committee plans to create an ad hoc committee, headed by Ms. O’Connell, to further work on beginning a jitney service. Additionally, the committee hopes to soon select a separate entity to collect donations for the funding of the jitney.
At the meeting, committee members also discussed potential problems with traffic planning at the hospital site. Though Borough Council member Wendy Benchley who serves as liaison to the committee cautioned that it may be premature to make recommendations for the site, members stressed the importance of early discussion.
"If (the developers) don’t know what’s expected of them at this point," Leo Arons said, "it’s going to be an uphill fight to change things later on."
Committee members are concerned that developers may underestimate the number of cars owned by each household. If so, they worry that street parking will be used by residents of the redeveloped site.
"The architects simply need to be told right now that they must provide adequate off-street parking for the redesigned complex," according to a draft resolution considered by the committee.
Ms. Benchley said, "We’re a long way from really deciding what the parameters are going to be."
The committee also looked over a draft pedestrian plan to be submitted to the Master Plan subcommittee of the Princeton Regional Planning Board. In the potential addition to the Master Plan, Ms. Solomon outlined goals to improve the safety and ease of pedestrian travel in the borough. The document emphasized making crosswalks more obvious and better controlled and maintaining sidewalks.