By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Princeton University will soon be giving a free ride to borough residents.
Princeton Borough announced Wednesday that the long awaited free jitney bus service for the community will be up and running by early April, thanks to a commitment by the university to fund the program until New Jersey Transit provides the grant money and vehicle it promised in 2006.
The commitment for interim funding from the university comes on the heels of its recently publicized campus plan, which has been met with some concerns for its recommendation to move the Dinky station 480 feet farther from the downtown.
The announcement also closely follows last week’s review by the Regional Planning Board of Princeton of a report on the status of the university’s own shuttle system, which included discussion of potential coordination between the shuttle and the future jitney service.
The jitney bus service, which will be directly coordinated with the NJ Transit Dinky train schedule and the newly modified university shuttle routes along Nassau Street, will be free to all riders and will run Monday through Friday during peak commuting hours from 5:30 to 9 a.m. and 5:30 to 9 p.m.
The route will begin at Borough Hall for the morning commute and at the Dinky station in the evening, running in a circular, clockwise 20-minute loop along Bayard Lane, Paul Robeson-Wiggins-Hamilton, Harrison Street, Nassau Street, Mercer Street, Alexander Street, and University Place. Riders can board the jitney at permanent stops — such as the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center and the Princeton Public Library — or flag down the bus at any point.
Borough Administrator Bob Bruschi said Thursday that the borough estimates the cost to fund the pilot program at between $50,000 and $60,000.
Regardless, the university is committed to funding the service until the NJ Transit grant kicks in, according to University Director of Community and Regional Affairs Kristin Appelget.
”We are committed to assisting the borough with getting the system up and running during a pilot phase,” she said, noting that the hope is that the NJ Transit bus will arrive by the fall of 2008.
For now, the Great Mercer Transportation Management Association will contract with an outside company to provide a bus for the borough, Mr. Bruschi said, noting that the TMA also manages the university’s shuttle system.
”This is really jump-starting the program and allowing us to get some experience,” he said. “If we need to make some modifications or tweak it, we have the opportunity to do so, and measure its success.”
When the grant comes in from NJ Transit, it will be in the form of a three-year declining subsidy, with $30,000 for the first year of operation, $20,000 for the second, and $10,000 for the third, Mr. Bruschi said.
The grant — which will fund the purchase of a 22-passenger jitney bus and three years of service during peak morning and evening commuter hours — stipulates that the bus must provide a transportation link to the Dinky station.
The hope is that the program will become feasible after the subsidy ends, he said.
Ms. Appelget said the motivation for the university to fund the pilot program is based on “just good planning.”
She added, “Our two-year campus planning process took into account what we knew were the borough’s long-term plans to get this running. It’s good planning sense to have two systems that can interconnect,” she said, re-emphasizing the university’s commitment to the continued viability of the Dinky station.
Mr. Bruschi said the borough is “just excited that the university is anxious to be a player in this. We’re trying to keep them on board as long as we possibly can.”
For now, the borough will concentrate on publicizing the launch of the jitney in order to raise “people’s awareness that this is out there as an option.”
To that end, the borough has hired a marketing firm, Princeton-based Maya Marketing, to help publicize the service.
According to a release by the firm, the official unveiling of the name and logo of the new jitney service will take place at a public event being planned for early April.
