Daytime FreeB routes on three-day schedule
By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
Free shuttle service will be running three days a week during daytime hours to connect residents to the retail, community and recreation areas around Princeton beginning next month.
The service will run midday on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and will begin on July 6.
”We’re calling it the Daytime FreeB, which distinguishes it from the commuter FreeB,” said Susan Hoskins, executive director of the Princeton Senior Resource Center, who was involved in the planning. The different name will also help differentiate the routes.
The route, which is about an hour for the full circuit, will connect the higher population centers such as Elm Court to the Princeton Shopping Center and the downtown area.
”It will assist with additional activity for our merchants,” said Township Mayor Chad Goerner at Tuesday night’s joint municipal meeting where the announcement was made.
The bus will stop along the route that goes through the borough and the township. Pickup locations include Elm Court and Harriet Bryan House, Suzanne Patterson Building, Spruce Circle and Borough Hall and along Nassau Street in addition to already designated FreeB stops, said Ms. Hoskins.
”We have worked for so long to get transportation to Elm Court and Harriet Bryan House, so this is huge,” said Ms. Hoskins. “They made good use of it during the holiday runs and they will make good use of it. There are benefits we don’t even envision at this point.”
Stops include Princeton Public Library, the Community Park Pool and Princeton Shopping Center.
”This is an all-ages benefit,” she said, with anyone being able to ride the bus. “You can park in one place and ride the FreeB and do other errands around town. I hope it will make it easier for people to get here for our programs and activities.”
The shuttle will leave the Senior Resource Center at 30 past the hour each hour between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and run the route through town. The driver’s lunch break is at 11:30 a.m., so there will be no service between 11:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
The bus does have a wheelchair lift for handicap accessibility.
The service was inspired by a free shuttle offered during the weekend holiday shopping season that was successful, even without major advertising.
”Over the past two Decembers during the shopping season we ran a holiday shuttle utilizing the FreeB vehicles we have gotten from the State of New Jersey to test the waters to see what the utilization would be,” said Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi, at Tuesday’s joint municipal meeting.
The Daytime FreeB is for the entire community to use — from families heading to the pool to seniors looking for an afternoon out. “I think we’d love to see Princeton more sustainable,” said Ms.Hoskins. We see a lot of people who don’t drive lugging groceries and laundry and we hope this makes the downtown and shopping center more accessible for a lot of folks.”
”We want to help people come for the ping pong program and the movie we are going to show and for conversation,” added Ms. Hoskins. “We are looking at our programs to make sure there is a wide range programs in the middle of the day. I hope other organizations in town will do the same. It also means the kids can get to the pool and the people who do their laundry at the shopping center can get over there without balancing it on a bicycle in heavy traffic.”
There was one concern about the route raised on Tuesday night. Committeewoman Sue Nemeth asked about a stop at Reddington Circle. Mr. Goerner said the area was on the list for consideration in the future, but Anton Lahnston, chair of the borough’s Traffic and Transportation Committee, provided more explanation on Wednesday.
”Redding Circle is not included in this (route) since we originally thought the riders from Redding Circle could walk a short distance to get the Daytime FreeB,” said Mr. Lahnston. “We need to reconsider that decision. But, bottom line, this is not an extended use of the current FreeB — it is a new use, a very different use of a bus. I want to be very clear on that.”
”We knew that we needed to connect the borough and the township … help people enjoy moving around our community in an enjoyable and convenient manner,” continues Mr. Lahnston. “This is long overdue in Princeton.”
The service will be funded by private donations that a subcommittee has solicited and require no taxpayer dollars to run, said Mr. Bruschi. The subcommittee has been working on transportation issues between the two communities for more than a year.
Approximately $30,000 was raised from three or four donors for the trial period. Officials declined to release the names of the individual donors.
The subcommittee will consider success with a 40 percent occupancy rate on the 18-seat bus. The service will be evaluated after the six-month trial period.
A marketing campaign, the Senior Resource Center’s monthly bulletin, other nonprofits and community groups will help get the word out about the service.

