PRINCETON: Town promotes more use of public transportation, bicycles

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton wants to encourage more people in town to get around without using their cars, as officials seek to promote bike riding and taking public transportation., Mayor Liz Lempert said Monday that the town hired Greater Mercer Transportation Management Agency, a nonprofit, to come up with a marketing campaign, called “Go Princeton,” to debut this fall. She made the announcement this month, with May being national bike month., Mayor Lempert, an environmentalist who will ride her bike to work, said she supports people finding ways of traveling that do not involve their cars. For instance, the town provides a bus service, called the freeB, that runs in the morning and late afternoon/early evening., “We’ve invested in transit,” she said. “And we want to make sure that those who want to use it or those who need to use it, because maybe they don’t have access to a car, find the information easily accessible and useable.”, In addition to the freeB, Princeton University has its TigerTransit bus service that is also open to the public, with stops in and around Princeton, “And there’s certainly parts of town that are easier to get around on public transportation than other parts,” Mayor Lempert said. “But certainly we want to let people know what their options are.”, She pointed to how public transportation is a viable option for many in town, like teenagers still too young to drive, seniors who can’t drive or those who can’t afford a car., The timing comes as the municipality is aiming to create a bike network, spanning 67 miles, as a way for people to use their bicycles to travel around town. The municipality has said the network will not be built all at once, but rather over time. A price tag was not available.