A new Concord-to-Laconia bus route will provide transportation for commuters as well as Lakes Region residents who need rides to stores and hospitals.

Terri Paige, director of transportation for the Community Action Program-Belknap and Merrimack Counties, briefed the Franklin City Council on the status of the new bus route on April 3, saying the agency hopes to begin bus runs by the end of summer.

“We’ve finally secured enough funds for the opening of expansion routes that will run from Concord, up Route 3, going past the new developments on exit 17 in Concord, on to the Boscawen county complex, and then from there, here into the industrial park here in Franklin, into downtown Franklin,” Paige said.

From there, the route would continue to Tilton Walmart and Market Basket and on to the Belknap Mall in Belmont and finally into Laconia with a stop at Concord Hospital-Laconia.

The agency will be looking to develop specific stops as it learns what the needs are, but stops might also include the New Hampshire Veterans’ Cemetery in Boscawen and Webster Place in Franklin, where Easterseals anticipates building a veterans’ complex.

CAP has received funding that will cover at least the first year’s operation, at no cost to riders, but Paige said after that, they may need financial help from communities along the route.

The agency already operates several buses in the Concord area and will be able to assign one for the Franklin-Laconia route, with others available in case of vehicle trouble or if ridership calls for a higher-capacity bus. Paige said they have two new buses ordered, but because of continuing supply shortages, it may take a couple of years to take delivery.

She noted that bus purchases come from separate funds than those used for operating expenses. The state Department of Transportation allocates federal money toward capital projects and keeps track of usage. It is easier to get additional grants for buses because those in charge of awarding grants are more willing to support such a purchase rather than ongoing operating costs.

That’s the reason it has taken more than three years to get the expansion project off the ground. The major issue has been the requirement for local matching funds when seeking federal money for operations. Merrimack County has agreed to use some social service money allocated through the federal American Rescue Plan Act to reach the funding goal.

“They very generously gave us the entire $114,000 match that we needed to be able to get this up and operating,” Paige said, adding this will help get them the data to prove “that it actually works in order to get funds through other local sources to continue going forward.”

It was a lack of sustainability that forced the former Winnisquam Transit System to end its two-hour bus loop between Franklin and Laconia. Paige attributes its demise to the long round trip and the fact that it never connected with Concord. It was hard to staff and was not well received by residents, she said.

Additionally, “It never really got promoted the way that it should have; many people didn’t even know it existed,” she said. “We’re going to do a much better job of that. We’re going to make sure that it’s out there everywhere, like meeting with all of the city councils ahead of time, meeting with municipalities ahead of time, so that everybody’s on the same page and we know what’s going on before we launch it.”

She added, “Our hope is that the connection from Concord up is going to make a big difference.” From Concord, there are connections to Manchester and Boston.

The need

In identifying potential clients for the bus service, Paige said there are three businesses at exit 17, including Market Basket, “that are pretty much screaming for employees, and we have a lot of folks who want to get out to those shopping destinations now.”

Additionally, there are people who need transportation to the Merrimack County Complex to access the nursing home and jail.

Businesses in the Franklin Industrial Park have taken advantage of short-term transportation offered through the Statewide Public Transportation Coalition, and, along with Watts, another Franklin manufacturer struggling to attract employees, are looking forward to the potential of the new bus route. Watts has expressed a willingness to adjust its start times to accommodate the bus schedule.

The first bus tentatively would leave Concord around 6:15 a.m. and arrive in Laconia about 7:30, and there would be six round-trip runs a day, Paige said. The schedule would require two drivers each day.

Projections anticipate 1,000 rides per month with 18 passengers going all the way from Concord to Laconia.

City Councilor Leigh Webb asked how long the program could sustain itself with free ridership.

“Fares work really well as a source of revenue for really large systems,” Paige said. “For a system of our size, the amount of fares that we actually generate doesn’t really net us a whole lot of gain.” She said any fares would reduce the amount of grant funding awarded, and the collection of fares would incur additional expense.

“We have to have two people take their eyes off the bus; we have to have two people count the fares; we have to have a whole separate bank account for fares; we have to have biannual fiscal reports. It just goes on and on and on. So when you get all those administrative costs figured into it, for the amount that we tend to generate in fares for such a small system, it really doesn’t make out to be kind of worth it, to be honest,” she explained.

Instead, they will be seeking out donations, which she said has been working for the other routes.

There is money to support the public transit operations in the state’s capital budget, on its way to the Senate for action. Paige spoke with Northfield Rep. Jason Gerhard after the meeting to emphasize how important that funding will be to the Concord-Laconia route.

Councilor George Dzujna commented of the initiative, “I was very excited about this because of what we can do for our [companies] in biotech and manufacturing up in the park.”

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.

]]>